murphy@hou2a.UUCP (R.GANNS) (01/16/84)
Anyone contemplating getting a waterbed should first try,
somehow, to spend a night or two on one (..and I mean sleeping).
Try to do this over a range of temperatures. The prior comments
made about poor venting of perspiration are valid.
It's also true that bodies will tend to roll together in the
middle like marbles in a sink. This is fine for some, but not
others.
I found that a standard bed with an extra firm mattress was
good for a tired back. Waterbeds didn't seem to give the right
kind of support, but this is probably an individual thing.
Also consider where you'll put it. They weigh (literally)
a ton, and your landlord may not like that much mass straining
his floor. Drainage is also a consideration--when time comes
to move it, you'll have to empty it. This is not a trivial
operation.
Leaks can also be a problem. Here's an example:
A friend of mine lived in an A-frame with an upstairs
waterbed. At a particularly rowdy party one night,
some drunk found a twelve guage shotgun and a load of
OO in a closet and, acting much like the south end of a
north-bound horse, discharged the 12-bore thru the
cieling, right into the you-know-what. What happened
next caused at least one person to spill their drink.
It was a minor miracle (especially considering the kind
of party it was) that no one was on the waterbed at the
time the artillery went off.
There are several other more straight-forward ways to
put holes in a waterbed that do not require the presence
of an idiot. I'm sure you can think of a few.
In a nutshell, I found waterbeds not all that great for
sleeping.
Rich Gannsjjb@pyuxnn.UUCP (01/17/84)
My wife and I have been sleeping on our waterbed for 2 years now,
and we do NOT roll together into the middle of the bed (except when
we want to).
Jeff Bernardis, AT&T Western Electric @ Piscataway NJ
{eagle, allegra, cbosgd, ihnp4}!pyuxnn!jjbgary@arizona.UUCP (01/17/84)
I've had a waterbed for 5 years, so I can speak from experience. It is the old style bed, a large single celled bladder sitting in a liner. I have found that a thick acrylic blanket under the lower sheet solves the sticky plastic feeling. It also adjusts the rate of heat dissipation, saving energy and helping the too hot/too cold problem. We adjust the temperature about twice a year -- down in the summer to provide a heat sink, up in the winter to provide a heat source. The temperatures vary from 84F to 89F. As to people rolling to the middle, you probably don't have enough water in the bed. One nice thing about waterbeds is that you can adjust the firmness. Ours is soft enough to sway a bit, but there is no tendency of the bed to play matchmaker. -- Gary Levin / Dept of CS / U of AZ / Tucson, AZ 85721 / (602) 621-4231