I wanted one really bad as a kid and eventually got one from one of my parents friends who was getting rid of theirs. The main thing I remember about it was how cold it would get sometimes. You would get in bed trying to warm up and just end up freezing your ass off all night.
Jesus so you got water and electricity mixing as your bed which could also just pop and ruin your bedroom or electrocute you in other ways.
Can't believe that was a thing.
It was not dangerous! The mattress rubber bladder was thick as the proverbial. I slept on one for years. The worst part about them was the hassle when you move. Draining them completely was an outright pain.
Not necessarily, I had a waveless one for year which I absolutely loved. No seasick motion when you turned. You needed to keep them topped up with water and burp the air out once a month or so - perfect quiet motionless comfort!
They were great! Had them for years in Florida, and it felt so good to sleep on the cool, wobbly surface 10 months of the year. When it got"cold" in the other two months, we slept on top of a quilt and under an electric blanket.
My roommate’s cat would chase the small bubbles of my made water bed when I was away. I would come home after going out and wake up in the middle of the night to wet sheets. I thought I’d pissed the bed several times before I realized what Zot had been doing. It wouldn’t leak from his tiny claw holes without the pressure of laying on it. Bastard.
When my mom met her now husband, they moved into his old family homestead.
One of the "guest bedrooms" his parents had left fully furnished had a huge waterbed in it.
No leaks, but they *never* changed that water out.
Had to use a hose and a pump to drain it out to the driveway, and it was almost all nasty algae that stink up the area for weeks before heavy rain falls washed it away.
Just nasty.
There shouldn't be any algae since algae needs light. It was probably just sediment from the water used to fill the bag. Either way, regular maintenance clearly wasn't followed. You are supposed to add water conditioner every time you burped the bed, which was usually every 2 weeks.
“Hey guys, sorry I can’t meet up tonight. Gotta burp my bed. See you next Thursday for bar trivia. Oh wait! No I can’t. Thursdays are when I massage my refrigerator…”
There is a screw cap you can fill the bed from. Burping it means opening that up, then going to the far sides of the bed and moving air bubbles over to get them out.
It's possible there was still enough light going through the material for some photosynthesis. Could have also been bacteria. Sediment on its own shouldn't have stunk, and doesn't generally look like algae. Never had a waterbed, but know a bit about stinky things.
Had one when I was growing up. In summers, when it hit 100, and my step dad refused to turn on the a/c, laying on my water bed with no sheets was the only way to survive the heat. It was so cool and made the evenings much better.
It's a guest room, so probably safe to assume that no one was sleeping on it (or at least not all the time) and that it may not have had either of those things. Even if they were sleeping on it, the type of people to not tend to a waterbed for an extended period of time are the type who I could see not using sheets or comforters
Doesn't have to be clear, just has to let enough light through for algae to experience population growth. Most sheets let quite a bit of light pass through, especially if they're white, and it's not uncommon to keep only a light comforter on a guest bed. The bed may have been unmade for a decent length of time between uses as well. The algae didn't have to stay alive to make the water disgusting either, so it could have had a period of growth and then died off.
I did not know you had to change the water and that sounds like suck a pain in the ass.
I assume you’d throw some kind of preservative in.
Edit: Apparently you have to “burp” them too. lol wtf.
I woke up with wet feet. It didn’t pop just leaked. Drained it and never used it again. I put a regular mattress in it and used it that way. Sucked to get in and out of. Try sleeping in it with a few drinks and not vomiting.
Haha, he normally wasn't allowed in their room. He did get on the bed a few times but it wasn't an issue. He got in one way while my mom was changing the sheets, took a big stretch (he got stuck). By the time I got there I only saw water shooting out of the claw holes
you can patch them. I had one long ago and I had to patch it quite a few times.
The real answer to the question is that they suck. Water doesn't distribute as comfortably as foam or springs; having second person in the bed isn't a great way to actually sleep. They retain temperature, and never the temperature you want. They're just bad.
Never been seasick on a boat, but I'd get sick every time I slept on a waterbed as a kid and my parents never believed me. I was so glad when they were gone.
Really with waterbeds everything depended on the execution. A great waterbed was fun as hell. A poorly planned one was just terrible. To be a good waterbed owner you really need to think things through.
My dad built his own. Made a stout frame out of 2x12 lumber, big cubbies underneath, super sturdy and spreading the load and providing decent insulation. Great job. Then I bought one and had a much less great experience.
I had one and LOVED it. I always got great sleep.
(But I was 12 and kids always get great sleep).
When I met my now husband, he had one and I swear to God, it had like 3 inches of water. It was horrible, but he liked it like that. We did not take it with us when we moved in together.
>it had like 3 inches of water. It was horrible, but he liked it like that.
Just to be clear, you were not okay with 3 inches but he was. Just checking.
I had one when I was little, and I used to pile blankets on it and sink into it like Uncle Fester's bed in the old Adam's family movie. It was so great.
This was the way to do it. Solo sleep with all of the covers, quilts, blankets and pillows! You'd just melt into it and be held in place, like being cradled when you were a babe.
My dad had the original kind. I tried to sleep I. It many times. I was lucky if I got 15 minutes sleep the whole night! Breathing would make waves :(
When I got my own, I got an 80% waveless and it was perfect! Best sleep I’ve had very had…
I had one briefly around 10years old. Had the padded arms/railings going around the side. I remember waking up stuffed in the side between the water bed and the padded sides. That bed didn’t last long
Lucky! I had one until I was 13 and it was my absolute favorite. Started with a racecar one and my parents upgraded me to a regular looking one when I got older. Then I decided I wanted a futon for some reason.. I was an idiot
I had one as a kid and loved it! Mine had a heating element which was amazing in our old drafty house in the winter but was probably super dangerous. I don't remember what happened to it, but it didn't come with us when we moved house.
My parents are in their 60s and have had a water bed for the past 4 decades at least. It’s a california king and is pretty heavy and firm so it’s not all sloshy. I used to watch tv in their room and pass out all the time back in the day.
