The Practical Guide To Waterbed Replacement

[Woody13]

Last week, I bought a new computer. My previous computer (6 years old) was just a little too out of date so I decided to upgrade both the hardware as well as the software. The upgrade went well but it was very time consuming. Tweaking the hardware and software always presents challenges. By Monday the 7th, I had the system running well and I wanted to relax a little. However a new (unrelated) problem arose. My waterbed sprung a leak!

Yes friends and neighbors, I have slept on a waterbed for over 30 years and have never had a problem with the bed or my back. I never had a leak before last Monday. Suddenly, my waterbed mattress (which I have had for the past 20 years) started to leak. I noticed the leak Monday night. I awoke about 2 AM and noticed my back was wet. I got a beach towel and put it on the bed and went back to sleep.

The next day I found several tiny pinhole leaks on the mattress directly under where my back is normally situated. I had a patch kit (also 20 years old) and the glue was hard as a rock. Therefore, I went out the next day and looked for a new waterbed mattress. I discovered that nobody sells waterbeds anymore in my area, nor do they sell patch kits or any other accessories. What is this world coming to? :lookaroun

I then did an assessment of my situation. My waterbed wasn’t leaking very much. A beach towel was plenty to insulate me from the water. I then decided to stick with my current mattress until I could find a new waterbed mattress. I turned to the Internet.

On Tuesday the 8th, I ordered a new king size waterbed mattress from Sam’s Club via the Internet. The total cost was $255.00 and shipping was free. This same waterbed mattress from other suppliers would have cost me well over $400.00. The mattress was being shipped from Commerce City, CO on Tuesday the 8th via UPS and was scheduled to arrive at my house on Friday the 11th. For the next three nights I slept with several beach towels under my torso to keep the water at bay. That worked just fine.

At 4:00 PM on Friday, the UPS truck showed up at my door with my waterbed. It was now time to drain and discard the old waterbed and install and fill the new model. It takes some time to accomplish all this since my king size waterbed holds about 180 gallons of water. Draining a typical waterbed with a garden hose and relying upon a natural siphon action takes a long time (6 to 8 hours or more). I have a small power drill-pump that was able to drain my mattress in about 2 ½ hours (and yes, I disconnected the waterbed heater before I drained the mattress).

I threw out the old mattress, liner and heater and then got set to install all new components. I installed the new heater pad and thermostat onto the support frame and ran the wiring to the control box on the frame exterior. I then installed the safety liner and the new waterbed mattress. It was now time to fill the mattress.

I had all the hose and adapters needed to fill the mattress from the bathroom sink. I hooked everything up and checked for leaks. I had a small leak in the hose connection at the sink. That’s to be expected since those plastic adapter fittings rarely provide a leak free fit. I just created a “drip loop” in the hose so that the leak would drip into the sink rather than down the length of the hose and onto the bathroom floor. With that minor modification, I was ready.

I turned on the water full blast making sure that the water coming from the tap was warm but not hot. It’s important to use warm water. If you fill a waterbed with cold water, it can take several days to heat the water to a comfortable level for sleep. It’s best to fill the mattress with water at 77º F (25º C). During the filling process, I also added 8 oz. of waterbed conditioner to the water. I’m told that this stuff helps protect the vinyl. Since my old mattress lasted for 20 years that stuff must do something!

Within about 2 ½ hours, the mattress was full. I turned off the water, disconnected the hose, burped the air out of the mattress and then capped off the bed. I let my wife put the sheets and other stuff on the mattress and I then turned on the heater. Everything worked just fine. I then went to the bathroom to disconnect the hose from the faucet and I heard the distinctive sound of a water drip coming from under the sink. I opened up the cabinet and noticed that several items under the sink were soaked with water.

Remember that “drip loop” I put in the hose? Well, it worked but I overlooked another drip problem. As I mentioned, those plastic adapter fittings always seem to leak a little and there was another leak. This leak caused the water to travel down the faucet spout to the base of the faucet. From there the water leaked past the sink gasket into the lower cabinet. It wasn’t too serious but it was irritating. I had to pull everything out of that cabinet and mop up the water. I also put a small fan in the cabinet to really dry things out!

Also, I found stuff in that cabinet that I thought I had lost years ago. I had a full repair kit for the faucet and the toilet in that cabinet. Heck, I thought I had used those years ago! The last thing to do now was to remove the plastic adaptor from the faucet. It was stuck tight. Damn I hate those plastic adapters! I finally got it out with a tool and replaced the faucet aerator.

And that is my report on how to replace a waterbed. :lol: :wave:

 

[Debbie]

Hey Woody! I hadn't seen a waterbed in years until I went to Chalmette to help my girlfriend gut her house. With all of the debris that floated around with 10' of water; that waterbed was still intact; it had not sprung a leak. There was still floodwater around the mattress, in the frame, and it STUNK. Her waterbed actually was moved about 3 feet from where it was when they left for the storm. You think it floated?
I keep eyeing those Temper-Pedics, and the price allows them to stay right in the showroom.

Mom-if you read this------how are you enjoying your Heavenly Bed?

 

[tigsmom]

Woody, you are the only one I know who still has a waterbed, everybody here got rid of them years ago! I never could get used to being on one of those things.

