History, Filling or Draining, Storage, Repairing and More About Waterbeds

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History of the Bed
FAQ's About Waterbeds
Benefits of Sleeping on a Waterbed

History of the Bed

     About 10 centuries ago, people found certain materials better than bare ground for sleeping. Leaves, pine needles, animal skins, or whatever else happened to be hanging around were used to provide comfort and warmth.
     Three or four centuries ago the Egyptians, always ready with new ideas, decided they would raise the bed off the cold floor. Royalty had beds of ebony and gold, but commoners made due with palm leaves heaped in the corner.
     During the Roman Empire, the wealthy had mattresses stuffed with reeds, hay, wool, or feathers. During this time period the Greeks, Persians, and Romans discovered the benefits of sleeping on water by filling goat skins with water.
     During the Renaissance, people covered their mattress stuffing with a coarse ticking, and then used sumptuous materials like velvets, silks, and brocades over the mattresses.
     The 16th century found people placing their mattresses on a latticework of ropes. The ropes needed tightening on a regular basis. Hence, the saying "sleep tight" was born.
     By the 18th century we find the cast iron bed and cotton mattresses. Together, they provided a sleeping space that was less attractive to bugs. Until that time, assorted vermin were simply accepted unavoidable in even the most royal beds.
     In 1865 a patent was awarded for the first coil spring mattress. This became the idea for the innerspring mattress of the 1930's.
     The 1950's brought us foam rubber mattresses and pillows.
     Then, in 1969, Charles Hall applied for a patent for the forerunner of today's waterbed mattress. Evolving from a design project he had done for a graduate program when he was a student at San Francisco State University, the first waterbeds were sold out of the back of a van, mostly to hippies, and didn't even have heaters or frames.
     Originally associated with this counterculture, serious bed shoppers shied away from them for some time. Improvements in construction during the past 20 years have brought the benefits of sleeping on water to the attention of the general public.
     In the 1980's, America had another choice for sleeping with the introduction of the adjustable airbed.
     Today's choices offer us unlimited variety for sleeping in comfort. My choice is a waterbed. Hope yours is too.

Attach the faucet connector that comes in the fill and drain kit to a nearby faucet, attach your garden hose tightly to the connector, or attach hose directly to an outside faucet. Flush water through the hose to clear any bacteria residing in the hose before placing the fill kit attachment on the other end of the hose and screwing the fill kit snugly onto the extended mattress valve. Keep a towel handy to dry any wayward drips. Start filling the mattress with cold water, making sure your mattress is straight in the frame, and checking for wrinkles in the bottom of the mattress or the liner. When the mattress is about 1/4 full, turn on the hot water faucet along with the cold water faucet, and continue to fill until the mattress looks fairly level, and is about 1" below the frame edge. Do not overfill. Adjustments will probably be needed, but it is much easier to add water than to take it out. Add your bottle of multi-purpose water conditioner, burp the bed, insert the plug, screw on the cap, and test the bed for fill level. Plug in the waterbed heater. If you used some hot water, the bed should be comfortable enough to sleep on right away. If you had to go to an outside faucet, it will probably be too cool the first night or two. Additional air bubble will rise as the bed is slept on so you will need to burp again in a few days.

Fill level is a matter of personal preference, but this is a good starting point. After completing the above steps for filling, lay on the mattress flat on your back with no pillow. If two people share the bed, both should do this. You want your bodies, at this point to be fairly parallel with the floor. If you feel your heads are lower than your mid section, and you feel like your rolling off to the sides, you have too much water in the bed, and will need to drain some off. If you feel like you are laying in a hammock with your mid section lower than you head and feet, you don't have enough water in the bed, and will need to add more. Once you have achieved the parallel position, you can adjust more or less for personal comfort.

More water will help to give a firmer feel up to a point, but you don't want to add so much that the mattress is too full (see above question), or so full that it is above the liner level. A better method for giving a firmer feel is to change to a waveless waterbed mattress with more fiber, or possibly a waveless waterbed mattress with lumbar support.

Sea sickness, or feeling nauseous because of motion, is very unlikely. A free flow waterbed does have a fair amount of motion though, and although some find this relaxing, the motion may disturb others. It is a mistake though, to miss out on the benefits of sleeping on water because the motion may bother you. Today, we have waveless waterbed mattresses that are almost as still as a conventional bed, but offering the comfort of a waterbed.