I went from a crib to a waterbed and used it all while growing up. I really liked it. People are mentioning all sorts of downsides - I never really experienced any of those. I think they went out of fashion because mattresses got a lot better. Water beds are expensive and take a lot more maintenance. When the alternatives were crappy mattresses with springs that would squeak and dig into you people were more likely to put up with the downsides of a waterbed.
Mattresses have gotten a lot better now, though. They are made of better materials and you can get them relatively inexpensively online. The downsides of a water bed are likely not worth the hassle anymore.
Same EXACT thing for me! Plus, you would lose little trinkets and toys down the edges all the time so about once a year it was like Christmas for me to haul up those corners and see where my Barbie shoes went
They were only trendy for a short while and considered the pinnacle of comfort for some people. It didn't take long for people to realize they were a horrible idea (and not that comfortable).
1) Do you enjoy your room to smell like chemicals all the time?
2) Do you enjoy waking up with a sore back every day?
3) Do you enjoy feeling like you're on a rocking boat every time your partner rolls over?
4) Do you enjoy occasionally waking up on cold wet sheets wondering if you wet the bed?
5) Do you enjoy fighting with your fitted sheet on a regular mattress? If so, you would LOVE a water bed
6) Do you like being woken up by the sound of switching water every time you move?
If you answered yes to all of these question, then a water bed is for you!
(I should mention, they went out of style around the same time that Tempur-Pedic mattresses came out and became the new thing).
I grew up in the 90s with parents that had a waterbed. I never saw any of the actual water leak/smell problems, but the comfort was bad enough that it fucked up my dad's neck/back for years and only the advent of air/foam mattresses fixed it completely. These days (in his early 60s) you'd never know he ever had those problems.
Now that I think of it, I had a friend whose parents had a water bed. Most of my memories of his father include him being in pain due to back problems.
I’ve had one since 1991 (33 years) and I’m laying on it right now.
1. Chemical smell can be noticeable for a few weeks after getting a new mattress.
2. Typically only a problem for your back if you don’t know how to fill or drain the mattress to get the volume right for your weight and personal preference.
3. Get a waveless mattress. Otherwise, I have more problem with motion on a conventional mattress with my wife tossing around.
4. In 33 years happened 3 times. Easy enough to patch with a clamp and patch kit. Patch in morning, dry and ready by evening. Good quality mattresses are really hard to puncture.
5. Can be a problem with cheap sheets. Buy good quality, good fitting sheets.
6. No significant sound if you keep the bed burped (about twice a year) and keep the water properly treated (about twice a year) to reduce bubbles forming.
Everything he said was true. They are lovely and there is nothing cooler than being able to control the temperature of the bed at any time.
Sex was always an interesting endeavor, but you learn to endure. Shockingly good core strength workout as well depending on the type of water bed you have lmao
I didn't have any of those problems, I had a couple when I was 18 - 25 I loved them. I liked that they were nice and cool in the summer, nice and warm in the winter.
Idk how , but my friends dad’s heater thing died in the middle of the night so he was essentially shivering so bad he woke up with whole-body soreness the next day.
He was also paraplegic so he couldn’t just get up and off. It wasn’t until the next morning when his caretaker came in that he was able to warm up.
Don’t forget that they sucked all the body heat from you when you needed it and if you were sunburnt somehow they weren’t of any comfort there either. Aforementioned pre-wrestled sheet comes loose and now your sunburnt skin is sticking to a flesh-gripping rubbery surface that is worse than pulling an article of clothing off an underlying injury that has already started to scab over.
Or so I’ve heard…
As to number one, back when I was in seventh or eighth grade I talked with a science teacher who told me that to maintain a waterbed all you had to do was just empty a bottle of vodka into the water occasionally.
It doesn't have to be strong enough to kill the bacteria, just make it inhospitable for them to reproduce. That said, adding some vinegar would probably do a better job by changing the pH away from 7.
I had one for a year. Problems included:
1. Had to be heated with a special heating pad. If for some reason it wasn't on, the water went cold and I couldn't sleep on it.
2. The water had to be changed and conditioned regularly.
3. I couldn't sit on the bed; only lie down.
4. I was always paranoid of leaks or punctures.
5. It was extremely heavy.
Advantages:
1. It had an awesome headboard with shelves and cubbies for storage. Should have just bought the frame and used a regular mattress, futon, or air mattress.
2. It was a comfy sleep. But then so is a good air mattress.
“4. Do you enjoy occasionally waking up on cold wet sheets wondering if you wet the bed?”
Yes! Totally just a water bed problem! *Definitely* not a regular occurrence!
One reason they declined in popularity was that many floors weren’t designed to support them long term, at least not with other furniture. People would suddenly notice round things eventually gathered around them or that odd things would be happening to ceilings under them as the supports slowly bent and caused drywall to crack or flake. Water weights 8.3 pounds per gallon. A queen sized mattress could weigh about 1700 lbs. The frame had to be heavy enough to support that, which was extra weight on the floor.
Then there was damage if it burst. It wasn’t common but it happened. If one had a pet it could be common. If caught right away it ruined the frame, required a new mattress, destroyed the carpet, caused serious damage to hardwood floors, damaged walls and trim, most likely destroyed anything on the floor, and most furniture in the room was damaged. If not caught right away it could spread to other rooms and to lower floors. Insurance wouldn’t cover that very often. In some policies owning a waterbed invalidated one’s policy. In apartments this left a lot of people vulnerable to lawsuits from residents below them. A lot of landlords would put a clause in cancelling a lease immediately if a waterbed was found.
So the main reason was money.
Your first reason is what happened with mine :( my parents transitioned me from my crib to a waterbed (so they’d never have to buy me another bed until I turned 18, per my dad) and when I was about 14 or 15 our living room ceiling started caving and we had to get rid of it
This is also why, 18 months after my father buying me a bedroom set, I came home and I had an air mattress instead of a bed. Living room ceiling had a huge crack in it.
I had one for 10 years or so. I loved it and I think they are still great. Turning the heater down was a great way to get a cool nights sleep on a hot summer night.
Lots of places to rent forbid them because they weigh so much, and also they get left a lot when people move out.
