A year or so ago our waterbed heater gave out on us and we had to get a new one. That’s pretty standard stuff in the waterbed world. After we replaced it we were refilling the mattress and the hose came out of the valve and started filling up the liner with water. Ack! We rushed around and fixed it but ended up having to get a new liner, and then a replacement for that one since the first one was defective. Things settled back down and everything was normal again till last week.
Last Wednesday or Thursday Karen was tucking the sheet in as she was getting into bed for the night and remarked that the edge of the sheet felt a little damp. When we got up in the morning the same thing happened to me so we figured we better drain the bed and find the problem. After it was empty we noticed from the date we wrote on the label that the mattress was over 12 years old. It had done its job valiantly for over a decade and deserved retirement. On Friday I ordered a new one on the internet. It seems no one stocks waterbed mattresses in Cedar Rapids anymore. The customer rep said she would try to have it shipped out that day and she was as good as her word. The new mattress arrived on Tuesday.
We were happy to get it because none of the other beds in the house let the two of us stretch out like we can in the waterbed. Karen was on an air mattress in the waterbed frame and I was on the bed in the spare bedroom.
When Karen got home from work we started filling the bed and it was full in about 20 minutes. Despite the fact that we had emptied one whole water heater’s worth of hot water into it, it was too cold to sleep on directly. Karen put about 5 blankets on it and decked out in our sweat clothes we retired for the evening. About 1:00 am something happened and we found ourselves laying in a pool of cold water. Yikes! This was a full mattress and it was leaking over the top. The carpet was soaked in spots and later we noticed that it must have gone through the floor and was dripping out the light fixture in my office in the basement. I grabbed the hose, threw it out the window and started draining off the water. It took much longer to drain than it did to fill. When it was down to a containable level, we left it for the morning and reoccupied our temporary beds.
Reviewing the situation we discovered that the heater must have melted the liner to the bottom of the mattress and I must have pressed the top surface down on that spot too so all three layers were melted together. When I rolled over, it must have torn the top surface open. This is really bad. It’s a wonder the heater didn’t short out and electricute the two of us.
Karen is off to work this morning and I need to finish off the clean up. I’ll update you if there are any other interesting developments. The jury is out on what we are going to do about the whole situation. Who knows? We may have a regular bed for the first time in 35 years.
Jesu Butch!!! You two COULD have been electrocuted! What a mess. I think you need a new bed … water or otherwise.
Good luck on the cleanup, and be careful with the light fixture in your office.
OMG! You were really lucky. Why don’t you try one of those comfort beds where you can each pump up or down the mattress to your desired sleep number. It might approxiamte a water bed. Good luck.
If I were you, I’d forget the waterbed. A sleep number bed like sue suggested might be good, but I hear they’re hot.
YIKES! No electrocution of yourselves is allowed!! You guys need to live to ripe old age.
I vote for a regular bed.
Good Heavens!!! What a mess and near disaster. Keep us posted.