Waterbed Pump Instructions

Purpose

• A waterbed pump is essentially divided into two halves--a suction side and an outlet side. The suction side includes a short piece of hose that connects to the waterbed mattress--via a hose connector piece that is found in a waterbed fill/drain kit. The outlet side includes a connector that attaches to your garden hose to deposit the water from your mattress to a drain or out of a window. The motor inside of the pump works to create a siphon to drain the water from your mattress faster.

Using the Pump

• Start by removing the cap and the plug from the waterbed mattress--on most mattresses the cap and the plug are on the top of the mattress, near the foot of the bed. Underneath the cap and plug is a fill valve--pull this valve out to connect the pump to the mattress. With the valve pulled out of the mattress, insert the hose connector piece from a waterbed fill kit to the valve and connect the short piece of hose on the suction side of the pump to the hose connector. To make sure the hose connector stays connected to the mattress valve, surround it with books or other heavy objects. Connect your garden hose to the other side of the waterbed pump and run it to wherever you want the water to drain to--a nearby bathtub or outside through a window are the most common places to drain the water. Turn the pump's power on and let it run until the pump stops pulling water from the mattress.

Pump Tips

• If your mattress is wave-reduced--has fibers or baffles on the inside to make it less wavy--it will take longer to drain the mattress because the wave-reducing materials absorb the water. Not only will it take longer in these cases, but it can also make getting all of the water out more challenging. To ensure that you get as much water as possible out of the mattress, you can start rolling the mattress--from head to toe--as the water drains. The pressure that is caused by the rolling will help to push the water out of the mattress. It's also important to unplug your waterbed heater when you're draining a mattress--if you leave the heater on throughout the process you are more likely to cause a hole--and a wet, giant mess.