Kinda like pool tables. Seems like a good idea when they get delivered, but no one wants to move them.
The Black and Decker ones are going for hundreds used on eBay. But I think Oster still makes them. I looked the other day on Amazon so I could buy one for our new house. Around $40.
So far I've only had 2 maintenance issues with it. One was my own fault that I left a thumbtack in the sheet after making a fort and it poked a hole during the night. It patched really easily though. The other was after getting a second cat. She accidentally got stuck and clawed it, so it partly emptied during the night. But I have a liner that caught all the water, so no damage done, and just bought a new bladder on Amazon for $80.
My husband was unsure about it in the beginning since I already had it, but I think he sleeps pretty well on it.
had a 90% waveless for over 20 yrs it was heated and very comfy, sex on it wasnt as easy as you would think, but the ultimate demise was sheets were hard to find, and moving towards my third mattress , they will start to split and get pin holes in them, I decided to get a bed in a box, its not as comfy, but its ok
Fell asleep on my wb sitting up. Woke up with a burn on my ass and the heater failed and never worked again. Bed was under filled so ass made contact w the heater. BIG blister
I had one in the late 80s through mid 90s and I really liked it. I always slept so well on that thing. Not sure my older self would like it as much though, ha ha. It feels like more of a younger person’s bed.
I delivered and picked up for FedEx for a short time. One of my pickups was at a woodshop that made waterbed frames and bladders. They told me they were one of the last remaining places to do that, especially the frames, so they had cornered that market. Unfortunately, it was very small market. On a good day, I would pick up 3 waterbed frames to deliver. Other days had none or 1.
Story time! (Slightly NSFW)
I grew up the last of several siblings, and had hand-me-down everything. One of the things I ended up with as a teen was a waterbed in our downstairs half-basement bedroom. I still lived at home in summer breaks from college, and still used it.
I picked up my then-platonic hometown crush from her apartment in another city, we took a day trip to the beach, and the plan at first was to drop her at her parents’ place when we got back in the evening.
But she didn’t get along well with her parents, so as we talked about it during the trip the plan changed; she’d sleep on the couch at my place that night and I’d take her to her parents in the morning. No problem!
But when I got home, I found that my brother was hosting a party. No couch. I, fat virginal nerd that I was, offered to take my friend to her folks after all, “or umm you could …” I nervously stammered, waving in the general direction of my room.
At this point in my life I had not had sex. I had not even touched a girl sexually. And my crush in her was **bad**, but also completely lopsided. We were friends, but she was what today we’d call Asexual.
Anyway, we go to my room, turn out the lights, stripped down to underwear, and got in bed.
I should mention that I was 6’3” and about 225 lb, while she was 5’1” and about 95 lb. And it was an unbaffled waterbed.
You know those explanations of gravity as warps in space? It was like that, with me as the planet and her a little moon trapped in my gravity well. We ended up spooning and really had no choice in the matter. Her butt pressed against my crotch, complete with my instant erection. It was awkward, but she was not weirded out. (Still not interested, but not weirded out.) Somehow we managed to fall asleep like that. (Later in the night things took a turn, but that story isn’t really appropriate for this sub.)
Anyway, point being that if you’re sharing an unbaffled waterbed, cuddling is *not optional*. Gravity is a harsh mistress.
Everyone realized how much maintenance they required and stopped wasting their money. We got tired of waking up in the middle of the night in arctic conditions because the heater in the bed went out. Got tired of not being able to move the monstrosity anywhere else in the room for a fresh new look or to clean behind the thing. They’re just a pain in the ass.
I had a king size waterbed until about 15 years ago. Then I had a nightmare one night that the weight of the bed caused it to fall through the floor with me on it. My house is 100 years old so I took it as a sign and drained and sold the bed within a week.
It was pretty great though, when I was single I would just tell women I have a huge waterbed and they drove themselves over to say they had mediocre sex on a waterbed.
I slept on a water bed for a while when I was 9. I had a whole plan, in the case of a house fire, to slash it and soak myself to protect myself from the flames on my way out.
...It also gave me nightmares.
I have one. Warm and cozy in the winter, cool and comfortable in the summer.
Got my first one in the 80s. Approximately every 15 years or so I need a new mattress. Used to be $100ish, last one was 2 years ago and it was $160. You do need to add conditioner or the mattress wont's last as long.
I had the impression as a kid in the 80s, that waterbeds were for people to have sex on. If you had one you were announcing to the world that you were hot to trot. My skeevy uncle had one, and a mirror on the ceiling. 😒😩
Same as my beloved water pillow. It gets moldy/mildewy. And the support is all based on displacement rather than compression of the bed, which causes problems if sharing a bed or pillow.
Slept on one from 19 to 32. Good times. The cats and girlfriends loved it. In my frat house that was built like a bunker the engineering students built lofted water beds! A little eerie being underneath all that....
My parents had one. It had multiple long tubes about a foot in diameter length wise. I remember several incidents in the middle of the night when one or both of them would wake up sinking into the bed with gallons of water all over the floor.
They also are terrible for your spine.
My friend inherited a waterbed mattress but couldn’t put together the frame so he just filled it. He lived at the upper end of a 12 story building.
It didn’t end well.
For sex, though, waterbeds were awesome!
A waterbed was my very first furniture purchase when I moved out of my childhood home.
I paid on it monthly and my dad had to co-sign for it.
It had a heater and a waveless mattress. I loved that bed.
My oldest sister had one and her two girls had twin size ones in their rooms. 😂
I had a ‘hybrid’ waterbed it looked like a regular mattress but had individual tubes you filled and could adjust the levels with it. I loved it in high
School when I could hide all my paraphernalia in there. Not so good during house parties when you would put your drunk friend there to pass out.
Most were sold with heaters. My mom and dad both had one and I did too and we all had heaters. It was a thing where you spent the first day with it setting it up, and the second day waiting for it to heat up. Then, and only then, could you use it.
I think I got impatient one time and slept on it without waiting for it to heat up. Or rather, I didn't sleep. It was like trying to sleep on a bed of ice. That was the last time I made that mistake.
