Air bed experiences

[One]

Changing situations in my life have forced me to make use of air beds - sometimes for years at a time.

Around 20 years back I ended up living in an ancient camper for a long time.
Having little money I got what I could reach & afford, a Coleman air bed.
It started leaking after ~1 month & became useless soon after.

Next I got an Intex one from a box store & it also lasted about the same length of time while being far less comfortable.

Side note=>
An important result of the above was remembering how vinyl is made to have a sort of soft, flocked texture...it is the same material which has been sort of scraped between heavy, heated rollers which thins & weakens it.
Having remembered that, I have always used air beds with the flocked side down ever since to avoid the weakness of direct contact.

Back to the 2nd go-round now...
Being aggravated by then I got some PVC cement & waterbed material - found
& patched the leaks in the Coleman bed, and then had a related thought strike me=>
What if I used the trashy Intex bed as a cover of sorts ??

So the dead Intex got sliced open & the Coleman one went inside it.
That combo gave me ~6 months of good sleeps...phew.

By then I had made some earnings & found a good deal on an Aerobed.
All these years later that one is still with me & in a pinch can be set up in minutes - but it is a twin size & only stands 4" tall, so only good for 1 person.

Next time around - moving, etc. dictated the need for a larger air bed & since evilzon prime was an option we got a queen sized one from there.
The cost was reasonable & it had a built-in 120V pump.

That one lasted throughout the move but needed topping off daily until it got so bad that it deflated in ~90 minutes max.

Important details:
That bed was being used in a room with clean, plush carpeting AND on top of a king sized comforter so as to make 100% certain nothing would touch it.

Reluctantly, it got replaced with another using the same style built-in pump, with the dead one under it as yet another layer of protection.
That bed still (sort of...) gives a full night of decent sleep - but is notably squishy by morning & must be filled up again before the next sleep time.

Contacting that company did result in a replacement being sent, thankfully - and since the one in use can still sort of last a full night, the replacement is on standby for now.

BUT...(more to come)

[One]

Another important detail to share:
The queen sized beds have also been protected by being sort of cocooned inside king sized comforters - both to avoid contact & because air beds aren't warm enough if used uncovered in our cold climate.

Finally I decided to indulge my curiosity & dismantled the built-in 'pump' in the 100% flat bed & THAT explains LOTS of things so far (I'm not done tearing into its innards yet...).

The 'pump' is just a tiny blower set up with a knob which both controls the inflate & deflate modes & the whole thing depends upon a single greased O-ring to hold the air captive...Oooopsy - an obvious point of failure.

I know this ain't a great pic, but ALL these 'new' 'pumps' look like this:
.

Please note the wonderfully pretty green flocked top of that bed.

The black rectangle is the 'pump' & a better pic would also reveal the little hatch with the cord inside as well as the rotary knob.

As part of my air bed future I'm getting a can of PVC cement & an external 120V inflator which will hopefully facilitate further testing & maybe even a lasting repair method.

My hope is that if I can totally seal off the opening left by extracting the crappy 'pump' - then use the manual filler neck instead it just may show up what is so poor about this design...or not - but worthy of a try IMO.

That is all for now...
I'll add more info here - assuming that anybody finds this info of any interest at all ?!?

[Redrotors]

Soapy water?
Only going by my use in automotive/marine/machinery diagnosis but wondering if it might have some place in helping to confirm your suspicious?
Or maybe I misunderstood and you already know where the leak(s) is/are?

When I owned one, waterbed (softsider) was pretty easy to find the leak
I was pretty young and, uhmm, active back in those days so a few times it was actually the other party to the activity that sprung a leak, not the water bladder
Good times...

[One]

Greetings Redrotors.
Your reply brings memories of my many good years having a full motion waterbed, which I'd get again if it were possible.

Air bed leaks are very difficult to locate for many reasons - not the least of which is trying to move around a ~50 pound huge, squishy thing.

In this case, if I totally seal off the pump casing, then fill it externally - and it then holds air - case closed in happiness, BUT...
If it still leaks after that it is just scrap vinyl.

Hopefully that makes more sense ??

[PEW]

Have you tried mattress in a bag (foam type that can be collapsed to a very small size)? Does not collapse as small as air bed but definitely more durable.

[One]

Thanks for replying here PEW.
I have a regular mattress in storage which cannot be brought here until after the 'snowmageddon' we've been having clears away.
Until then the air mattress is good enough.
.
It seems the seller is aware it is a very poor design that leaks based upon how eager he was to replace it quickly & quietly.
They must have a very high profit margin.
.
Having carefully examined the innards of the 'built-in pump' it is very obvious how these new airbeds work so poorly.