Waterbed - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages

Waterbeds have several advantages over traditional beds:

• The bed shapes exactly to the body, thus minimizing pressure, especially around the joints. Waterbeds remove pressure from the spine allowing the spinal muscles to fully relax. This can aid in the treatment of back pain for some individuals. In paralytic or movement-impaired people they can reduce the risk of bedsores.
• Heated waterbeds relax the back which can be a great boon to those prone to backache from heavy work.
• It is impossible for dirt and dead skin particles to penetrate the water mattress, which can then be wiped periodically with a cloth and vinyl cleaner. The cover over the mattress can be regularly washed—thus virtually eliminating house dust mites in the bed. Dust mites can trigger asthma, eczema, and allergies in people sensitive to them.
• Many modern waterbeds feature two mattresses so individual firmness and heat levels are possible.

But there are also disadvantages:

• The United States National Institute of Child Health and Human Development advises against placing babies on a waterbed or any other soft surface which might obstruct their breathing. Old-style waterbeds are a particular example, as an infant without upper body control cannot lift its' face away from the plastic cover. "Your baby is safest on a firm surface. Do not place your baby on a soft mattress, sofa, cushion, waterbed, sheepskin or other soft surface." http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs_details.cfm?from=&pubs_id=5794
• Heating a waterbed is costly. A waterbed consumes between 300 and 1500 kW·h/year, depending on the climate, bed size, and other factors. The energy usage can be decreased by about 60% with the use of a soft-sided waterbed.
• Since some hard-sided waterbeds are of different sizes than other mattresses, bed sheets are harder to find and come in fewer varieties. Soft-sided mattresses are conventionally sized to avoid this problem.
• Moving a waterbed is a more difficult process than moving a normal bed; the water must be drained and the frame disassembled, then the frame must be reassembled, the mattress refilled with water, and the water heated for a potentially long period to get the new water to the correct temperature.
• Occasionally, water mattresses may leak. Plastic liners will reduce damage, but emptying, patching, refilling, and reheating it (and sleeping elsewhere until all this is completed) is certainly an inconvenience.
• Wearing clothing with zippers such as trousers while lying on a waterbed can potentially cause leaks, due to the free-swinging zipper tab potentially digging into the bedsheets and puncturing the plastic cover.
• The weight of a waterbed (a bed of 160 x 200 x 020 cm will weigh 640 kg or 1,410 lbs) will put a strain on many floorboards. If the waterbed is 35-42 sq. ft. in size, the floor load load stress is 40 lbs./sq. ft. without occupants. Current IBC residential loading is 40 lbs./sq. ft. including occupants, so the weight of a water bed is high for new construction and can exceed the weight-bearing capacity of older homes where remodeling has already over-taxed the existing floor system.
• Many apartment leases and home insurance policies restrict the use of "water-filled furniture" due to concerns about water damage to the dwelling due to accidental leakage as well as the stress on the floor.