That was some adventure and waaay too much trouble to change a mattress. :lol:

Hope you have a much luck with the new as you did the old.

:wave:

 

[The Mom]

My sister-in-law and her husband still have a waterbed...despite several cats over the years. I'm not sure their backs are in better shape than mine; of course, they ARE older.

My heavenly bed is still heavenly, thank you. When The Daughter and I were shopping (in DC) for her apartment, I told her she could go cheap on everything but the bed, or she would regret it later. :lol:

I also warned her that if she spent a lot on living room furniture, it would hurt that much more when it looked trashed after a few parties.

 

[The Mom]

Woody, your post reminded me of the day my house went into multi-system failure!

The Son was 3 months old, The daughter was about 10, and I was doing wash to get ready for camp. The washer overflowed (a baby booty had been sucked into the overflow drain, I learned later and the clamp was loosened as it passed by) I wasn't in the room when it happened, so walked into a room (tile, thankfully) covered with an inch of water. No problem, I would borrow a neighbor's shop vac and clean it up. The vac kept tripping the circuit breaker. OK, guess the floor's too wet...I'll use towels.

The A/C shut off, and had tripped it's circuit breaker; when I reset it, I saw a glow behind the panel. Both A/C units had been replaced a few weeks before, as they kept tripping their circuits. I turned off the whole panel, called an electrician, and called my mother to get the kids out of the house. At this point, the painter who was painting our downstairs (after repairing the hole in the wall that the plumbers made while repairing a plumbing leak a week or so before) arrived. He said it was no problem to paint the room with the most light.

The owner of the electrical company arrived...all of his staff was busy. When he saw the glow, and the painter (who was an old friend of his) told him there was a new baby in the house, he said that the paper work could wait and he would install the new panel himself. The painter held the light for him while he did it. :lol:

So by the time they were all finished (which took some time) and I had cleaned up all of mess, it was early evening and my husband arrived home, saw me on the couch, and asked "What's for dinner?"

Remind me again about why I bought an almost 100 year old house? Ah yes, "charm." :lol:

 

[Woody13]

You think it floated?

No doubt Debbie. Water in a waterbed is much warmer than ocean water and warm water contains more dissolved air. Therefore, the waterbed water is actually lighter and will float on top of the ocean water. Also, since the water is sealed in a vinyl bag the air can not escape even if the water gets cold again. Saw several waterbeds float off after Ivan. Did you know that bowling balls float too? :wave:

Woody, you are the only one I know who still has a waterbed, everybody here got rid of them years ago! I never could get used to being on one of those things.

That was some adventure and waaay too much trouble to change a mattress.

I must admit that a waterbed is an acquired taste. Many people tried them back in the 70’s and 80’s as a novelty and it wore off with most folks quickly. There was a period in the late 70’s and early 80’s when we lived in a very old house on an offshore island (a Key). We couldn’t set up the waterbed in that house because the floor would not support the weight. We had no telephone there either and our power (when it worked) was supplied by a generator. I had more problems with my back than I care to recall. As soon as we moved back to the mainland, we set up the waterbed again and have stayed with it ever since.

Of course, when we travel, we sleep on “normal” beds. :wave:

Woody, your post reminded me of the day my house went into multi-system failure!

The Son was 3 months old, The daughter was about 10, and I was doing wash to get ready for camp. The washer overflowed (a baby booty had been sucked into the overflow drain, I learned later and the clamp was loosened as it passed by) I wasn't in the room when it happened, so walked into a room (tile, thankfully) covered with an inch of water. No problem, I would borrow a neighbor's shop vac and clean it up. The vac kept tripping the circuit breaker. OK, guess the floor's too wet...I'll use towels.

The A/C shut off, and had tripped it's circuit breaker; when I reset it, I saw a glow behind the panel. Both A/C units had been replaced a few weeks before, as they kept tripping their circuits. I turned off the whole panel, called an electrician, and called my mother to get the kids out of the house. At this point, the painter who was painting our downstairs (after repairing the hole in the wall that the plumbers made while repairing a plumbing leak a week or so before) arrived. He said it was no problem to paint the room with the most light.

The owner of the electrical company arrived...all of his staff was busy. When he saw the glow, and the painter (who was an old friend of his) told him there was a new baby in the house, he said that the paper work could wait and he would install the new panel himself. The painter held the light for him while he did it. :lol:

So by the time they were all finished (which took some time) and I had cleaned up all of mess, it was early evening and my husband arrived home, saw me on the couch, and asked "What's for dinner?"

Remind me again about why I bought an almost 100 year old house? Ah yes, "charm." :lol:

As you can see from the post above I too have lived in some older houses with “character”. It can indeed be a challenge sometimes. The aforementioned house was only assessable by boat. Most of our appliances ran by propane. Our only fresh water was from a cistern. We had no insulation in that old wood frame house. It was off grade with a crawlspace beneath the living area of the house. At night the hermit crabs would crawl up inside the interior walls. We could hear them making their way through the wall space. Every so often, one or more hermit crabs would lose their grip and fall. They made rather loud thuds as they hit the wall studs on their fall back to earth. It should come as no surprise to learn that previous residents of the house considered it to be haunted. :lol: :wave: