Place sleeping pad in-valve after opening valve end. Allow air to enter by opening the stuff sack end, then roll the stuff sack end continually to inflate the pad with the air trapped inside the Pumphouse Ultra. Rep until the pad has reached the appropriate level of inflation.
What is the purpose of a pad inflation sack?
The Pad Inflation Sack, made from repurposed extra pad material, greatly lowers sleeping pad inflation time by collecting a large volume of air at once and simply pushing it through the in-valve of the sleeping pad. It also serves as a pad stuff sack.
How long does a self-inflating pad take to inflate?
Regrettably, the answer to this question is a standard “it depends.” In general, any of our self-inflating pads will take 5-15 minutes to inflate on their own. Core construction, training compression, height, and temperature are all likely contributors to the 10-minute range difference.
Core Construction
Our foam cores aren’t all the same, and depending on the pad, we use different fabrication methods. While pads like the ProLiteTM ApexTM and TrailProTM feature StrataCore construction, the basic ProLiteTM Sleeping Pad uses Diagonally Die-Cut Foam cores. Because of the variances in cut design, there are tiny differences in overall foam volume, which results to slight differences in self-inflating time.
In terms of self-inflation times, foam volume is the most important component. The MondoKingTM is 4-inches thick and has the same StrataCore architecture as the ProLite Apex, with the exception that the ProLite Apex is 2 inches thick. The Mondo, of course, takes longer to self-inflate.
Trained Compression
The quality of your pad’s foam core also affects self-inflation times. It will take longer for a pad that has been tightly rolled and stored for several months to self-inflate than a pad that has only been rolled for a day in between campsites. Open-cell foam has a memory (not to be confused with memory foam, which is a special formulation of open-cell foam) and may be trained to stay compressed for lengthy periods of time if held in that position.
This is why, when first unrolled, set out, and the valve opened, a brand new, out-of-the-box self-inflating sleeping pad might be fairly deflated. The pads are squeezed and rolled as soon as they leave the factory, achieving the tightest compression a pad has ever seen. The foam’s open cells aren’t used to expanding and enabling air to enter.
It’s beneficial to prime the pad with a few breaths of air to overcome the long-compressed foam’s sluggish self-inflation; it’s like giving a push-start to get the momentum flowing. The open cells will become more pliable as atmospheric pressure increases, and they will self-inflate as intended.
Elevation
The length of time it takes for the pad to self-inflate is determined by the height at which you are camping. The atmospheric pressure is lower at higher elevations, which means there is less “force” pushing air into the empty cells of your pad’s foam core. Although we haven’t studied the difference in inflation times at different elevations, fundamental physics suggests that there is at least a modest difference in self-inflation times at high and low elevations.
Temperatures
The effects of heat and the lack thereof on the characteristics of polyurethane are influenced by temperature. Because colder temperatures make the material less malleable, atmospheric pressure has to work harder to fill the empty spaces in the foam, taking longer for a cold pad to self-inflate.
Why Would I Wait for Self-Inflation When I Could Do it Faster Myself?
The 5-15 minutes it takes to self-inflate may or may not be considered waiting time, depending on your camp routine. You may filter water, start boiling water for a dinner, or do any number of other camp duties while your pad inflates.
Ironically (though not really, because physics can’t be sarcastic), your pad will self-inflate slower and your water will boil faster at higher heights. If this is the case, and you’re looking for something to do other than stare at your pad, make sure you’ve removed your sleeping bag or quilt and set it aside. This permits the insulation to loft, allowing for a greater number of heat-trapping air pockets to be available for nightly warmth.
How should a Kelty self-inflating sleeping pad be inflated?
Remove your pad from the carry bag and roll it out. To open the valve on your pad, turn it counterclockwise. Your pad will begin to inflate on its own. To increase the inflation to the appropriate amount, simply blow in more air. To retain the air inside your pad, simply turn your valve clockwise to close it after you’ve finished.
To blow air into your pillow, open the cap on the valve and pinch it. Fill the pillow to the desired level and close the valve with the cap.
Deflate your pad on a flat, clean surface free of sticks and stones. Turn the valve on your pad counterclockwise to open it. You’ll notice that your pad is losing air. To force out air, fold your sleeping pad vertically and roll it toward the valve. You’ll hear the pad release the air as you roll. Check to see if the valve is still open if you don’t hear any air leaving. When you’ve rolled the pad up to the valve, turn the valve clockwise to close it. To keep your sleeping pad rolled up, put on the compression band. After that, you can put your pad in your carry-on bag!
If your pad is punctured while out in the field, it comes with a repair kit. Simply clean the punctured area and completely dry it. Then apply the extra pad material over the punctured area with the provided glue. For 1 minute, press firmly on the attached material. Allow 30 minutes for the adhesive to thoroughly adhere to the pad before usage.
Close the valve after fully inflating the pad. Use a damp paper towel and a light detergent to clean your pad. Before deflating your pad and storing it in its carry case, wash it with another wet paper towel and let it air dry.
What does it mean to have a self-inflating sleeping pad?
Open-cell foam insulation and air are combined in self-inflating pads. When the valve(s) are opened, the foam expands and air is drawn in automatically. Some are made specifically for backpacking and can be folded lengthwise and rolled up to fit into your pack.
How effective are self-inflating mats?
There’s no getting around it: a self-inflating sleeping pad is a must-have for every alpine expedition or trip. Self-inflating mats are not only convenient to transport, but they are also highly comfortable. Self-inflating sleeping mats are only slightly heavier than regular sleeping mats. They also have a few advantages over their non-inflating equivalents.
