Finding Leak In Airbed
This must seem like something everyone knows, but I wanted to know if there was an easy trick to finding where an airbed was loosing air. Have tried spraying soap and water. Would appreciate any ideas. Thanks If spraying with soap won't find it I would suggest total immersion in water. If you only partially inflate it you may be able to bunch up the excess to increase the pressure in a small area, and use a bathtub filled with water to look for bubbles. If nothing shows on the surface then a likely place is a seam where it is more difficult to see. Let us know how it goes. Thanks Greg, I will give it a try and let you know how it works. If you happen to come up with any other ideas, please let me know, as we are using it to sleep on at the moment, and would appreciate any help. However, I will try the bathtub method, and let you know. Thanks again, Kieron I have a Coleman king-size bed which leaked overnight if slept on after being used for a year without trouble. Re- submerging under water - - Where are you going to find an easy place to put an airbed under water? Its much easier to do this. Pour about 8 pints of water with about a quarter cup of washing liquid INTO the air bed and inflate it normally. Place the airbed on a flat surface over a cotton sheet and test the bottom surface by laying on the bed ard rolling around. Then pick up the airbed and examine that surface for water leak. Then turn the airbed over and repeat. You can also turn the bed onto each of its narrow edges and try that too. I found a pinhole leak with about a teaspoon size wetspot on the felt side of the Coleman bed by rolling on it for just 30 seconds. Mark the wetspot with a magic marker and now drain the water out and re-inflate. Let it stand up against a wall to allow all the water to drain to the bottom (the washing liquid acts as a wetting agent) and then open the airvalve and hopefully all the remaining water will flush out with the air. Now patch the leak. Pretty good idea Ron, I'll have to remember that. I've done the bathtub trick a few times. If it's summer I dip it in the pool. Hi Ron, You were right about the bathtub ideal. My husband got the bed as far as the bathtub and said, I can't believe you talked me into this, it's pure insanity. Before I put water INTO the bed, I wanted to know about getting it all out, and if there are any ramifications if you can't get it all out? I am willing to try anything at this point. As I said before, we are sleeping on it. So, thanks for the idea, and I will give it a try. Kieron You should be able to get the majority out. A little left behind isn't going to be that big of a deal. Your suggestion of putting water and soap liquid into the bed is a good one. The idea of putting the bed in a tub just is too difficult. If it has plenty air then it will be too buoyant to sink, if you can get in into the bathroom. I put a little of air in mine and took it to the bathroom but it is bent into too many pieces to detect anything. If the liquid is on the inside then it will come out when under pressure and then it is a matter of finding the water mark which is much easier. Great idea. I have 2 air beds. They were purchased a year apart; both developed a leak after months of nightly use. Mfr(s)/brand name unknown now; but both have an air pump/motor unit Intex, Fast-Fill; and are identical in construction. Here is what I found. I hope it is useful to you: Both developed a leak in precisely the same location! The leaks are in the seam of one of the ellipsoidal shaped depressions, on the top surface. There are alternating rows of 4 and 5 of these depressions when looking at the short dimension of the bed. Both leaks developed in the 1st row of 4 nearest the foot. It is in the 2nd from left depression, looking from the foot. The leak is nearly at the midpoint of the left edge of that depression. Bizarre! After trying the helpful suggestions on this thread, here is what worked for me: Inflate the bed until it is very hard. You must have absolute silence! Then lie on the bed (to maximize internal air pressure). Now you should be able to hear and/or feel (with the palm of your hand) air escaping from the leak. I successfully made repairs with $2 worth of super glue for leather, vinyl, . . . from the supermarket. And, a one inch square of duct tape centered on the leak while the glue is still liquid. The location of the leaks on 2 beds is within 1 centimeter of each other, along the weld located as above. Hmmm! I put my money on a manufacturing problem. The key to finding leaks in air mattresses (or air beds) is to pump them up really tight so that the leak is flowing at full blast. While I'm sure that putting liquid inside the mattress chamber is effective, I see several potential problems with that: 1) You could grow some nasty bacteria in there, and if anyone ever uses their mouth to blow it up... ew. 2) You could cause the chamber to degrade pre-maturely if you use anything except pure water. Anyway, there are a couple of good articles on finding and repairing air mattress and air bed leaks on my site here: NoAds.com Good luck! Originally Posted by gedsm2 I have 2 air beds. They were purchased a year apart; both developed a leak after months of nightly use. Mfr(s)/brand name unknown now; but both have an air pump/motor unit Intex, Fast-Fill; and are identical in construction. Here is what I found. I hope it is useful to you: Both developed a leak in precisely the same