Water Bed Leak

[John Gilmer]

Our fancy (with baffles and foam) waterbed "mattress" has started leaking.

I located the leak. It's at the place where some extra plastic is "welded" onto the corner. You can see a crack in the patch and it seems that the "patch" (it was built with the "patches" on each corner is slightly more ridged and caused a pinhole leak in the softer plastic.

What to do? What to do?

(BTW: The mattress is at least 9 years old and could be as much as 10 years old (we upgraded our original WB but don't remember exactly when.)

I would like to attempt to repair it. If other leaks start, I will assume that it's gotten old and "needs new."

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Given the age, I'd replace it. IIRC, you are approaching the practicla limits of water bed life.

[John W]

You can try a patch-less vinyl repair product (available at most swimming pool stores).

It's just a thick glue that cures over small cracks, on seams and in corners like this where a patch won't work.

I can't remember if there is one that works under water or not so you may have to drain the mattress.

Ask at the pool store - they're usually experts at patching vinyl.

John W

[Michael Baugh]

I remember when one of the waterbed stores had a sharp pencil they would invite one of the kids to put a hole in the bed, then patch it. Hundreds of little patch-places on that bed, during the early days of waterbeds when the big cloud over them was "springing a leak" (Didn't mention that the seam was a problem area). Anyway, that demonstration sold a lot of waterbeds. And certainly no need to empty, that long ago.

John W like this where a patch won't work.

[E5I5O]

In all given the age I would replace the mattress! It more then likely seen better days! Seem repairs can be hell as they are, I had the same problem once years ago, I tried the patch glue stuff and the seem tore further and further with use. I also decided on swapping out the liner during the change as the liner gets brittle and cracks, more so around the heater area, Electric and and water are two things not to play with on a waterbed!! With the price of a new mattress, you may find that buying the mattress only will be surprisingly cheap! I believe I only paid $40 for the non baffled king size mattress I had, and that price included the new liner as well!

Sincerely, E5

[John Gilmer]

Well, we went "window shopping." A "nice" baffle mattress is about $200+ and the fancy "zip on" pads are about another $200+. But I understand your point. I will give the repair a shot tomorrow (I will have to "dewater" the end of the mattress) and it I can't fix it I guess we will be out another $500 or so.

The "Liners" are about $10 at Wally World. (IOW: it's a relative freebee.)

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

There is some stuff called Aqua Seal that I bought at a scuba shop that I've had excellent luck with. You can use it as is, or mix it with Cotol-240 (available from the same places) that works as a catylist and accellerant. In either case, the stuff goes on like model airplane cement and forms its own seal. You don't need to add a patch over it though I suppose you could.

The best thing as far as I was concerned is that it allowed me to repair a hole in my full motion waterbed mattress without emptying any water out. I mixed the stuff with Cotol, slathered it on, and waited until that night before I lay down on the mattress again. So far, the repair has lasted about 10 years.

I figure one of these days my mattress is due to explode when I dump my big ass on it, but I bet it won't be where I fixed it. Wonderful stuff.

A quick google brought me to:

for Aqua Seal.

Cotol can be found at:

[John Gilmer]

Well, I'm not quite "in the middle of nowhere" but we had to drive for over

40 minutes just to find a place that sold waterbeds!

[Edwin Pawlowski]

That could be 50 miles in the West, or 2 blocks in NYC-- Ed

[Calvin Henry-Cotnam]

We just had a seam-located leak in a waterbed mattress that was getting close to 9 or 10 years old. Over the years, we've had the odd pin-prick type of leak that was very easy to fix, but being on a seam, coupled with the age of the mattress, it was just not repairable.

Lucky for us, this happened a week before we were to move out of a basement apartment we were staying in while we built out new home back in December.

We weren't in a position to set up our new bedroom until the second week of February, so we only went shopping for a new mattress then. The mattress (king size, semi-motionless with 12 baffles) cost about $150 (CAD).

It is getting rather hard to find places that sell waterbeds! Though, I heard a story in the news a few months ago that bedbugs are making a comeback in North America, so we just might see people moving back to waterbeds.

-- Calvin Henry-Cotnam "Never ascribe to malice what can equally be explained by incompetence." - Napoleon

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[John Gilmer]

That's a little less than the ones we priced (at one store) and our prices were $US!

Well, the first matress store we check DIDN'T sell waterbeds but they pointed us to another a very short distance away. I think the "Waterbed ONLY" operations are gone but many "regular" bedding stores have taken up the slack!

In the 9 years or so we had the bed we didn't have any pinhole leaks at all.

[Jim Strand]

Fortunately easy to get online. Accessories too.