How about just using a power strip that you could toggle on and off from the comfort of your bed? Would probably work the same as if you had gotten up to unplug the blanket.

Even new wiring can be done wrong with reversed polarity.
I would get a little polarity tester at lowes or something and plug it in the outlets to check it.
Or it could be that too many things are on that same circuit.
The tester will also check for proper ground. It may be called a receptacle tester but they will know what it is.
It could be lose wires inside the outlet. Especially in an old house some old wiring is still in play some where. It can be anywhere from the circuit breaker to the outlets. have you ever tried it in other outlets in the house, completely away from the one it's in now? If not do so.
On the outlet it is in now plug in the lamp to the same outlet turn off the lights except the lamp then plug in the pad and see if the lamp dims if so you know you have a power draw problem.

Some ideas off the top of my head.

All the suggestions in the preceding post are good ones.

Depending on how the electrical circuits are laid out and shared between parts of the house, it's not impossible (for instance) that your fridge or something like that could be on the same circuit as the plugs in your bedroom. Is that done or permissible today? No. Is dumb (and possibly dangerous) stuff like that and of other kinds common in an old house? Yes.

Is there another bedroom (not an adjacent room) you could sleep in for a few nights to see if this warmer acts the same or differently when used in another location?

You know best what works for your own comfort, but in your shoes, I wouldn't take any chances with potential danger from the appliance or your house's wiring until I got the problem identified and resolved.

I don't buy the statement, "Low on power." See if you can find an instruction for your unit. Maybe you'll have to go on-line to the company's web site.

I do not own an electric bed heaters of any kind, but have read about some of the safety features in those of recent manufacture. Some electric blankets have tiny thermal circuit breakers spread throughout the blanket. These are supposed to open if they overheat to avoid the possibility of fire or damage. Is it possible that the controller is signaling that a breaker has opened and turned off a section of the blanket? It was my understanding that these breakers were supposed to turn on after cooling, but then maybe not. You do need more information about the operation of the blanket to diagnose the problem.

The other possibility is the blanket is made with inferior parts that do not work well. Again, you do need information and I do not believe you'll get it from the store clerk unless he/she is qualtified to service the blanket.

I think I found your answer, check the link, you are not alone. Apparently they just don't work.

Best bet find another brand and try to get a refund for the defective ones.

I also saw in some of the complaints sites that many of them became fire hazards because the bulbs get extremely over heated, the plastic part falls off leaving the glowing hot element exposed. There's several law suits against sunbeam. Maybe you can get in on the class action lawsuits. LOL
But seriously I don't think I would use them.

Go Google this and read about it
sunbeam electric blanket lawsuit

Here is a link that might be useful: Complaints

I always thought that the turning off and blinking were from a safety feature? My heating pad will do this. Guess I learned something new today! Or maybe they do this on purpose? To avoid lawsuits? Just an idea

Mice? Test your wall outlet with an electrical meter. Try the blanket on a different outlet during the day. Is it overheating, causing a shut down?

I have a recent vintage heating pad that turns itself off after a short time. (I dislike that feature and wish it was 'optional'.)

I use 'my half' of a king electric blanket under the mattress pad. My late mother gave us the dual control blanket 45 years ago. Temperature is adjustable; no auto shut-off, but I usually turn it off once I'm cozy in bed.

I think Raven found your problem.

I sure won't be buying one.

I think Raven found my problem too. We can add "electricity expert" and "research expert" to her other titles. No, wait--we already knew she was an ace at research. Thank you, Raven!

I don't remember who manufactured my daughter-in-law's mattress pad, but it wasn't Sunbeam. Maybe Sunbeam made it under a different imprint--or maybe many manufacturers are turning out inferior products these days. (I guess we knew that.)

My thanks to everyone else who responded too. By the way, the operating instructions state that it's dangerous to plug these into power strips. I guess that's good to know.

you know what it was to my own benefit to do that research because I bought an electric Sunbeam throw for my husband last year for Christmas. He absolutely loves it and so does our little dog that gets to curl up with daddy in his heated blankie.

