sanders@menlo70.UUCP (Rex Sanders) (01/08/84)
# Emptying waterbeds: I have found that a small, hand-drill powered pump empties my king-sized waterbed in about 1 1/2 hours, as opposed to 4 - 6 hours to siphon down a 15 inch or so drop to ground level from the bottom of my bed, both through normal garden hose. -- Rex (master of the run-on sentence)
cwb@cbneb.UUCP (Bill Brown) (01/09/84)
I have a little gadget that connects my waterbed to the sink and is very useful in getting water out of the waterbed. It came with the bed. It doesn't really start a siphon (the outlet is above the bed level), but works on Bernoulli's Principle. It works surprisingly well. I don't know the brand -- or whether it is sold separately. If you want to look for one, all I can say is that it's a six inch long tube with a constriction in diameter in the center. At the constriction, there is a tee connection where the hose to the bed screws in. It is real nice for fine tuning the amount of water in the bed.
kds@intelca.UUCP (Ken Shoemaker) (01/11/84)
two more things...
1. In the Bay area, many apartments require that you have waterbed insurance
if you live in the apartment.
2. The chemicals that you put in the waterbed to play with the vinyl of
the matress, etc. (are they really required?) say not to drain the bed
onto anything living (like someone's front lawn) because the algacide (?)
will do a number on the grass, etc.
--
Ken Shoemaker, Intel, Santa Clara, Ca.
{pur-ee,hplabs,ucbvax!amd70,ogcvax!omsvax}!intelca!kds2212zap@mhuxm.UUCP (putnins) (01/11/84)
When I had to empty my waterbed, I attached the same hose I used to fill it up, threw the other end out the bedroom window, and sat on the bed to get the water going. Once started, the siphoning action completed the job in about an hour.
lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (01/12/84)
A few more points regarding waterbeds: 1) Virtually all modern waterbeds include a vinyl liner that attaches inside the frame. This provides the safety margin in case of a leak. In six years, I've never had a leak, and I've only known one person who had one (and he basically punctured the bed!) Be sure to get the type that uses the "tuck-a-liner" for holding the liner in place. Units which simply have the liner nailed in are difficult to dis-assemble without destroying the liner. 2) As was pointed out, the middle of a room is the worst place to put a waterbed from a structural standpoint. Corners are the best place, though be sure to leave a foot or so of clearance so you can get in to make up the bed. 3) Waterbed insurance is available at very low prices. The policies I've seen typically cover up to $100,000 of property damage. They don't need to pay off very often -- the beds are generally quite reliable. However, such policies can be helpful when dealing with stubborn landlords. 4) The only practical way to empty a waterbed is via siphon. Many waterbeds come with a little gadget that attaches to a faucet and helps start the siphoning, but it still is quite a hassle. --Lauren--
lmc@denelcor.UUCP (Lyle McElhaney) (01/21/84)
I have owned a water bed for 11 years (my wife needed support for her back during her first pregnancy - that's when we got the first one) and in that time we have owned three matresses. The second, which we replaced a month ago, developed an inch long tear in a seam - at that time we learned the value of the liner. Our bed has a liner, but in addition we bought a liner which has a zipper all the way around the top, with a matress cover which zips onto it. (two birds with one stone - the liner stays up, the cover stays stretched over the top). When the rip was discovered, I patched it as best I could and then bailed out the inside of the liner - and got about half a gallon out. Thats all that was forced out the seam - the rest stayed in the matress. I guess the point is that with a *good* liner even major matress failure is no real cause for alarm. Our cat has managed to penetrate the matress on occasion; the resulting wet spot on the cover was easily repaired. -- Lyle McElhaney (hao,brl-bmd,nbires,csu-cs,scgvaxd)!denelcor!lmc