Unplug the waterbed heater. Place some heavy objects (without sharp edges) around mattress valve to keep hose connector in the water. Have some towels on hand to catch any leakage. If you have an electric waterbed pump (the easiest method), attach the hose connector from your fill and drain kit to the suction side hose on the electric pump, and screw snugly onto the extended mattress valve. Attach your garden hose to the outlet side of the electric pump, and run the hose to where you want the water to drain. Turn pump on. If an electric pump is unavailable, attach the hose connector from your fill kit directly to your garden hose, attach the drain attachment from your fill and drain kit tightly to the faucet connector that has been attached to a nearby faucet. Making sure the drain attachment's bell valve is in the up position, turn the water on. The water will begin to enter the bed. Once water is flowing into the bed, drop the bell valve to the down position allowing the water to flow into the sink. Leave the water running full force. This is what allows the water to be pulled from the bed. Allow one to two hours depending on water pressure for the water to drain. Don't allow air into the hose by having the hose connector pull out of the water in the mattress. This will interrupt the siphoning action, and may damage your electric drain pump if you are using one. If you have a wave reduced mattress, take care to avoid bunching up or damaging the interior structure of the mattress. In lifting the mattress from the head of the bed, to allow water to move toward the valve, be sure you have a hold of all layers of fiber to avoid having them slip to the center of the mattress. As the draining process nears the end, begin to roll the mattress from the head, squeezing the water toward the drain valve. When fully drained, the mattress will have a wrinkled look, and will have pulled away from the sides of the bed.

As long as the mattress is given proper care, you should only need to drain it when you move it.

Air bubble enter the mattress during the fill process, and are sometimes present due to being trapped in the layers of a wave reduced mattress. Mattresses also have a chemical reaction that causes air to develop even though the cap and plug is closed tightly on the mattress. Bacteria in the mattress can also cause air bubbles. Use of a good multi-purpose water conditioner will control air bubbles, and keep the water clean. Even so, the mattress will periodically need to be burped. This is best achieved by two people. While one person holds the mattress valve up to avoid spills, the second runs a broom handle, or something similar from the head of the bed toward the mattress valve while applying moderate pressure to force the air out of the mattress valve. Replace the cap and plug quickly once the air has been released.

If the waterbed does not have a heater, and the climate is humid, your mattress may develop some condensation. If your bed does not use a heater, and you are experiencing condensation, you may want to use a waterbed heater set on low just to keep the mattress dry. If the room temperature and the heater temperature are too close, you may also experience some condensation. There should be at least a 10 degree variation in room and heater setting to avoid condensation. Do not allow this condition to continue, or you will eventually have a mildew problem that can affect allergies, and damage the bed and bedding.

Once the leak is located, determine whether it is in a seam or the body of the mattress. Seam leaks are manufacturer's defects. If the mattress if under warranty, circle the spot with a felt tip marker, and call or e-mail the dealer or the manufacturer for how to handle warranty problems (see our policies). If the leak is in the body of the mattress, and where you can get to it, there is no need to drain the bed. For a small pinhole, dry the area and apply a drop of glue from the patch kit. Let this dry, and apply a second drop. Allow to dry a few hours before sleeping on the mattress. If the leak is more than a pinhole, you will need to use a piece of the vinyl from the patch kit, that you have cut with rounded corners slightly larger than the puncture. Dry the area around leak, put glue around patch edges, and place over puncture. Allow to dry a few hours before sleeping on the mattress. If puncture is too large to patch, or if it is on a corner, where it is difficult to patch, you may want to consider a new waterbed mattress.

Waterbed mattresses do not store well for long periods of time, but you can store them for a short time if you take precautions. Drain as much water as possible out of the mattress, pour in a bottle of multi-purpose water conditioner to control bacteria growth, replace the cap and plug, and either roll the mattress, or fold over something soft to keep as many folds as possible out of the mattress to avoid fold cracks. Store at moderate room temperatures, and cover or box to protect from punctures.

Improper care may be the reason. A multi-purpose water conditioner keeps the inside of the vinyl conditioned, and periodic use of a vinyl cleaner to condition the outside of the vinyl is recommended. Bleach and other household cleaners can have a drying effect on mattress vinyl causing them to become brittle. The next most common reason for brittle vinyl of a waterbed mattress is not using a good mattress pad to absorb body oils, or not laundering the pad often enough. Once a mattress has become dry or brittle, it will be much more likely to develop cracks and tears. It is best to replace it with a new waterbed mattress before any damage occurs.