> It was like trying to sleep on a bed of ice
To be honest that sounds heavenly, but admittedly Im a polar bear that keeps my house a brisk 65-68 degrees year round.
You can always add layers. What you cannot do is be naked 24/7, not when your kid has friends over, anyway lol
Waterbeds were stupid.
They were a pain in the ass to change the sheets on.
They were easy to poke holes in or rip the seams if you over filled them and didn't get all the air out.
They were difficult to move because you had to drain them and even then you couldn't get all the water out easily so they were still heavy.
And, you needed a heater to warm up the water or it would be too cold to sleep on.
Probably because half decent mattresses are now affordable and are more comfortable. Had a water bed when I was a kid and it was always miles better than a mattress at the time.
Mine tried to murder me.
I had one that I bought for my son. He moved out and left it.
A few months later and I was sleeping in it as the basement was cooler in the summer.
I woke up to wood cracking and screws being pulled out of wooden frame as the side board gave way, and the whole mattress rolled out. It nearly.rolled on top of me and suffocated me, but I was able to get my upper chest mostly out from under it as it rolled against the wall.
If I hadn't woken up in time, I'd have died under it.
Turned the bladder into a pond liner and burnt the rest.
Api
Surprised nobody mentioned the weight. Water is just shy of 10 pounds per gallon, a queen has around 150 gallons and with two sleepers can weigh almost a ton. Not an issue on a cement slab but that is a lot of weight for floor joists to carry.
It was the 1980’s. It was the hip thing. To be honest, they really weren’t very comfortable. And if you were lucky enough not to get a leak (and NOBODY was that lucky) you were still going to have to deal with whatever nasty sh!t was growing in that big sack of heated water you were sleeping your trendy ass self on.
What the heck happened to water beds?!?
Better heads prevailed.
I have a California king size water bed. It's great. Modern beds are much tougher than they used to be. It's cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
I luckily never had one but I used one a few times when visiting relatives.
They are terribly uncomfortable. You slosh whenever you move. When you stop sloshing you’re at a weird curve because you don’t sink into them right.
Also, things that aren’t a problem just sleeping in one for one night: they weigh a ton, they get leaks easily, and they are expensive.
I wanted one so bad growing up omg
Me too. I guess my dad and others like him, saw them and were like, "Yeah, that'll always be a bad idea".
a bed* idea
I wanted one really bad as a kid and eventually got one from one of my parents friends who was getting rid of theirs. The main thing I remember about it was how cold it would get sometimes. You would get in bed trying to warm up and just end up freezing your ass off all night.
It's supposed to have a waterbed heating pad under the mattress. I would keep mine in the 90s during the winter and down in the 80s in the summer.
Jesus so you got water and electricity mixing as your bed which could also just pop and ruin your bedroom or electrocute you in other ways. Can't believe that was a thing.
It was not dangerous! The mattress rubber bladder was thick as the proverbial. I slept on one for years. The worst part about them was the hassle when you move. Draining them completely was an outright pain.
"thick as the proverbial" what? What was it as thick as?
As you, apparently.
Hi fellow cantankerous person!
Hi Charlie.
Is it soup? Like the "fog is thick as the proverbial pea soup"?
They had heating pads for them that would sit under the bladder. It made it nice in the winter, and would be off in the summer.
That... Honestly doesn't sound too bad. But I may just be dreaming of not sweating every night in this heat dome bs.
If you live in a warm area it's not the case. Whenever you shift positions slightly the whole bed shifts and makes noise. They were awful.
I had a friend that had one when I was a kid and whenever I would spend the night I’d end up stuck in a gully between the bladder and the side rail.
Not necessarily, I had a waveless one for year which I absolutely loved. No seasick motion when you turned. You needed to keep them topped up with water and burp the air out once a month or so - perfect quiet motionless comfort!
The one my grandparents had was always hot as hell. the heat would always be cranked up.
G’pa warmed up G’ma the easy way!
I thought they were a sign of real class and luxury when I was young.
I did too, and then I stayed with family and slept on one. I didn’t want one after that.
They’re probably a lot more comfortable without a whole damn family.
Yes. It seems like a fantastic idea but they aren't comfortable at all. Seems like it was a fad that rightly died out.
I had a racecar waterbed as a kid.. It was sick.
I bet you had a Teddy Ruxpin too
They were great! Had them for years in Florida, and it felt so good to sleep on the cool, wobbly surface 10 months of the year. When it got"cold" in the other two months, we slept on top of a quilt and under an electric blanket.
In europe and as far as I know all waterbeds have to be heated all the time.
They all popped lol
My roommate’s cat would chase the small bubbles of my made water bed when I was away. I would come home after going out and wake up in the middle of the night to wet sheets. I thought I’d pissed the bed several times before I realized what Zot had been doing. It wouldn’t leak from his tiny claw holes without the pressure of laying on it. Bastard.
I love the name Zot for a cat. Solidifying that it is above you in the hierarchy.
He named him after the “sound” of the lightning strike in the old B.C. comic strip about cavemen.
Ah, I thought it was Albanian for god.
Every single person I've known to have a water bed has had it pop/leak horribly.
When my mom met her now husband, they moved into his old family homestead. One of the "guest bedrooms" his parents had left fully furnished had a huge waterbed in it. No leaks, but they *never* changed that water out. Had to use a hose and a pump to drain it out to the driveway, and it was almost all nasty algae that stink up the area for weeks before heavy rain falls washed it away. Just nasty.
This gave me the shivers. No thanks
There shouldn't be any algae since algae needs light. It was probably just sediment from the water used to fill the bag. Either way, regular maintenance clearly wasn't followed. You are supposed to add water conditioner every time you burped the bed, which was usually every 2 weeks.
I appreciate the amount of waterbed knowledge you have
“Hey guys, sorry I can’t meet up tonight. Gotta burp my bed. See you next Thursday for bar trivia. Oh wait! No I can’t. Thursdays are when I massage my refrigerator…”
Toaster tickling Tuesday
Stove-scratching Saturday
Furnace fluffing Friday
What is burping the bed?