So far his has worked fine but we will be on the look out for this behavior.
I sleep so hot I can not stand anything heated on the bed, so he sometimes puts his throw on top of his covers on his side.

Many of the newer models are made to only run for about 2-4 hours then automatically shut off. The older ones never shut off. I had one of those old heating pads, must have been 20 yrs old, I bought it at a goodwill store. It was for my cats bed. I would put it in the bed then fold up a big fluffy towel over it so there was no direct contact and turn it on low. The cats would fight over that bed lol. All of my cats passed away and I gave the heating pad away. Now my little dog has a little dog bed that has a heat pad built into it, she is currently curled up in it, that one stays on all the time. It does not have any control it is permanently set to very low and has a foam egg crate type mattress on top of it. On cold days I know exactly where to find her!

I would say it's shutting off because of a safety issue. I toaster and iron will do that. I would be safe and buy a new one.

This post was edited by EmmaR on Fri, Nov 7, 14 at 14:31

Believe me, this doesn't start blinking because it's too hot. Sometimes it's been on only a few minutes when it starts doing it. My usual procedure is to pre-heat the pad and leave it on while I read in bed, then turn it off when I'm ready to go to sleep. At no time does it get overly hot.

The link Raven posted shows that many people have experienced the same thing with their mattress pads, blankets, and throws.

Raven, I bought a heated throw last year for me to use at my desk, but haven't yet tried it. I use a pet warming disk inside a dog house on the porch for the outside cats. They are quick to gather around (and on) it.

Gosh I didn't even know they made heated mattress pads. If it worked right, it would be sheer bliss!

I think that I'd prefer an electric blanket to a mattress pad, as I'd think that all of the weight, moving and banging by the bodies on top of the pad would cause it to deteriorate rather quickly.

But somebody said that they'd had one for 45 years.

We had an electric blanket that we enjoyed, something like that long ago, but it's been stored in the closet unused for years.

Temp. in the 50s in the house today, haven't turned on the furnace, but have been piling on blankets.

Maybe I'd better get the electric one out to see whether it still works - a lot cheaper than the oil bill (to heat the whole house)!

ole frugal-ful

O.J. -- I'm the one using the 45-year-old old electric blanket under my mattress pad. (You want it under something thick enough that you don't feel the wiring.) I've been using it this way for 10 years. Give it a try to pre-warm the bed, then turn it off once you are settled in.

One night, my parents-in-laws had a fun with their electric blanket. It had dual controls, one for each side, and in the days haste while making up the bed, the controls were switched. That night, the wife was getting hot and began reducing her control while the husband was getting colder and kept advancing his control. It took almost 2 hours before they discovered the problem.

This is a bit late but one approach that got the flashing F error to stop for me was to clean the connection prongs as they had accumulated a light film and lightly tarnished over the life of the heated pad. First, unplug the entire unit and disconnect the cabling from the mattress pad/ blanket to the controller. Take a fine nail file and gently rub along the prongs in the pad/blanket connector housing. You may notice a bit of dark residue on your file, which is likely causing a break in the circuit. You only need to file a little bit around each prong. Blow out the connector to remove and particles and swab with a a cotton ball lightly saturated in rubbing alcohol. Blow out again and ensure the unit is completely dry before reconnecting. Plug everything back in and try. Worth a try, though if you aren't sure what you're doing please get someone who knows how to handle electrical cabling to do it,.

Thanks, Shadow. Your advice is still timely, because I still have the problem. Since it began the first time the pad was plugged in, I don't know what could have accumulated back then, but maybe now that a year has gone by I can do some good by following your directions.

I'm here looking up the problem of the blinking 'F' as well. My mattress pad has been working GREAT for a year and of late, it now shuts off and blinks 'F'. I could unplug and plug back in and that worked for awhile, but now it just cuts off as soon as it is plugged in. :( I'm kinda nervous about the fire hazard...so am guessing it's time to buy a new one. Bleh....after only a year. No, I don't have the package or receipt...it was a Christmas gift.

