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Do Heating Pads Attract Bugs?

 

It is a pretty reasonable question to wonder if heating pads filled with food will attract bugs.

And the answer to this seems to be yes.  But there also are a few things you can do to combat this and that includes either washing and drying the heating pad or putting the heating pad in the freezer for 24 hours. 

Read on to find out why you might find bugs in your heating pad.

Why use food as filler?

There might be a few reasons why a company would use food as filler for their heating pads.

Reasonably priced

First off, a company might use food as filler because that filler is going to be reasonably priced.

That means that they can make the heating pad relatively cheaply, which means you aren't paying through the nose to get a heating pad every time you need one.

So the company can fill it with a few handfuls of rice or wheat and then call it good.

And then if you need to purchase another heating pad (which you probably will need to with the food fillers) then you aren't paying a bunch for it.

Microwavable

Another reason that a company might use food as filler is because they know it is going to be microwavable.

People like microwavable heating pads because they aren't as dangerous as electric heating pads.

With electric heating pads, you plug the heating pad in and it will run for you as long as you would like.

Which is great, but also isn't great.

If you plug in the electric heating pad and then fall asleep, you could wake up hours later with the heating pad still on and you will most likely find a rash on your skin where the heating pad was on all night.

But with microwavable heating pads, you heat it up in the microwave, and then anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour later, the heating pad no longer has any heat.

That is because the food as filler will eventually release all the heat it has inside of it and then you need to heat it up again before you can use it.

It's like when you cook food in the microwave, the food is hot at first, but eventually it is going to cool down.

The same thing with heating pads that are filled with food.

Smell

With food fillers, you can do more with the smell of the heating pad.

Some companies will put in lavender flowers with their filler and therefore you, as the user, get the nice smell of lavender when you heat up the heating pad.

Another instance might be that you can add essential oils to the heating pad and that is the smell you get when you heat it up.

Lavender is one example, but you could also use chamomile or vanilla on the heating pad to get a soothing smell.

Of course, there is also a negative to this as well.

If you happen to heat up the heating pad for too long, you could end up burning the filler in the heating pad.

And this would lead to the smell of burning when you heat up the heating pad.

If you want to learn more about overheating your heating pad, watch our video here: This Is Why Your Heating Pad Stinks

How to know if you have bugs

Now that we know why a company might use food as their filler, let's cover how you might know that you have bug in your heating pad.

The first sign you might have bugs is your children or the people using the heating pad have unexplained itching fits.

Warmies if one of those heating pads that has some cases of people finding bugs in their heating pads.

One of the favorites of the warmies are the stuffed animals for kids.

It can sometimes be hard to get your child to willingly hold onto a heating pad.

So stuffed animals is a good replacement for a regular heating pad for your children.

Your child might exhibit itching fits if their warmie has bugs in it.

At that point, you might need to cut open your warmie to confirm whether or not it has bugs in it.

Cut along the seem and open up the warmie to get to the filler.

You should be able to see bugs in the warmie or whatever heating pad you have.

How to get rid of bugs from your heating pad

How you get rid of the bugs from your heating pad depends on the type of heating you have.

The first and easiest option is going to be putting your heating pad in the freezer.

And it should stay in the freezer for at least 24 hours.

This will freeze and kill the bugs in the heating pad.

You can leave it in the freezer for more than 24 hours if you want to make sure that you've killed all the bugs.

The second option is to wash and dry the heating pad.

For some heating pads, this might not even be an option.

If you aren't sure whether or not you can wash and dry your heating pad, do a quick Google search to find out.

But most of the heating pads that have food fillers you won't be able to wash.

This is because as soon as the heating pad comes into contact with a bunch of water, the filler will be ruined.

But if you can wash your heating pad then you can either wash it by hand or wash it in your washing machine.

If by hand, get some soap and start your kitchen faucet running some hot water.

Then apply the soap to the heating pad and run some water over it.

Use a wash clothe to move around the soap on the heating pad.

Then use the hot water to get the heating pad completely soaked.

Once you have finished washing the heating pad, then through the heating pad into your dryer on high heat and run it until the heating pad is completely dry.

If you want to use your washing machine, but it into the washing machine and place the water temperature on high heat.

And then the same process for putting it into the dryer.

The important part is that the heating pad is washed and dried in hot water and hot air.

The bugs might still last through the washing and drying of the heating pad.

If so, refer back to putting your heating pad in the freezer for a day or two and this should take care of bugs.

Why lava sand heating pads are your best option

Now we've talked extensively about what to do if your heating pad has bugs in it.

This isn't the best of situations, but there are solutions to this problem.

But now we are going to talk about lava sand heating pads and why they are the best.

First, lava sand heating pads won't run into the problem of having bugs inside of them.

This is mostly due to the fact that the filler in the heating pad isn't food.

That means the bugs aren't going to be attracted to the heating pad.

Of course, this doesn't guarantee that bugs won't be in the heating pad, but it does make it less likely.

Second, if for some odd reason if you do get bugs in your heating pad, there shouldn't be any reason that you can't wash your heating pad.

You see, the lava sand heating pad has lava sand on the inside.

And without food as the filler, there should be no problems washing your heating pad.

So run it under hot water with soap or through it in your washing machine and that should get it nice and washed.

Be careful what cycle you put it on.

Make sure it is a gentle cycle or you could end up ruining your washing machine from the weight of the heating pad.

Once you've washed it, you can either throw it in the dryer or you can actually use your oven to dry it off.

The oven might be a better option for drying since it won't do any damage.

To dry it off, turn your oven on to 200 degrees.

Then place your lava sand heating pad on a cookie drying rack and then place the drying rack in the oven.

If you place the lava sand heating pad directly onto the racks in the oven, you might end up getting your lava sand heating pad more dirty.

So use a cookie drying rack to avoid getting the heating pad any dirtier.

Then leave the lava sand heating pad in the oven for a few hours until it is completely dry.

Third, you won't have to worry about the smell coming off of the lava sand heating pad.

The lava sand filler in the heating pad won't end up getting burned like food fillers out there.

So you can put your lava sand heating pad in the microwave and then you don't have to worry about what it is going to smell like.

Summary

Food filler heating pads are very popular because the food is pretty good at keeping the heat in, it can give off a nice smell, and the heating pads can be reasonably priced.

But it can also lead you getting bugs in your heating pad.

You can get rid of the bugs by washing and drying the heating pad or by placing the heating pad in the freezer for a few days.

And just to be safe, you might want to purchase your a lava sand heating pad so you don't have to worry about bugs,