1,200 accidents involving electric heaters, hot water bottles reported over last 5 years

If the homes in these cases had a reasonable heating system this kind of accident could be avoided.

NITE issued a caution to people to be careful how they use electric heaters during the winter months.

in other words asking people to use kerosene heaters(?)

I would imagine there are many more injuries involving the kerosene than with the electric heaters in Japan. Those devices scare me.

When my children were toddlers, my father in law had a perfectly safe wall-mounted electric heater, but he would insist on using the kerosene heater with a hot tea kettle on top, smack dab in the middle of his small living room when we visited during the New Year's Holiday. Many close calls, but unbelievably never an accident. I think most of the old folks out in the country use those things.

When will Japan start using or standardize central heating! Much better and healthier than the dry air from heaters and aircons.

Many homes in Japan now have split air conditioning units that also double as full room heaters. Lot safer to use those to warm rooms than kerosene-fueled room heaters, which can be fire hazards and can cause carbon monoxide poisoning.

"Many homes in Japan now have split air conditioning units"

they are mounted near the ceiling and beside large windows....the worst, most inefficient place for a heater.

their futons brush against the heater and catch fire

Its a good alert. I think people naturally expect a fire with a kerosene heater in such a case, but they think they will be safe if their futon brushes an electric heater. And most times, they will be, or the futon just gets scorched a bit. But sometimes, it will ignite.

The solution is use an electric blanket and not a heater. I have mine on a timer so that it warms up my bed before I go to sleep, then it shuts off an hour or two after I get in. Its set on low, but its plenty, even with my bedroom being the coldest room in the house. Doubled up sleeping bags also helps.

Or just get a decent duvet. Our bedroom gets down towards 10 degrees, no one but the cat uses a water bottle.

Japanese homes are not insulated and need a lot of heating. This is why so many people need to use heaters and hot water bottles. If homes were insulated the need for huge amounts of heating would decrease as would the accidents involving them. I insulated all the windows in my apartment with that silver faced foam sheet. It reduced my energy bills by half and I don't need to have a heater running constantly. Yeah, it's a bit dark inside, but I also installed LED lighting.

Japan always complains about the cost of electricity and importing fossil fuels, but they do very little to reduce electricity and oil dependency.

It would seem to me an electric heater is more dangerous than an hot water bottle. Unless you try to use the two in combination, of course.

New homes are changing in Japan. We built a home 3 years ago and it has very good insulation and double pane windows. Every time my mother-in-law comes by, she comments how warm our place is(it's not at all warm by US standards). Our former apartment, which is 15 years old, was appallingly cold with little or no insulation and drafty single pane windows. Most people probably still live this way in Tokyo. Still, in our new place we sleep with thick pajamas under down duvet covers and turn off the heat at night, but never see our breath anymore in the morning like we did in our apartment. In the daytime we supplement our heat with a far infrared heater which only heats the skin and not the room. It detects when no one is in the room and automatically turns off.

When will Japan start using or standardize central heating!

central heating is actually quite inefficient. from wiki: From an energy-efficiency standpoint considerable heat gets lost or goes to waste if only a single room needs heating, since central heating has distribution losses and (in the case of forced-air systems particularly) may heat some unoccupied rooms without need. In such buildings which require isolated heating, one may wish to consider non-central systems such as individual room heaters, fireplaces or other devices.

why heat the whole house when only one or two rooms need to be heated?

rickyrick,

In your quest for the undeniable wiki truth, you forgot to copy this:

Alternatively, architects can design new buildings which can virtually eliminate the need for heating, such as those built to the Passive House standard.

Had Japan stepped into modern times, she would have embraced this. Initial costs are high, but Passiv Haus (as they're called in Germany, or Zero Energy Houses are what should be implemented whereever there's cold climate. I suspect Japanese building standards when it comes to isolation is far behind, not because they can't, but because of domestic electric firms making a lot of money off people buying their energy using gadgets. AirCon's and heater is big business.

Hot water bottle accidents? That's the first time i have ever heard of such.

Someome has had too much free time on their hands to have gone ahead and prepared these statistics.

Disillusioned Japanese homes are not insulated and need a lot of heating. This is why so many people need to use heaters and hot water bottles. If homes were insulated the need for huge amounts of heating would decrease as would the accidents involving them.

This.

I saw a tv show a couple of weeks ago featuring run-down Japanese celebrity homes & one complete nut (I forget his name) had built a US$5m home without one shred of insulation. And he wondered why his breath frosted inside his home at night. I simply cannot fathom that level of incompetence by both him as the owner & also the builder for not telling/suggesting it to him.

In your quest for the undeniable wiki truth, you forgot to copy this:

Alternatively, architects can design new buildings which can virtually eliminate the need for heating, such as those built to the Passive House standard.

Had Japan stepped into modern times, she would have embraced this.

Japan is a capitalist society. If you think this would sell, then you have a great opportunity to make a lot of money - you've discovered a product for which there is a need, but no supply. People who do that and do something about it become rich - if they are correct in their suppositions.

"Japanese homes are not insulated and need a lot of heating."

Did you get that from the Ministry of Misinformation? My home, which was built 15 years ago, is very well insulated, has 2-pane Anderson windows throughout, and requires relatively little heating. Apartments built 20 - 30 years ago (during the bubble) however are another matter.

Lot of talk about houses being superbly insulated and "2-pane glass"... 2-pane glass was standard back in the '60's. Now, 3- or 4-pane windows are the norm. I have even seen windows with 5 panes in them. The reason, of course, is to save enerygy. 2-panes, depending a bit on construction, is not considered that effective.

Stranger,

Yep, I guess this will hit these shores as well. I know of one company in Kamakura that is constructing to those standards. Could probably be popular with some marketing...

All readers back on topic please.

Hot water bottles and thermostat controlled electric blankets are incredibly cost efficient ways of heating a bed. An electric blanket will warm up a bed in a cold room for a few yen. If it needs to be left on overnight, it will still barely cost anything.

sleeping next to a running heater which attempts to heat the entire room is expensive and ineffective.

Eventually Japan will get its insulation sorted out, but few houses are built to the best modern stanards. In a humid country, air has traditionally needed to circulate to prevent the wood from rotting and mold from spreading. I believe that the best techniques can help alleviate this.

I believe a lot of these accidents are happening because many posters noted here are right, the lack of insulation in many residences result in a lot of use of portable heaters, and alas, portable heaters can be serious fire hazards (or even carbon monoxide poisoning hazard if you're talking kerosene heaters) if not used properly, as noted in the article.

Maybe PM Shinzo Abe should sponsor a bill in the Diet to subsidize the retrofitting (if possible!) of older homes with better insulation so we can cut back the need for portable heaters with their attendant fire hazard problems. And it has the side benefit of lowering Japanese energy consumption, too.