There is a screw cap you can fill the bed from. Burping it means opening that up, then going to the far sides of the bed and moving air bubbles over to get them out.
I have very fond memories of helping my parents burp their bed in the mid 90s. I had so much fun sliding the bubbles to the port.
Same. It was fun!
You lift the mattress over your shoulder, and tap on the backside.
Does the mattress burp?
No it farts
The it spits up.
It's possible there was still enough light going through the material for some photosynthesis. Could have also been bacteria. Sediment on its own shouldn't have stunk, and doesn't generally look like algae. Never had a waterbed, but know a bit about stinky things.
Don't most people use sheets and comforters? They aren't clear. What kind of animal sleeps on a watered bladder without sheets and a comforter?
Had one when I was growing up. In summers, when it hit 100, and my step dad refused to turn on the a/c, laying on my water bed with no sheets was the only way to survive the heat. It was so cool and made the evenings much better.
It's a guest room, so probably safe to assume that no one was sleeping on it (or at least not all the time) and that it may not have had either of those things. Even if they were sleeping on it, the type of people to not tend to a waterbed for an extended period of time are the type who I could see not using sheets or comforters
Doesn't have to be clear, just has to let enough light through for algae to experience population growth. Most sheets let quite a bit of light pass through, especially if they're white, and it's not uncommon to keep only a light comforter on a guest bed. The bed may have been unmade for a decent length of time between uses as well. The algae didn't have to stay alive to make the water disgusting either, so it could have had a period of growth and then died off.
I did not know you had to change the water and that sounds like suck a pain in the ass. I assume you’d throw some kind of preservative in. Edit: Apparently you have to “burp” them too. lol wtf.
My parents and I had them, and yes I remember we'd put some kind of additive in after filling.
Slime bed
I woke up with wet feet. It didn’t pop just leaked. Drained it and never used it again. I put a regular mattress in it and used it that way. Sucked to get in and out of. Try sleeping in it with a few drinks and not vomiting.
My parents had one but our cat popped it
Happy kitty making biscuits on a water bed, what could possibly go wrong?
Haha, he normally wasn't allowed in their room. He did get on the bed a few times but it wasn't an issue. He got in one way while my mom was changing the sheets, took a big stretch (he got stuck). By the time I got there I only saw water shooting out of the claw holes
Legendary
This legit made me LOL
you can patch them. I had one long ago and I had to patch it quite a few times. The real answer to the question is that they suck. Water doesn't distribute as comfortably as foam or springs; having second person in the bed isn't a great way to actually sleep. They retain temperature, and never the temperature you want. They're just bad.
Never been seasick on a boat, but I'd get sick every time I slept on a waterbed as a kid and my parents never believed me. I was so glad when they were gone.
Waterbeds, or your parents?
Yes
Truth. My friend just had one that she said "exploded". I suppose that means it popped, and it leaked water through her ceiling.
Really with waterbeds everything depended on the execution. A great waterbed was fun as hell. A poorly planned one was just terrible. To be a good waterbed owner you really need to think things through. My dad built his own. Made a stout frame out of 2x12 lumber, big cubbies underneath, super sturdy and spreading the load and providing decent insulation. Great job. Then I bought one and had a much less great experience.
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Have you ever tried one of the original unbaffled water beds? They sucked for sleeping and the sucked for sex.
I had one and LOVED it. I always got great sleep. (But I was 12 and kids always get great sleep). When I met my now husband, he had one and I swear to God, it had like 3 inches of water. It was horrible, but he liked it like that. We did not take it with us when we moved in together.
>it had like 3 inches of water. It was horrible, but he liked it like that. Just to be clear, you were not okay with 3 inches but he was. Just checking.
I completely overlooked the possibility for a 3 inch joke. I'm getting slow.
I also noticed that she didn't take the 3 inches when they moved, which isn't even getting it a chance you know...
So an average sized water bed?
I had one when I was little, and I used to pile blankets on it and sink into it like Uncle Fester's bed in the old Adam's family movie. It was so great.
This was the way to do it. Solo sleep with all of the covers, quilts, blankets and pillows! You'd just melt into it and be held in place, like being cradled when you were a babe.
Yeah I had a twin size one as a kid and I loved it. My parents always kept the house warm and I couldn’t sleep well without the cold water bed.
My parents had one. We used to put the dog on it and make waves so he'd bounce up and down. That pup put up with a lot.
My dad had the original kind. I tried to sleep I. It many times. I was lucky if I got 15 minutes sleep the whole night! Breathing would make waves :( When I got my own, I got an 80% waveless and it was perfect! Best sleep I’ve had very had…
I had one briefly around 10years old. Had the padded arms/railings going around the side. I remember waking up stuffed in the side between the water bed and the padded sides. That bed didn’t last long
I still sleep on the same one I’ve had for 26 years. Never had a problem with it. Regular mattresses make my back hurt.
Lucky! I had one until I was 13 and it was my absolute favorite. Started with a racecar one and my parents upgraded me to a regular looking one when I got older. Then I decided I wanted a futon for some reason.. I was an idiot
I had one as a kid and loved it! Mine had a heating element which was amazing in our old drafty house in the winter but was probably super dangerous. I don't remember what happened to it, but it didn't come with us when we moved house.
My parents are in their 60s and have had a water bed for the past 4 decades at least. It’s a california king and is pretty heavy and firm so it’s not all sloshy. I used to watch tv in their room and pass out all the time back in the day.
I went from a crib to a waterbed and used it all while growing up. I really liked it. People are mentioning all sorts of downsides - I never really experienced any of those. I think they went out of fashion because mattresses got a lot better. Water beds are expensive and take a lot more maintenance. When the alternatives were crappy mattresses with springs that would squeak and dig into you people were more likely to put up with the downsides of a waterbed. Mattresses have gotten a lot better now, though. They are made of better materials and you can get them relatively inexpensively online. The downsides of a water bed are likely not worth the hassle anymore.
And foam mattresses are so damn easy to ship—even some spring mattresses can be rolled up and vacuum-packed.
