How to Empty a Waterbed

Waterbeds are great when they work, but are not so much fun to set up and take down. You can get the majority of the water out of the bed with a hose hookup and your own body weight, but if you want to drain the bed completely, it takes more persistence. You probably won't get every drop of water out, but you can get your bed empty enough to make it safe to store and easy to carry.

Things You'll Need

• Rubber tube
• Waterbed fill and drain kit
• Wet/dry shop vac

Instructions

1. Hook the waterbed up to a hose. A waterbed fill and dry kit will have a sealed hose meant for this purpose. Put the free end of the hose in the bathtub, out the window or in some other place where it can safely drain.

2. Sit on the bed to speed up the draining. As the water level gets lower, you can roll around on the bed or have other people sit on it with you to help wring out the last of the water.

3. Siphon out the dregs. Once nothing else is coming out of the hose, unhook it and run a thin tube into the bottom of the bed. Run the other end of the tube out the window and to a lower point. Have a friend tilt the waterbed so that all the remaining water is pooled in one corner, and place the tube in that corner. Then suck on the end of the tube until water starts coming out. This is called priming the siphon. Once it is primed, the water should continue to flow.

4. Use a wet/dry shop vac with a hose attachment to get out the last bit of water. Move it around inside the bed to get at any remaining puddles.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to check the pamphlets that came with the bed and the shop vac to make sure that neither will be harmed by using it to vacuum out your waterbed.