The Movers.com Blog

The complex internal workings of a water bed. Image courtesy of waterbed.com

Beds can often be one of the hardest things to move. As your bed contains several large, bulky parts – mattress, box spring, headboard, and frame - it can indeed be troubling to get out of the house and into a moving truck. While moving a regular bed can be challenging enough, a waterbed presents its own share of difficulties.

Waterbeds generally hold between 80 and 200 gallons of water.  This makes them impossible to move when they are filled. Therefore, whether you use a moving company or plan on doing everything yourself, you will need to empty the bed before the move.  The method of removing water from a waterbed will depend on the type of mattress you have.  Regardless of the mattress type, the first step is to unplug the mattress’s heating mechanism, for obvious safety reasons.

There are basically two types of waterbed mattresses.  The first is called free-flow, which is a single-layered mattress with one large chamber for water.  There are also several kinds of motion-reducing mattresses, which have multiple layers of padding and more than one water chamber.  These mattresses are referred to as fiber, baffled, or chambered waterbeds.

To empty a free-flow mattress, you can use the siphon method.  Attach a regular garden hose to the valve of your mattress, and put the other end out the window or in a sink.  After making sure the end of the hose is clean, suck the water through the hose until it begins pouring out.  When most of the water is already out, you can lift up one end of the mattress to help the remaining water flow out.  Though the siphon method takes some time to fully empty the mattress, it is the cheapest option.  If you want to rent a pump, or if you already have one, that would work just as well.  After the water is out, place the cap back on the valve.  You should then fold the mattress by bringing the ends of the mattress towards the center and folding it into thirds.  After placing it in a box, it will be ready to be loaded up with the rest of your belongings. (next page)

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