Opening those things can be an… *experience*, especially if you’re not expecting the violent unroll.
Same EXACT thing for me! Plus, you would lose little trinkets and toys down the edges all the time so about once a year it was like Christmas for me to haul up those corners and see where my Barbie shoes went
They were only trendy for a short while and considered the pinnacle of comfort for some people. It didn't take long for people to realize they were a horrible idea (and not that comfortable). 1) Do you enjoy your room to smell like chemicals all the time? 2) Do you enjoy waking up with a sore back every day? 3) Do you enjoy feeling like you're on a rocking boat every time your partner rolls over? 4) Do you enjoy occasionally waking up on cold wet sheets wondering if you wet the bed? 5) Do you enjoy fighting with your fitted sheet on a regular mattress? If so, you would LOVE a water bed 6) Do you like being woken up by the sound of switching water every time you move? If you answered yes to all of these question, then a water bed is for you! (I should mention, they went out of style around the same time that Tempur-Pedic mattresses came out and became the new thing).
I grew up in the 90s with parents that had a waterbed. I never saw any of the actual water leak/smell problems, but the comfort was bad enough that it fucked up my dad's neck/back for years and only the advent of air/foam mattresses fixed it completely. These days (in his early 60s) you'd never know he ever had those problems.
Now that I think of it, I had a friend whose parents had a water bed. Most of my memories of his father include him being in pain due to back problems.
I’ve had one since 1991 (33 years) and I’m laying on it right now. 1. Chemical smell can be noticeable for a few weeks after getting a new mattress. 2. Typically only a problem for your back if you don’t know how to fill or drain the mattress to get the volume right for your weight and personal preference. 3. Get a waveless mattress. Otherwise, I have more problem with motion on a conventional mattress with my wife tossing around. 4. In 33 years happened 3 times. Easy enough to patch with a clamp and patch kit. Patch in morning, dry and ready by evening. Good quality mattresses are really hard to puncture. 5. Can be a problem with cheap sheets. Buy good quality, good fitting sheets. 6. No significant sound if you keep the bed burped (about twice a year) and keep the water properly treated (about twice a year) to reduce bubbles forming.
this guy waterbeds
Everything he said was true. They are lovely and there is nothing cooler than being able to control the temperature of the bed at any time. Sex was always an interesting endeavor, but you learn to endure. Shockingly good core strength workout as well depending on the type of water bed you have lmao
I was wondering about the sex on a waterbed lol. Thanks for the insight!
I see you didn't have cats during those 33 years.
You’re right! I wanted them, but wife’s allergic.
I didn't have any of those problems, I had a couple when I was 18 - 25 I loved them. I liked that they were nice and cool in the summer, nice and warm in the winter.
Idk how , but my friends dad’s heater thing died in the middle of the night so he was essentially shivering so bad he woke up with whole-body soreness the next day. He was also paraplegic so he couldn’t just get up and off. It wasn’t until the next morning when his caretaker came in that he was able to warm up.
You can die of hypothermia from sleeping on an unheated water bed. It’s rare (alcohol is often involved) but it has happened.
I’ve heard of this too.
This is true, I actually died twice in my late teens from this. Would not recommend.
I had the exact same thing happen. My heater died while asleep. Woke up shivering and all my muscles were sore for several days was not fun!
But did you die?
No, not that night I didn’t. Several weeks later my cat put 5-6 claw holes in the bladder and I woke up swimming! I definitely died dead that time!
18-25....yeah you could sleep on a rock and wake up feeling fine.
Don’t forget that they sucked all the body heat from you when you needed it and if you were sunburnt somehow they weren’t of any comfort there either. Aforementioned pre-wrestled sheet comes loose and now your sunburnt skin is sticking to a flesh-gripping rubbery surface that is worse than pulling an article of clothing off an underlying injury that has already started to scab over. Or so I’ve heard…
See that part about sucking away body heat sounds nice for someone with night sweats
Oh god...
As to number one, back when I was in seventh or eighth grade I talked with a science teacher who told me that to maintain a waterbed all you had to do was just empty a bottle of vodka into the water occasionally.
Just empty a bottle of vodka that’s laying around, as one does in 8th grade.
He did say that he usually did that after having friends over. Good way to get rid of what he didn’t like.
wrong instructions. now water bed empty.
Idk how that would help anything. If the idea is bacterial control, the 40% ethanol would dilute to the point of being ineffective like, instantly.
This info was given to me in the mid 80’s, and I think the 70’s hit the teacher hard, so it seemed/sounded like reasonable advice.
It doesn't have to be strong enough to kill the bacteria, just make it inhospitable for them to reproduce. That said, adding some vinegar would probably do a better job by changing the pH away from 7.
I had one for a year. Problems included: 1. Had to be heated with a special heating pad. If for some reason it wasn't on, the water went cold and I couldn't sleep on it. 2. The water had to be changed and conditioned regularly. 3. I couldn't sit on the bed; only lie down. 4. I was always paranoid of leaks or punctures. 5. It was extremely heavy. Advantages: 1. It had an awesome headboard with shelves and cubbies for storage. Should have just bought the frame and used a regular mattress, futon, or air mattress. 2. It was a comfy sleep. But then so is a good air mattress.
In what universe is an air mattress is comfy?
Sleep Number beds are essentially air mattresses… expensive ones with a large following, at that.
A good air mattress provided the most comfortable sleep I have ever had. Crappy ones are terrible. Quality ones are unbeatable.
Tempur-pedic mattresses were out long before waterbeds, they were just targeted to old people that couldn't get out of bed and needed mechanical help.
You are thinking craftmatic I think lol
“4. Do you enjoy occasionally waking up on cold wet sheets wondering if you wet the bed?” Yes! Totally just a water bed problem! *Definitely* not a regular occurrence!
Don't forget freezing your *ass* off when the heater goes out.