Odors emanating from the mattress usually fall into three categories. The first occurs when the mattress is new. Waterbed mattresses are made from vinyl, and vinyl does have a smell when it is fresh. Once the mattress is in the bed and exposed to the air for a while, this smell should dissipate. Use of a vinyl cleaner may speed the process. The second cause is not so easily cured. If you are experiencing a musty odor, this is usually caused by bacteria growth. This may be from the outside of the bag being moist from condensation, or a puncture. If this is the cause, dry the area thoroughly, fix the problem, and clean the outside of the mattress, liner, and heater pad. Be sure to launder any bedding that may have mildewed. Try to leave the bedding off, and the mattress open to the air for a while to speed the process. If the odor is particularly strong when the cap and plug is removed from the mattress, the problem is being created from the inside of the mattress. The usual cause is from bacteria that has entered the mattress from a hose that has not been thoroughly flushed. Bacteria multiplies rapidly in the warm environment of a waterbed mattress. Always use a multi-purpose water conditioner regularly to keep the water in the mattress free from bacteria, but multi-purpose water conditioner will not fix a bacteria growth that has already started. Use of a shock treatment to clear this problem will be necessary. You will need to use the shock treatment for both the inside of the mattress, and also to wipe down the outside of the mattress, the safety liner, and the heater pad. Musty odors will permeate the vinyl to affect these other items, and if they are not treated, even though the bed had been treated, the odor will return. The third cause we occasionally hear about having caused an odor from the bed is from well water in an area with a high mineral content. A double dose of multi-purpose water conditioner may help keep the problem to a minimum.

The manufacturer incorporates what is called a baffle into the interior of the vinyl bag. This may be what is known as hydraulic baffling, which is a system of vinyl cells that restrict the motion of the water inside the bag. The more cells in the bag, the less motion. The more common method for creating wave reduced waterbed mattresses is using sheets of fiber. Closed cell, very porous, non absorbent fiber layers are placed inside the bag to restrict the motion of the water. The more layers, the less motion. These layers usually are cut the full length and width of the waterbed mattress bag, and may or may not be attached (tethered) to the corners of the mattress. Additional partial layers of fiber may be placed across the middle width of the bag sandwiched between full layers to create lumbar support waterbed mattresses. Extra care should be taken when draining wave reduced mattresses.

Extra care needs to be taken when handling a wave reduced mattress. Once the baffle has shifted, it can be difficult to move it back to where it belongs, and if the baffle was tethered to the corners, the tethers may even have pulled loose. The more bunched up the baffle is, the more difficult it will be to get it straight. That being said, it may be worth the effort for an expensive mattress that is not too bunched up. Drain the bed all the way so that two people can lift one end of the mattress. Put some air into the mattress using an air pump or a shop vacuum. Put the cap and plug back on. Lift the end of the mattress where the baffle is located making sure you have a firm hold on all layers of the baffle, and give the mattress a shake. The baffle should start to straighten toward the other end. Refill and burp the mattress.

A safety liner could be considered a necessity since it will catch any water in the unlikely event that your mattress should develop a puncture or tear, and prevent water damage to furniture and rugs. Never fill your waterbed mattress till it is above the safety liner.

Although some people have been known to enjoy the cool feeling of a waterbed without a heater, most would find it unbearably cold. There are beds made to be used without a heater, such as a softside waterbed with a pillowtop, and some people eliminate their heater by using a thermal mattress pad or enclose their mattress in a quilted, zippered pillowtop mattress cover. For many, though, one of the therapeutic benefits of sleeping on a waterbed is the warmth of the waterbed heater.

This is a personal preference call, but most will start their waterbed heater at about 87 degrees, and adjust up or down from there. Give your new bed approximately two days to achieve the correct temperature, and then, if it needs adjusting, do so in small increments, giving time after each adjustment for the temperature to achieve the desired mark. Keep the mattress covered with the bedding to speed the warming process, and to hold the heat in after it reaches the desired temperature.

Place the pad and sensor of the waterbed heater under the safety liner, with the pad approximately in the middle of the bed, but not over any open cracks in the decking. If two people share the bed, and one likes the bed warmer than the other, place the pad on their side of the bed. It will be the slightly warmer side. Place the sensor 6" to 8" away from the heating pad, and also from the bed frame. If it is too close to the pad, it will shut the heat down too soon, and the bed will never achieve full temperature. If it is not fully under the mattress, it will run continuously, and be far too warm, or even cause damage to the liner and mattress. Never place anything over the heating unit except the liner and mattress. Damage can result if anything else, such as foam, is placed on top of the heating unit, restricting it's ability to heat the water in the mattress properly.