location! The leaks are in the seam of one of the ellipsoidal shaped depressions, on the top surface. There are alternating rows of 4 and 5 of these depressions when looking at the short dimension of the bed. Both leaks developed in the 1st row of 4 nearest the foot. It is in the 2nd from left depression, looking from the foot. The leak is nearly at the midpoint of the left edge of that depression. Bizarre! After trying the helpful suggestions on this thread, here is what worked for me: Inflate the bed until it is very hard. You must have absolute silence! Then lie on the bed (to maximize internal air pressure). Now you should be able to hear and/or feel (with the palm of your hand) air escaping from the leak. I successfully made repairs with $2 worth of super glue for leather, vinyl, . . . from the supermarket. And, a one inch square of duct tape centered on the leak while the glue is still liquid. The location of the leaks on 2 beds is within 1 centimeter of each other, along the weld located as above. Hmmm! I put my money on a manufacturing problem. I have an INTEX bed too. After two sleepness nights of waking up in strange positions due to my bed going down, I googled my problem and it took me straight here. I looked exactly where you said and bingo! There was my leak. I am going to get some super glue today and will have a decent night's sleep tonight. Thank you! Gedsm2. I am thankful to you for finding such a identical problem which caused me and my wife had many sleepless nights...I realy went straight to find out the leaks where you identified in your beds and I can say I am a third person who found the probelm at the same exact location where you and I other guy found. I have fixed it now within $4 expense...I would recommand anyone if you have intex airbed and it started leaking within 2 or 3 months, first look at the places for the leaking where described in Gedsm2 threads... loads of thanx to you Ged God belss you Thanks - that really helped us! Totally found the leak in the intex bed on the top felt side. It was blowing air right out of a pin-hole sized hole. I marked it with a felt pen. I then deflated the mattress and used a patch kit to patch it up. Hope it works! Originally Posted by gedsm2 see original post above! My Swiss Gear air mattress with the Insta-fill pump was doing the same thing. And with research, in the same place! I found it on the top side, 5th seam from the bottom, opposite side of the pump. My mattress has a fabric top, and a blow up pillow so you can sit up, so the top and bottom are easy to distinguish. How I found the air leak was a little different. I filled the mattress with as much air as possible. Took it outside, and sprayed it with water with the garden hose. And the leak in the mattress started squealing like a pig! Yeah, happy nights are coming tonight I'm off to buy a repair kit! Thank you again gedsm2 for your detailed description which helped me to locate the sore spot! how about using rubber mousse (the type you would use for the tyre of your car) maybe that will work. If it works for cars it should work in an airbed, you would obviously need alot more. Quote: Both developed a leak in precisely the same location! The leaks are in the seam of one of the ellipsoidal shaped depressions, on the top surface. There are alternating rows of 4 and 5 of these depressions when looking at the short dimension of the bed. my son has a 'flocked' or 'velour top' mattress from Coleman. This is precisely where we found his leak. After trying the helpful suggestions on this thread, here is what worked for me: Inflate the bed until it is very hard. You must have absolute silence! Then lie on the bed (to maximize internal air pressure). Now you should be able to hear and/or feel (with the palm of your hand) air escaping from the leak. This is exactly how we found his leak! I successfully made repairs with $2 worth of super glue for leather, vinyl, . . . from the supermarket. And, a one inch square of duct tape centered on the leak while the glue is still liquid. I want to try this. I was considering trying this approach, it is very similar to the one the doctors used as an alternative to stitching after my biopsy. My questions: does the bed need to be completely deflated for this to work, or will the repair work partially deflated? How long does it need to dry before using the bed? Thank yo so much in advance, gedsm2, and DIY website! after struggling for weeks trying to find, what must be, a teeny tiny leak, I have now located all leaks in 3 queen size mattresses! I took a quart of water, added dish soap and 1 TB bleach and poured into deflated mattress. Then air up mattress. I laid on it, then flipped it over and layed on it, then carefully rotated mattress side to side, front to end...bubbles and water showed me where the leaks were. Mark it, then deflate and drain water. Plastic, rubber and vinyl do not deteriate so any remaining water will not harm anything and the 1 Tablespoon bleach is adequate to kill off all bacteria that could grow from the moisture without harming the mattress. (chemistry class comes in handy) My leaks were located in mere seconds!!! We're going to try it and I'll post our results. Vinegar would not be something you would not want to put in an air mattress. Vinegar is made through a process of fermentation and will go bad. Here is an interesting fact from Wikipedia: Vinegar eels (Turbatrix aceti), a form of nematode that has cells that are air-borne, may