Each air mattress has its own main cause of puncture. Beach mattresses suffer mainly from the sharp edges of shells, pebbles, twigs or glass fragments, but sleeping mattresses, i.e. inflatable beds, can become victims of pets who decide to innocently sharpen their claws until the owner sees. However, here it is a fact - the product is suddenly blown away, and you have to urgently look for information on how to glue the mattress, and preferably more reliable.
The main problem with such troubles is to find a puncture place, and if everything is clear with a beach mattress (the river or the sea will become an auxiliary tool for finding an unfortunate hole), then what to do with an inflatable bed? Carrying a thick double mattress to the river or to the ocean is somehow not cost-effective, and the product will not always fit into a standard bathtub even in a half-empty form. To seal an air mattress, you must first find the place where the patch will soon show off. How to do it?
We are looking for a puncture using the soap bubble method! To do this, go for a soapy sponge on the surface and press on the inflated mattress. If you approximately know the place of damage, then the search area is narrowing noticeably, yet the small edge of the mattress can be immersed in a bath of water. It is better to mark the detected puncture, use a marker, you can smear it with bright nail polish, anyway this place will have to be wiped with acetone.
Before figuring out how to glue an air mattress, you need to find out exactly what material is to be repaired. If there is a repair kit supplied by some manufacturers, then the problem is solved, however, when buying it yourself, it is important to understand that not every glue fits the material of which your mattress is made. There is a considerable difference in the approach of sticking on an air mattress made of rubber, rubberized fabric or sprayed polyvinyl chloride. The repair patch should be from the same material as your product, although there are exceptions. For example, a rubber patch on PVC does not fit in the best way, but a leather patch can hold just fine.
So, a brief algorithm “how to glue an air mattress”: we look for a puncture place, mark it, degrease it, stick a patch and hold it for a day under load. That's all, it would seem, wisdom.
The question arises: how and with what to degrease the surface, and what to do with these PVC mattresses, which are covered with a special velvety coating? Typically, the surface is degreased with solvents - acetone, white alcohol. The spraying is carefully cleaned off with a fine sandpaper - sandpaper. If the surface turns out to be slightly rough, then this is even good. Note that you need to process both glued surfaces.
We carefully study the glue, read the instructions to it. Please note that PVC glue is quite toxic, it is better to work with gloves. However, the solvent should also not be touched with bare hands. According to the instructions, we stick a patch on the deflated mattress, closing the puncture, we press it with the load. A book may be used as a load on which a kettlebell or bucket of water is installed.
Attention: how to glue an air mattress and not stick a load to it? Put on a fresh patch a regular plastic bag, a drop of glue accidentally protruding now does not present any particular danger. It is extremely rare, but such an incident happens as gluing the surfaces of the mattress from the inside. That is, the upper panel is glued to the bottom through a puncture or cut. To avoid this, you need to apply the following trick. Lubricate a very slightly inflated mattress with a suitable adhesive at the puncture site, leave to dry. A frozen droplet of glue will create a barrier to freshness when you apply the patch according to all the rules. A properly repaired mattress has been functioning properly for years!