Keeping Your Waterbed Clean is Easy

by: Michael O'Brien

The human body is constantly shedding millions of dead skin cells and hair. This material is not a health hazard in itself, but the accretion of this material can be become a welcome home to insects and bacteria. The stuff that naturally falls away from us can be found throughout even the cleanest home especially in our beds. If we add a few dogs and cats into the mix, the problem can be magnified with the addition of pet dander and fur.

One of the knocks on traditional innerspring flat beds is the potential to accumulate skin debris, dust, mites and other substances. The cloth top of a traditional mattress has the potential to become something akin to a grade school science project. Employing a separate mattress cover can help to mitigate this problem but will not completely eliminate the accumulation of dirt and mites. A routine of regularly changing the bed sheets and washing the mattress pad can help but keep in mind that tens of thousands of dust mites can be found in just a single ounce of dust.

Traditional mattresses can not be steam cleaned and using a vacuum method will not remove all of the imbedded dirt and debris. Steam cleaning is not recommended by mattress manufacturers and doing so may certainly void the warranty. If the mattress is double-sided you can flip it over and that is a recommended step to take every six months or so. Despite the best efforts, dirt, dead skin cells and dust mites will manage to get a foothold.

Waterbeds offer an alternative to traditional sleep systems in more ways than one. Many people find sleeping on a waterbed to be a way to enhance the sleep experience. Waterbeds have a clear advantage over innerspring mattresses in the cleaning department. From the start of the waterbed craze, the vinyl water bladder had an edge simply because it could be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized. Early waterbeds did not feature electric heaters and needed a layer of foam insulation and the foam padding could be cleaned or replaced. One problem was that dirt and crud would accumulate between the bladder and the wooden frame. Cleaning would sometimes require draining and dismantling the bed. Still vinyl mattresses are convenient to keep clean. The crud that builds up between the bladder and the frame can often be removed with a vacuum cleaner using the narrow plastic wand attachment. Never use a metal attachment. Always be careful not to snag the mattress with the wand and risk putting a hole in the vinyl.

The introduction of soft-sided or hybrid waterbeds can and do accumulate dirt, debris and those pesky dust mites but the process of keeping a hybrid waterbed mattress clean has definite advantages over an innerspring mattress. Many if not most of the zippered top pads on soft-sided beds can be removed and laundered, a process that can remove virtually all of the accumulated crud. Since hybrid waterbeds do not need a hard frame, no further cleaning is needed accept perhaps to occasionally vacuum the sides of the mattress and, like every good housekeeper, clean the dust bunnies out from under the bed.

Like an innerspring mattress, soft-sided waterbed mattresses can accept a standard sized mattress cover that can also be laundered. Combined with a fresh set of clean bed sheets and other bedding regular cleaning of your waterbed can greatly reduce the incidence of allergies or types of respiratory conditions. So do regular maintenance cleaning of your waterbed and you can rest easy knowing that you’re keeping the mighty dust mites at bay.

About the Author

Michael O'Brien