occur in some forms of vinegar............... Just make sure the inside of your air mattress is dry and you will not have any problems. Originally Posted by ron90804 I have a Coleman king-size bed which leaked overnight if slept on after being used for a year without trouble. Re- submerging under water - - Where are you going to find an easy place to put an airbed under water? Its much easier to do this. Pour about 8 pints of water with about a quarter cup of washing liquid INTO the air bed and inflate it normally. Place the airbed on a flat surface over a cotton sheet and test the bottom surface by laying on the bed ard rolling around. Then pick up the airbed and examine that surface for water leak. Then turn the airbed over and repeat. You can also turn the bed onto each of its narrow edges and try that too. I found a pinhole leak with about a teaspoon size wetspot on the felt side of the Coleman bed by rolling on it for just 30 seconds. Mark the wetspot with a magic marker and now drain the water out and re-inflate. Let it stand up against a wall to allow all the water to drain to the bottom (the washing liquid acts as a wetting agent) and then open the airvalve and hopefully all the remaining water will flush out with the air. Now patch the leak. This really works! mine is a Queensize Aerobed I found about 19 holes (cat!!) Used one pint/quart of water with dishwasher soap and 1 table spoon of Javex. I am in the process of repairing them with a product called Airseal and/or Airstop . Really appreciated finding the solution to my problem on this forum...... Originally Posted by sharonscherer after struggling for weeks trying to find, what must be, a teeny tiny leak, I have now located all leaks in 3 queen size mattresses! I took a quart of water, added dish soap and 1 TB bleach and poured into deflated mattress. Then air up mattress. I laid on it, then flipped it over and layed on it, then carefully rotated mattress side to side, front to end...bubbles and water showed me where the leaks were. Mark it, then deflate and drain water. Plastic, rubber and vinyl do not deteriate so any remaining water will not harm anything and the 1 Tablespoon bleach is adequate to kill off all bacteria that could grow from the moisture without harming the mattress. (chemistry class comes in handy) My leaks were located in mere seconds!!! Now...How do you get rid of the Bleach smell? Thanks for the suggestions on the leak in Coleman beds. It was just as you described, a pinhole leak in one of the ellipsoidal circles on the felt side. It almost looked like it was programmed to happen since the pinhole was perfect in dimensions and there appeared no stress around the hole. I used superglue and a small clear plastic patch. I am now in business. Thanks for posting such a helpful hint. As per other suggestions for Intex type beds with the wavy padding, I put a fair amount of water onto the top of the bed and looked for bubbles. I lifted the bed this way and that to move the water around to all the 'valleys'. Found it right at the pump end of the bed next to the 'weld' in one of the valleys. It makes a racket when the water goes over it and plenty of furious bubbling. Now to repair it. Picture of leak here:DSCN0909 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Hope this doesn't double post, browser acted funny. We have an intex bed, but the felt is attached with seven straight lines running head to foot, not serpentine. Anyway, before trying soapy water, I may recommend flipping it onto all sides and then shifting it's weight. Our leak was on the side, and nearly impossible to feel, but when it came up off the hardwood floor, it was audible. Boy you sure get what you pay for. Open doors and windows. Spray air freshener into the vent as you fill it. Allow the room to air for a bit, wash your hands. Then lay on the mattress and smell. Only one place will have air freshener coming out of it. And yes, check the sides. There appears to be a lining inside with a seam that rubs on the outer edge. This is were I found two pin prick size holes. Difficult to hear when it is laid down, because you are pressing it. But when the mattress is on its side, squeeze the top and bottom and you can feel the small puff of air. I also have an Intex, but the top is completely different than what you are describing...it has a quilted topping for a queen. I have tried the tissue paper trick...No go. I am incredibly reluctant to put water in the mattress... Hello QQ, I too was reluctant because of bacteria growth and mildew or the bleach smell from mixing in bleach before pouring it into my air bed. So, this is what I did and found it immediately. Note: This only works if the hole is located on the area you lay on or the bottom that is on the floor. 1. Simple....I took it outside and before laying it in the grass, made sure there were no objects that could puncture the bed, or you could lay down a thick moving blanket. 2. Since the bottom and top of my bed is concaved, I took the water hose and filled each side with water and PRESTO!! Two streams of bubbles staring at me. If you have a padded top you can use a dry vac to extract the access water after pouring it on the lawn. Be sure to mark the holes with a marker after drying the area. It worked for me in seconds, good luck! Thank you so much for your idea. I got a really good deal on my Coleman Airbed and did not want to replace it.
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