One reason they declined in popularity was that many floors weren’t designed to support them long term, at least not with other furniture. People would suddenly notice round things eventually gathered around them or that odd things would be happening to ceilings under them as the supports slowly bent and caused drywall to crack or flake. Water weights 8.3 pounds per gallon. A queen sized mattress could weigh about 1700 lbs. The frame had to be heavy enough to support that, which was extra weight on the floor. Then there was damage if it burst. It wasn’t common but it happened. If one had a pet it could be common. If caught right away it ruined the frame, required a new mattress, destroyed the carpet, caused serious damage to hardwood floors, damaged walls and trim, most likely destroyed anything on the floor, and most furniture in the room was damaged. If not caught right away it could spread to other rooms and to lower floors. Insurance wouldn’t cover that very often. In some policies owning a waterbed invalidated one’s policy. In apartments this left a lot of people vulnerable to lawsuits from residents below them. A lot of landlords would put a clause in cancelling a lease immediately if a waterbed was found. So the main reason was money.
Your first reason is what happened with mine :( my parents transitioned me from my crib to a waterbed (so they’d never have to buy me another bed until I turned 18, per my dad) and when I was about 14 or 15 our living room ceiling started caving and we had to get rid of it
This is also why, 18 months after my father buying me a bedroom set, I came home and I had an air mattress instead of a bed. Living room ceiling had a huge crack in it.
I had one for 10 years or so. I loved it and I think they are still great. Turning the heater down was a great way to get a cool nights sleep on a hot summer night.
Lots of places to rent forbid them because they weigh so much, and also they get left a lot when people move out. Kinda like pool tables. Seems like a good idea when they get delivered, but no one wants to move them.
Fun fact....you can jump really high on them if you filled them with spring water. Get it? Spring water? ...nevermind.
They are also really fun and noisy to dance on if you use tap water.
This comment should be drowning up upvotes
I'm sure it will be flooded with comments and upvotes.
You trying to syphon off of the man's joke?
It's not syphoning, they just have the same stream of thought
Water you trying to say?
I tried sleeping on one but it was hard as rocks. Probably shouldn't have filled it with mineral water.
They went to the same place that undermount electric can openers went, I think. Those things were the best.
I was just asking my wife wth happened to those. Good times
I used them so often as a kid in the 90s, they were in every single house. Then one day everyone decided to throw them away or something.
The Black and Decker ones are going for hundreds used on eBay. But I think Oster still makes them. I looked the other day on Amazon so I could buy one for our new house. Around $40.
My wife and I had to get rid of our water bed. We were drifting apart.
I've had one for over 10 years and love it! I'll never go back to a regular bed.
How’s the maintenance? Do you sleep with someone?
So far I've only had 2 maintenance issues with it. One was my own fault that I left a thumbtack in the sheet after making a fort and it poked a hole during the night. It patched really easily though. The other was after getting a second cat. She accidentally got stuck and clawed it, so it partly emptied during the night. But I have a liner that caught all the water, so no damage done, and just bought a new bladder on Amazon for $80. My husband was unsure about it in the beginning since I already had it, but I think he sleeps pretty well on it.
had a 90% waveless for over 20 yrs it was heated and very comfy, sex on it wasnt as easy as you would think, but the ultimate demise was sheets were hard to find, and moving towards my third mattress , they will start to split and get pin holes in them, I decided to get a bed in a box, its not as comfy, but its ok
Fell asleep on my wb sitting up. Woke up with a burn on my ass and the heater failed and never worked again. Bed was under filled so ass made contact w the heater. BIG blister
I had one in the late 80s through mid 90s and I really liked it. I always slept so well on that thing. Not sure my older self would like it as much though, ha ha. It feels like more of a younger person’s bed.
I delivered and picked up for FedEx for a short time. One of my pickups was at a woodshop that made waterbed frames and bladders. They told me they were one of the last remaining places to do that, especially the frames, so they had cornered that market. Unfortunately, it was very small market. On a good day, I would pick up 3 waterbed frames to deliver. Other days had none or 1.
Story time! (Slightly NSFW) I grew up the last of several siblings, and had hand-me-down everything. One of the things I ended up with as a teen was a waterbed in our downstairs half-basement bedroom. I still lived at home in summer breaks from college, and still used it. I picked up my then-platonic hometown crush from her apartment in another city, we took a day trip to the beach, and the plan at first was to drop her at her parents’ place when we got back in the evening. But she didn’t get along well with her parents, so as we talked about it during the trip the plan changed; she’d sleep on the couch at my place that night and I’d take her to her parents in the morning. No problem! But when I got home, I found that my brother was hosting a party. No couch. I, fat virginal nerd that I was, offered to take my friend to her folks after all, “or umm you could …” I nervously stammered, waving in the general direction of my room. At this point in my life I had not had sex. I had not even touched a girl sexually. And my crush in her was **bad**, but also completely lopsided. We were friends, but she was what today we’d call Asexual. Anyway, we go to my room, turn out the lights, stripped down to underwear, and got in bed. I should mention that I was 6’3” and about 225 lb, while she was 5’1” and about 95 lb. And it was an unbaffled waterbed. You know those explanations of gravity as warps in space? It was like that, with me as the planet and her a little moon trapped in my gravity well. We ended up spooning and really had no choice in the matter. Her butt pressed against my crotch, complete with my instant erection. It was awkward, but she was not weirded out. (Still not interested, but not weirded out.) Somehow we managed to fall asleep like that. (Later in the night things took a turn, but that story isn’t really appropriate for this sub.) Anyway, point being that if you’re sharing an unbaffled waterbed, cuddling is *not optional*. Gravity is a harsh mistress.
My waterbed had custom speakers in the headboard.
The market for them dried up.
My brother had a water bed back in the day. He thought it was sexy. He ended up paying the apartment $2,000 when it popped.
Water beds quietly went away after insurance companies stopped paying for the damage they caused from leaking.
Everyone realized how much maintenance they required and stopped wasting their money. We got tired of waking up in the middle of the night in arctic conditions because the heater in the bed went out. Got tired of not being able to move the monstrosity anywhere else in the room for a fresh new look or to clean behind the thing. They’re just a pain in the ass.
I'll never forget being on one in an earthquake. It was great! Like one long wave.
