I narrowly escaped scalding from a just-filled hot water bottle that abruptly failed while I was holding it against me. It suddenly just came apart, starting with a hole from which water was spurting that quickly became a separation down the side. This was not on a seam. It was more of a structural failure as the rubber just disintegrated and came apart.

Naturally I am now very wary of having something like this happen again. I managed to avoid serious burn injury but the water was very hot as the bottle had just been filled. At the same time, the hot water bottle has been helping me get through some very cold nights. Does anyone know if there is any kind of quality standard for these, or any way to know how robust they are. I miss the warmth but I don’t want something like this to happen again. I had a lucky escape and it could have been much worse.

Nearly everything seems to be made in China these days. How can I be sure something like this is high quality and not cheap mass product? Suggestions and recommendations welcome.