Can You Use an Electric Blanket With a Water Bed?

Hardside Waterbed Heaters

• A hardside waterbed, also called a wood frame waterbed, uses a waterbed heater to warm the water in the mattress. The heater is located between the liner and wood frame decking. The liner separates the mattress from the heater to protect the heater in the event the mattress would leak. Stand-up liners have hard sides so the liner can stand up without support. Soft liners are supported on the hardwood frame of the bed with plastic guides.

Softside Waterbed Heaters

• A softside waterbed mattress looks like a conventional mattress until you unzip the thick or thin foam mattress cover and find tubes filled with water. Some thin foam softside waterbed mattresses have low voltage heaters. Low voltage heaters have a power supply that changes the house current to battery current, which is safer to use with a waterbed mattress to prevent electrical shock if the mattress would leak water that seeps through the liner and gets the heater wet.

Low Voltage Electric Blanket

• Low voltage blankets are not recommended for waterbeds. Low voltage electric blankets don't operate at 120 volts like other electric blankets. These non-hazardous blankets operate at a low direct current (DC) voltage, which is comparable to the voltage of a battery. These electric blankets are UL listed to assure you of safe operation, but should never be used with a waterbed mattress.

Heaters and Electric Blankets

• You may wonder how a waterbed heater can be used with a waterbed, but an electric blanket cannot. Waterbed liners separate the heaters from the mattress filled with water. In the event of a leak, the liner catches the water so it doesn't reach the heater. If a leak would occur in a hardside mattress, nothing would protect the electric blanket from the water. In a softside bed, the mattress covering is thick, but the covering could become saturated with water if a leak occurred.