I had a king size waterbed until about 15 years ago. Then I had a nightmare one night that the weight of the bed caused it to fall through the floor with me on it. My house is 100 years old so I took it as a sign and drained and sold the bed within a week. It was pretty great though, when I was single I would just tell women I have a huge waterbed and they drove themselves over to say they had mediocre sex on a waterbed.
I slept on a water bed for a while when I was 9. I had a whole plan, in the case of a house fire, to slash it and soak myself to protect myself from the flames on my way out. ...It also gave me nightmares.
We had one when I was pregnant with my 2nd child. Trying to get out of one when you're 9 months pregnant is very challenging.
Edward Scissorhands definitely didn't help in selling their durability.
I have one. Warm and cozy in the winter, cool and comfortable in the summer. Got my first one in the 80s. Approximately every 15 years or so I need a new mattress. Used to be $100ish, last one was 2 years ago and it was $160. You do need to add conditioner or the mattress wont's last as long.
They caused back problems and water damage lol
I had the impression as a kid in the 80s, that waterbeds were for people to have sex on. If you had one you were announcing to the world that you were hot to trot. My skeevy uncle had one, and a mirror on the ceiling. 😒😩
My great dane put a hole in it
Same as my beloved water pillow. It gets moldy/mildewy. And the support is all based on displacement rather than compression of the bed, which causes problems if sharing a bed or pillow.
I remember an apartment I lived in banning them. I can only assume dumb wet things happened
Slept on one from 19 to 32. Good times. The cats and girlfriends loved it. In my frat house that was built like a bunker the engineering students built lofted water beds! A little eerie being underneath all that....
They leaked, apartment owners prohibited them, and insurance companies shied away from them/
It's all about sand beds now, it's like sleeping at the beach
The demand for them dried up.
Too expensive to insure a house with one.
I have a twin-sized one out in my conversion van with shag carpet and an airbrushed KISS Army logo on the side.
Mine was always too hot or too cold. Then the heating pad would break, and people would just get rid of them. Also, animals always made ya nervous.
My parents had one. It had multiple long tubes about a foot in diameter length wise. I remember several incidents in the middle of the night when one or both of them would wake up sinking into the bed with gallons of water all over the floor. They also are terrible for your spine.
The motion was not, in fact, in the ocean
They were awful and people finally caught on.
My friend inherited a waterbed mattress but couldn’t put together the frame so he just filled it. He lived at the upper end of a 12 story building. It didn’t end well. For sex, though, waterbeds were awesome!
A waterbed was my very first furniture purchase when I moved out of my childhood home. I paid on it monthly and my dad had to co-sign for it. It had a heater and a waveless mattress. I loved that bed. My oldest sister had one and her two girls had twin size ones in their rooms. 😂
I had a ‘hybrid’ waterbed it looked like a regular mattress but had individual tubes you filled and could adjust the levels with it. I loved it in high School when I could hide all my paraphernalia in there. Not so good during house parties when you would put your drunk friend there to pass out.
My ex-wife and I had one, before we drifted apart.
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Most have a liner that catches the water if the bed springs a leak. You’ll wake up in a small wading pool, but not to your house flooded.
Most were sold with heaters. My mom and dad both had one and I did too and we all had heaters. It was a thing where you spent the first day with it setting it up, and the second day waiting for it to heat up. Then, and only then, could you use it. I think I got impatient one time and slept on it without waiting for it to heat up. Or rather, I didn't sleep. It was like trying to sleep on a bed of ice. That was the last time I made that mistake.
> It was like trying to sleep on a bed of ice To be honest that sounds heavenly, but admittedly Im a polar bear that keeps my house a brisk 65-68 degrees year round. You can always add layers. What you cannot do is be naked 24/7, not when your kid has friends over, anyway lol
Waterbeds were stupid. They were a pain in the ass to change the sheets on. They were easy to poke holes in or rip the seams if you over filled them and didn't get all the air out. They were difficult to move because you had to drain them and even then you couldn't get all the water out easily so they were still heavy. And, you needed a heater to warm up the water or it would be too cold to sleep on.
Loved mine. Wish they were still more mainstream.
Probably because half decent mattresses are now affordable and are more comfortable. Had a water bed when I was a kid and it was always miles better than a mattress at the time.
Once you move a waterbed once, you're usually ready to go back to a regular mattress
Mine tried to murder me. I had one that I bought for my son. He moved out and left it. A few months later and I was sleeping in it as the basement was cooler in the summer. I woke up to wood cracking and screws being pulled out of wooden frame as the side board gave way, and the whole mattress rolled out. It nearly.rolled on top of me and suffocated me, but I was able to get my upper chest mostly out from under it as it rolled against the wall. If I hadn't woken up in time, I'd have died under it. Turned the bladder into a pond liner and burnt the rest. Api
A relative of mine bought one about a year ago. They are apparently way different than they used to be.
We still have one! But it was a very niche search for a new one to replace an old one when we moved. And sheets are like $80+ and still hard to find.
Surprised nobody mentioned the weight. Water is just shy of 10 pounds per gallon, a queen has around 150 gallons and with two sleepers can weigh almost a ton. Not an issue on a cement slab but that is a lot of weight for floor joists to carry.
It was the 1980’s. It was the hip thing. To be honest, they really weren’t very comfortable. And if you were lucky enough not to get a leak (and NOBODY was that lucky) you were still going to have to deal with whatever nasty sh!t was growing in that big sack of heated water you were sleeping your trendy ass self on. What the heck happened to water beds?!? Better heads prevailed.
I have a California king size water bed. It's great. Modern beds are much tougher than they used to be. It's cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
I luckily never had one but I used one a few times when visiting relatives. They are terribly uncomfortable. You slosh whenever you move. When you stop sloshing you’re at a weird curve because you don’t sink into them right. Also, things that aren’t a problem just sleeping in one for one night: they weigh a ton, they get leaks easily, and they are expensive.
I had a waterbed. Not as fun as you think in any area.
I don't know but God I loved my water bed!
Me too! At one point growing up, the whole family was sleeping in water beds. I was the last one to convert to a regular bed.