We moved into a house and in the basement there is a waterbed..?

Question

How hard is it to clean it out to use?

Answer 1

Goto to a tool rental and rent a pump. Tell them its for a water bed, they'll know what you need. Attach a hose, pump it out and trash it.

Answer 2

Places like Wal-Mart sell water bed fill kits.  You put this thing on a faucet, attach a garden hose to it.  There is a piece on the bottom that can be turned.  One way it's siphoning, the other way it's filling.  These packs usually come with a blue liquid to put in the water bed to treat the water.  While you're buying, get a patch kit!  For the outside, any all purpose cleaner will work well.  

If you decide to drain the water bed, good luck!  They never drain completely.  You will need 4 or 5 people to carry the dern thing outside.  I used the hose on the carpet shampoo machine to suck more water out of ours when we had to move it and that helped.  I supposed a wet/dry vac would work also.

Answer 3

The water bed most likely is not in good shape, otherwise the previous owner would have taken it with them.

If you can take the matress out and lay it out flat, and instead of wasting water to fill it up to see if it leaks, use a air compressor to fill it up and if there are any leaks, they will show up easy to detect and fix.

If you find a few leaks while the air is in the matress , it is alot easier to fix them while the air is in it rather than trying to fight the water coming out, as you attempt to patch them up.

ROSCoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

Answer 4

If they left it with water in it, you will have to drain the water.  After you drain it, take it outside. The easiest way to clean the inside is to use hot water and dawn dish soap.  Just put enough water in it to be able to move the mattress around.  Don't use to much soap because it will take a long time to rinse it out. Once you have the water in the mattress rub the two sides together to remove any gunk.  You can also add a little bleach and let it soak.  Then stick the hose in it and let it run to rinse it out.  You may have to repeat the process if its really dirty.

If it is empty and your not sure if it has holes don't put water in it.  Use a pump or air compressor to put air in it.  You will be able to find holes with a spray bottle with dish soap in it.  spray it over the mattress. if there are holes you will see bubbles.

Hope this was helpful.

PS If you do find holes you can find waterbed patches or innertube patches at wal-mart. They are not expensive.