Maybe and maybe not. Before going to the expense of a new heater, do some checking. Has a child or pet been around the bed, and pulled the cord slightly or fully out of the outlet or the control box? Is the light still lighting? If so, you have current flowing to the control box. Even though electricity may be coming to the box, if the cord has pulled loose from the control box, it will never follow through to the heating pad. Disconnect both plugs, and reconnect firmly. Is the outlet controlled by a wall switch that someone has inadvertently turned off? Has the bed recently been moved? Check to see that the sensor has not been placed too close to the heating pad, and that the temperature setting is high enough (see above question). Has someone adjusted the temperature down and not mentioned it? Have you allowed a newly filled bed two to three days minimum for the water to achieve the temperature setting? After checking these points, try turning the temperature up about 5 degrees. If the bed is still cool in a couple of days, it appears you may need a new heater. If it is under warranty, call or e-mail the dealer or the manufacturer for how to handle warranty problems (see our policies). If it is no longer under warranty, you may wish to consider purchasing a new waterbed heater.

This is a case of the media blowing a subject all out of proportion. Anything electrical throws off an electromagnetic field, and some worry this could be damaging. This concern has been taken into consideration in the design of currently manufactured waterbed heaters. The lower wattages, and other design features make any electromagnetic field of today's heaters almost zero.

After your waterbed frame has been assembled, place the heating unit on the deck boards. Do not plug in at this time. Unfold the safety liner in the frame removing as many wrinkles as possible by running your hand over the bottom and sides. Place the mattress evenly inside the safety liner. Make sure your mattress has reached room temperature. Unfolding a cold mattress could result in cracks. Carefully unfold, placing the valve end at the foot of the bed, and square the mattress in the frame. Fill the mattress. Plug in and turn on the waterbed heater.

A hardside (wooden framed) waterbed weighs approximately 300 lbs per foot of width. This makes a queen sized waterbed weigh approximately 1500 lbs. A softside waterbed will weigh approximately half of this amount because of the reduced water volume. A softside waterbed with tubes will be the lightest of the waterbeds with the tubes weighing approximately 40 lbs each. Since the weight of a waterbed is distributed over a fairly large area, the per foot weight is usually not a problem for any home built to code.

Waterbed sheets are two flat sheets attached at the center foot, and having triangular pockets sewn onto the corners of the bottom sheet to wrap around the waterbed mattress corners. The top sheet is attached to the bottom sheet since it would be difficult to tuck the top sheet under a heavy waterbed mattress, and attaching it keeps the top sheet from pulling loose. Conventional sheets, which are used on softside waterbeds in addition to innerspring, air, and foam beds, have a separate fitted bottom sheet and a flat top sheet.

Why are waterbed comforters sometimes different sizes from conventional comforters?

Waterbed comforters are usually tucked between the wood frame and the waterbed mattress. Since they only tuck in a few inches, they don't need to be as large as a comforter that "drapes" over a conventional bed. Some people though, prefer to "drape" their comforter over the sides of the frame, and may opt for a larger size to have this feature. Always measure your bed and compare to the given measurements to be sure you are getting what you want.

     Aside from the comfort of sleeping on a waterbed, there are many other benefits. The warmth of the waterbed heater, the even support, and for some, the gentle motion of a free flow or semi-waveless waterbed mattress, can have a calming effect, inducing sleep and countering the stress of everyday life.
     A waterbed offers total body support, easing body aches. For those that must be confined for long periods to their bed, the water displacement that causes a state of weightlessness also eliminates pressure on the skin reducing the occurrence of bed sores.
     For allergy sufferers, a vinyl waterbed bag, properly cared for, is a more sanitary sleeping surface, reducing considerably the population of dust mites found on and in regular mattresses. It is an easy process to wipe down the vinyl surface of a waterbed bag when the bedding is changed.
     Back pain sufferers often find the total body support of a waterbed the only comfortable surface they can find for sleeping. Since the spine is relieved of pressure, allowing it to relax, and the soothing warmth relieves sore muscles, those with back pain wake in the morning feeling rested. A waveless mattress with lumbar support is the choice most often made by people with back pain for sleeping on water.
     Expectant mothers have told us their waterbed has made sleeping a pleasure again. Backaches are greatly diminished, and the giving surface is perfect for their changing body contours. Many feel their babies are calmer when mom sleeps on a waterbed.
     A warm waterbed can improve circulation, bringing relief to rheumatism sufferers and those with poor blood circulation.
     Painful arthritic joints can prevent a good night's sleep, but the warmth of a waterbed, along with the low pressure of the waterbed surface can have arthritis sufferers waking up with less morning stiffness and fully rested again.
     You owe it to yourself to secure the good night's sleep that is essential to overall good health. A waterbed can provide that good night's sleep.

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History, Filling or Draining, Storage, Repairing and Everything Else You May or May Not Have Wanted to Know About Waterbeds

History, Filling or Draining, Storage, Repairing and
Everything Else You May or May Not Have
Wanted to Know About Waterbeds