Air mattress is an excellent option to pick if you are determining to go for a trip or camping. These mattresses function efficiently in temporary spaces. But inflating the mattress requires a higher level of efficacy, as if the air mattress does not inflate well you will have a disturbed sleep. The leading cause of the lack of support present in air mattress is due to a small leakage present.
If you are on a trip and apprehensive about how to patch an air mattress, do not fear! The guide will be highly supportive in patching an air mattress. You can use two steps to repair your air mattress. Number one is to find out the place where air leakage is present, and number two is to seal the spot using a strong adhesive glue.
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Patch an Air Mattress | Repair your Air Mattress
The following are easy-to-follow steps, which will assist you in fixing the concern:
1. Finding the Place of Peakage:
If you are using an air mattress, you might face deflation issues due to numerous rationales. The balanced rate of inflation will make the mattress even more comfortable and supportive. Sometimes, weather conditions are also the leading cause of the leakage, which leads to the reduction in firm and support. Sleeping on the air mattress several times can also be a significant cause.
To check out the leakage in the mattress, you must test it out by inflating the mattress at its maximum range. After inflating the mattress, get on the mattress as per your sleeping position. After laying down onto the mattress for some time, check if it gets saggy or not. If you see that the mattress has leakage, you must look for one-inch sag.
But in the case if you are not able to find out the leakage, place a heavy object onto the mattress. Examining all around will help you in finding out the primary concern. However, no sagging means no leakage point.
Keep on checking if the deflation occurs several times, as it is a prominent sign that the mattress has a leakage point.
2. Locating the Leaks:
Finding out the exact location of the leakage is not accessible due to its microscopic size. So, for this purpose, you must follow various techniques as mentioned below:
- Locating and Checking the Valves:
Valves have two parts, one of which has the plug that inserts in the stem. It assists in avoiding the escape of the air. Some caps are also present in a twisted manner and do require dial. To check the first type of valve, you must be able to fix the stem on the right position, while in the other case, the dial must tighten on the correct position.
In the next step, inflate the mattress at full, and place your palm on the valves to check if the air is escaping or not if you feel any leakage check the cause, which might be the valve of the plug.
- Raising the Mattress against the Wall:
It is of no surprise that most of the leakages are present on the bottom of the mattress, as any sharp objects present on the floor can decrease inflation. For this purpose, lifting the bottom of the mattress against the wall will ease you in finding out the point of leakage.
You can point out the site of the air escape by feeling the sounds like hissing. In the case, if you failed to find out the leakage, you must find out in the other areas of mattress to notice the leak.
- Using the Dish Soap:
If the above methodologies fail, using the dish soap will work. What you have to do is to mix dish wash in the water, and after making the dish soap mixture pour it into the spray bottle and sprinkle the mixture onto the mattress.
This operative measure will benefit in locating the leakage point by rising the bubbles from those areas. Emergence of bubbles is an indication that leakage is present.
Keep the thing in mind that you must spray the mixture onto the valve and then move the locations around.
- Hose Method:
It is another effective methodology, which is about using the low stream and spraying onto the mattress on all sides.
Using little stream is essential; otherwise, the high flow can damage the mattress ruining its warranty.
Another pro tip that you must follow is to mark the point where you find leakage, as it will be relatively more comfortable to patch them. In case you still failed to find out the leakage, you must contact the manufacturer of the mattress. You can take assistance from their customer care services or by using their policies.
- Submerging Method:
Submerging method is another practical approach that you can utilize to find out the leakage. This method is the same as finding out the leakage in tires. In this method, you must submerge the entire air mattress in water to find out the leakage.
The area from where the bubbles are rising is the primary leakage. The above method will dig out all the leakages whether they occur by the damage to valves or any other place.
3. Preparation of the Leaking Surface (Cleaning and Sanding)
This step will work in the case if the leakage is present in the fabric or the fiber, which is covering the mattress base. First, you must squeeze all the air out. After that, use the sandpaper and rub it on the bottom of the mattress which is of rubber.
The purpose of using the sandpaper is to make the surface flat while making it even. Uneven surfaces lead to the leakage again. Run the sandpaper thoroughly and after making the surface smooth apply alcohol by using a clean damp cloth to remove the dirt present.
4. Dry the Mattress
Thoroughly drying up the mattress is the fourth step to follow. Follow this step-in case you clean up the mattress with the damp cloth, otherwise skip it.
You can dry up the mattress by placing it in the direct sunlight, as it will be highly helpful to dry it thoroughly. You can also deflate the entire mattress to promote the drying process.
5. Start doing Patching
Using the patch kit will assist in patching the mattress. But in the case if you do not have the patch kit, do not fear, as you can buy patch kits from other companies as well. Another alternative that you can use is the bike patch kit. It will work tremendously!
Two types of patch kits are present; the first one is the adhesive material that you can apply on the areas of leakage, and the other one serves as a bandage.
Choose the mattress kit that suits your leakage issue the best. And another thing to keep in mind while patching is that the mattress must deflate ultimately because the presence of air might lead to the formation of bubbles in the patch.
After patching onto the leakage, press the areas powerfully with your hand or something of higher weight. Make sure that you must not curl the edges, as it might cause the leakage again.
To get the better bed stays, stay on the couch for the whole night, and check the other day if it leaks or not. It will help you in thwarting the leakage matter in future as well.
You can also apply the following methodologies, but they do have a drawback as well. But in case if you do not have access to patch kit, you can use the following methods:
DIY Creative Ways: ( Do it yourself Creative Ways)
- Creative Patch:
For creating a creative patch, you must have access to the clean sheet of plastic cut, and for this purpose, the shower curtain will be much helpful. You can also use plastic sheeting equal to the size of the area of leakage. It would help if you kept this thing in mind that plastic must fill-up the surrounding area as well. For adhesion, you can use epoxy, rubber cement, or any other permanent adhesive.
- Applying Hot Glue
If you use a glue with low temperature, then it is not that much effective and does not lead to the permanent results. However, if you use hot glue, the results will be somehow effective. But the methodology is not that much useful, as it might damage to the mattress as well.
To have a safer step towards fixing the issue, then you can use a plain duct tape along with little hot glue applied on it. But this is not a reliable methodology to follow. To use a warranted method using a patch kit, as DIY creative ways can harm your air mattress.
More information about: Top 10 Best Air Mattress Patch Kits
Things required to Patch Air Mattress
- Patch kit of the mattress model (or any other equipment if not available)
- Washcloth (damp cloth)
- Spray bottle
- Grading sandpaper
- Dishwashing soap
Final thoughts:
Deflation of the air mattress is commonly occurring issue, so do not get worried if you face such kind of problem. Following the above-described pros and tips will assist you in sorting out the problem. The most effective methodology is using the patch kit. DIY creative methods can also work out but for a relatively short time. Just follow the steps and fix the matter. Or else, you can also contact the manufacturer. So, try out the fantastic solution to patch the air mattress and pat yourself at the back!
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