Heated Mattress Pad vs. Heated Blanket
Which is Better???
ELECTRIC MATTRESS PAD VS. ELECTRIC BLANKET
People frequently ask us whether an electric blanket is better than an electric mattress pad. The choice of electric mattress cover or electric blanket is mostly a matter of user preference. However in the United States, many people do not know that warming mattress pads exist and that warming mattress pads do have a few inherent advantages over warming blankets. The major ones are:
- The heat generated by an electric mattress pad is contained around your body by the mattress itself on the bottom side and by the top sheet and top blanket on the top side whereas approximately ½ of the heat generated by an electric blanket will radiate upward towards the bedroom ceiling. This means that you can be warmer with a heated mattress pad. Although both can save substantially on your heating costs, you will use somewhat less electricity with the warming mattress pad. For detailed information, see our Actual Energy Use page.
- Electric mattress pads are inherently safer from overheating since the pad is held flat to the mattress (i.e. fitted) and generally cannot be balled up as a blanket may become. (When a blanket is balled up, there is no place for the heat in the middle of the ball to escape, the major cause of electric blanket fires or scorches.)
- Mattress Pads tend to be more durable than electric blankets since they are not being tossed around, pulled and pushed, etc. because the skirt holds them flat and relatively immovable.
- If you use a heated mattress pad, you are then free to use whatever form of blanket, comforter, duvet, spread, etc. you prefer on the top of your bed.
Interestingly enough, around 85% of the warming bedding products sold in the USA are blankets and not mattress pads whereas in Europe, the reverse is true. (In most other countries, what is called a mattress pad in the USA is frequently referred to as an “underblanket” or a "fitted blanket".) Within the past few years the percentage of pads sold in the United States seems to be increasing somewhat as more and more people learn of their existence and learn of their therapeutic value.