How To Find A Hole In A Blow Up Mattress?

Updated

January 9, 2024

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Want to make sure that a blow up mattress doesn't have a hole in it? Your search ends here. You will get all the information you need to identify the leakage source. Furthermore, we're going to discuss a few different methods in this article.

  • How to find the leak in the air mattress?
  • How to find a slow leak in an air mattress?
  • How to find a leak in an air mattress with tissue paper?
  • How to find a hole in an air mattress with smoke?
  • How to find a hole in an air mattress aluminium foil?


Immerse your blow-up mattress in water after filling it with air. You will be able to see air bubbles and find the source of the hole. You can also use soapy water or tissue paper. The following steps will guide you through the process.

How to find a leak in an air mattress

Before we dive into how to find the hole in an air mattress, you must pay heed to certain things. Go ahead and carefully analyze the air mattress, whether it has any caps or seals.

That's because a significant amount of air can escape through these caps and bad seals. To know whether your air mattress has a bad seal, see you hear any hissing sounds from a specific area. There's leakage if you can hear such sounds.

If your mattress leaks, then follow any of these steps to find a hole. In all the methods, you must mark the hole. You can use a marker to draw a tiny circle around it. Tape can also be used to mark the hole's location.

Check for leaks using soapy water

Make sure you can carry out the process in an area where you can move freely. To find the hole, you need a few items and to follow the steps below. Prepare the following items.

  • Washing up liquid.
  • Water.
  • Container. 
  • Rag or sponge.
  • Note: make sure the soap does not contain bleach.
  1. Having collected all these things, the next step is to fill the container with warm water. 
  2. Next, mix warm water with dish soap to create a soapy mixture of bubbles. It must be soapy enough to create large bubbles.
  3. Inflate your blow-up mattress. You don't need to fill it with too much air. However, If the air pressure is high, you will be able to spot the hole much easier. 
  4. Taking your sponge or rag, now dip it into the soapy water. From one area of the mattress to the other, run the sponge over it. While wiping, you should apply pressure everywhere you go. You will see bubbles as you pass over the leakage area.

How to find a slow leak

Slow leaks happen very gradually making them hard to spot. You can try the soapy water method but because the leak is slow there might not be enough pressure to cause bubbles, so follow these steps instead.

  1. Fill up your bathtub with water.
  2. Place your air mattress in the bathtub and inflate it.
  3. Once you're ready, start submerging sections of the mattress in the water.
  4. When you submerge the area with the hole, you will notice bubbles coming out of it.

Using this method will result in a very messy bathroom. You can also examine your air mattress by moving your hands across it. Where the hole is, you will notice that air is coming out.

Find the hole with tissue paper

Tissue paper is all you need for this method. That means no mess but this method can be a lot harder to find the hole.

  1. Take the inflated mattress to a quiet room where there are no loud noises.
  2. Then, lay it down on the floor. With one hand, run the tissue paper across different areas of the mattress. Continue applying pressure to the mattress as you do this.
  3. Moving from section to section gradually is the third step. Take your time.
  4. When you feel a gush of air coming out or hear a hissing sound, bring the tissue to the affected area. It is possible to determine the location of the hole if the tissue moves around the area.

How to find a hole with smoke

It is very similar to the method that utilizes tissue paper. For this method, you would need an incense stick.

  1. The first step is to place the mattress in a quiet room. Close the door of the room to prevent any other wind from entering. Be sure to blow up the air mattress slightly. 
  2. Light the incense stick and slowly move it across the mattress. As you move along, apply pressure to the mattress. 
  3. You should see the incense stick smoke moving with the air gushing from the hole.

How to find the hole with aluminium foil

In this method, all you need is a piece of aluminium foil. Of course, you can also use plastic foil and follow the same process.

  1. Start by inflating the air mattress and taking it to a room with no other sources of wind.
  2. Lay the mattress down. Slowly move your hand from one area to another on the mattress.
  3. Try to feel for any gush of air or to hear any hissing sounds. Put the aluminum foil over that area as soon as you notice it. If you see the foil moving, you've found the hole. 

Conclusion

There are many methods to find a hole in your air mattress, use what you feel will work best. However, we recommend using soapy water. We also have a guide on the best air mattresses in Australia that you'll enjoy.