I'm guessing that the blinking "F" indicate "fail".

Not knowing anything about your mattress pad, I can only guess. Many electric blankets and pads have internal thermal switches scattered throughout the blanket/pad. These are supposed to turn off sections of the heating circuit when they detect it is getting too hot. When these cool down, they should reset. This sort of service requires the thermal overload devices be sturdy to withstand the rigors of a sleeping person rolling around, putting squashing forces on the instrument, and wadding the blanket. A mattress pad probably won't be wadded during a person's sleep, but could be folded for storage. These normal actions can destroy poorly built units.

Another source of failure is breakage of the heater wires. This is a common failure.

My electric blanket will do that at times. Try unplugging it then plug it back in. I think it just needs to be reset.

Just a reminder that this is an old thread--although Egatopardo's problem is current.

There are some suggestions and solutions on this page.

http://www.fixya.com/support/t1265298-sunbeam_electric_blanket_blinking

I have the Rest & Relieve Therapeutic Heated Mattress Pad. Just got it yesterday. I paid almost $200 for this. I have not been able to use it. Not only does the light blink but there is a constant beeping every 16 seconds. I have done all the tips given in the user manual, to no avail. Seems like this is a common problem. I should have read these comments before I purchased. I am going to try Customer Care tomorrow morning. Will update my comment once I a speak to someone. Wish me luck. I was so looking forward to a nice warm bed to crawl into.

I do wish you luck, Tammie. Sorry to hear the $200 pad doesn't perform any better than the $70 ones. I just put another Sunbeam on my Amazon Wish List, knowing full well it'll have episodes of blinking. I still like my foot-warming pad, but I feel like I'm in competition with it every night, hoping it won't start blinking before I'm ready to turn it off.

We gave up on electric heating for our bed and now use hot water bottles. :)

I think all of the newer electric blankets/pads do that. The last few I have had did it. I don't know why but it's usually when the power goes off.

Here we _only_ have heated mattress pads. They last for years and you can even detach the controls from some and toss them in the washing machine. The idea of an electric blanket draped over the top of me seems very weird.

It needs to reset itself the 4 steps have to be in the following order...it worked for mine...

1. Unplug from the wall/outlet/power source

2. Unplug the mattress warmer

3. Plug the mattress warmer back in

4. Plug into wall outlet/power source etc

That's it!! Out of order and it won't reset and it will just keep blinking :(

Thanks, Suzanne. This thread was started in 2014, and I no longer have the problem. But in case it resurfaces--or if someone else is experiencing the problem--it'll be good to have your solution handy.

My foot warmer pad stopped misbehaving some time ago, and I've been very happy with it ever since.

I am going through this with my electric blanket. When I called sunbeam they told me the same thing. I believe it happens when the p[power goes out for an instant and messes it up. Or....we need new controls. Its still happening off & on but I will deal with it rather than buy another one.

When I reset my mattress pad heater, I left it unplugged overnight...then when I did plug it in for the reset I didn't turn the controllers on for about an hour. I heard somewhere that it needs time to reset/reboot itself. It's working great now!

Someone who had the electric blanket under the mattress pad said that they turn it off before climbing into bed, but I feel that a blanket that was built to lie on top of the occupants is part of an entirely different ballgame when the bodies move, bang and bump over it all night long, whether it's turned on or not. It wasn't built to stand such abuse, and will probably get damaged, eventually, which will probably have an effect when the power is turned on, later.

ole joyful

I absolutely agree!!! Those wires are much smaller and not meant to withstand the pressure of people's weight and the twisting n turning that we all do in our sleep. I'd say very dangerous in the long run because someday when the electric blanket is turned on it may short out and smolder even though it's been turned off. Scary, just scary if you think about it.