How do self-inflating sleeping mats function, though? What types of models are available? Finally, when caring for and mending them, what should you keep in mind? We’ll answer these questions in the sections below so you can select the perfect mat for you!
Why isn’t my self-inflating mattress filling up?
Isn’t it obvious that the clue is in the name? A self-inflating mattress should inflate on its own, but each type is unique, and each valve operates in a different way. Below are some helpful hints for properly inflating your mat. If your self-inflating mattress is brand new, it will not fully inflate the first time you use it. Because it has been packed and folded for so long, the best thing to do now is to let the mattress expand and then manually top it up by blowing air into the valve with your lips. When the foam inside the mattress has settled, it will inflate itself more quickly and easily.
A Regular Self Inflating Mattress (Brass Valve)
If your mattress has one of the above valves, follow the steps below to inflate it:
- To attain the desired pressure, top up the mattress by blowing air into the valve with your mouth.
How to Inflate an Outwell branded mattress
- To fully open the valve, move the toggle from deflate to half way between deflate and inflate.
- Turn the green clip to Airtight to close the valve and prevent air from escaping, however you can then blow extra air into the mattress with your mouth.
Can I use a pump to inflate my SIM?
No, you cannot inflate the mattress with a pump because the valve would suck air into the mattress. You should never attempt to inflate the mattress with an airbed or tent pump.
My mattress never reaches the full depth without me topping it up manually, is it faulty?
Each mattress is unique; for example, a self-inflating mat with a brass valve will never reach its maximum capacity of air, and you will need to manually fill it up. Modern mattresses are significantly better at allowing air to enter the mattress, and you may only need to firm up the mattress manually if you want it to be more substantial.
What is the best way to fold a sleeping pad?
Most Sea to Summit, Therm-a-Rest, Exped, Nemo, and Klymit pads, as well as other rectangular and mummy-shaped inflatables, function well with this strategy.
Step 1: Before folding, remove all air. To do so, open the deflate valve, fold the mat in thirds crosswise, and press the air out with your bodyweight. Avoid pressing your pad against anything that could rupture it.
Step 3: Fold the mat in thirds lengthwise and roll firmly from the foot end. As you roll, this squeezes out the air.
*Some pads should be folded lengthwise into halves or even fourths (rather than thirds) before rolling. Your stuff sack’s length determines how many folds are required to fit it inside.
Why is my thermarest losing its air?
The sole purpose of an inflated camping mattress is to keep the air out. If something causes the mattress to become airtight, we’ve got a problem, Houston.
We receive a lot of complaints concerning alleged leaks, especially with air mattresses. And a mattress that appears to have lost pressure during the night is frequently not a leak at all. If it’s not flat, but not as full as it was when you inflated it before night, it’s likely due to a decrease of air pressure when your mattress cools.
This is especially true if you use your tongue to inflate your mattress. The air coming in is warm, and when it cools to room temperature, you may lose a lot of pressure, prompting you to breathe into your mattress a few more times. This is also why we recommend deflating your mattress slightly before leaving it in your tent for the day. If it warms up enough in a hot tent all day, a full mattress can actually rupture from the added strain.
How to Repair Your Sleeping Pad at Home
If you’re at home, you can use our Permanent Home Repair Kit to patch the hole.
It may be necessary to sit overnight, depending on the kind of mattress, but because you’re at home, this shouldn’t be a problem. Pro tip: Before venturing into the wilderness, double-check your pad and the rest of your gear.
How to Repair Your Sleeping Pad in the Field
Hopefully, you’ve packed a Field Repair Kit with you if you get a puncture while camping.
All of our NeoAir pads come with these kits, which simply fit into the supplied stuff pouch. The Field Repair Kit is meant to give a quick, no-cure fix for any mattress, though either of our repair kits will work.
How to Find the Leak and Patch it Yourself
You’ll want to inflate your mattress as stiff as you can with your breath, whether you’re at home or in the wild. If you’re lucky, you’ll hear air escaping and be able to pinpoint the rupture almost immediately. If the leak isn’t obvious, you can either totally submerge the mattress in water (in a tub at home or a body of water nearby if you’re out in the wild) or wipe the mattress with a damp soapy cloth.
You’re looking for bubbles to form in both circumstances, as this will reveal where the air is exiting. It may take a long time for bubbles to form after a pinhole rupture that leaks all night, in some cases ten or more minutes. At this stage, patience is the most powerful tool in the toolkit. When soaking or soaping up the mattress, one trick is to fold it over on itself. This will raise the internal pressure, allowing air to pass through the hole more quickly. Another option is to mentally split it down into little sections and go through each one slowly and meticulously. Examine the other side of the mat by flipping it over.
When we receive mattresses for repair, our technicians follow the same methods. In any case, once you’ve located the leak, simply follow the repair instructions to patch it up and you’re good to go.
Send Your Sleeping Pad to the Pros to Repair
If you’ve done everything else and the damage to your mattress is too much for you to handle, you can send it to us for repair. We’ll repair or replace your mattress at our discretion if the problem is covered by our Limited Lifetime Warranty. These problems are mainly limited to material or manufacturing flaws, such as valve or seam failure. We can fix punctures/tears in the mattress if they are discovered, however these are mainly wear-and-tear issues.
To repair a mattress, we charge a fixed price of $20. This repair charge covers up to ten punctures at a time; if we find more than ten punctures in a mattress (which sounds crazy, but some people live in cactus-infested areas, or perhaps someone forgot to take off their golf shoes before entering their tent), we consider the mattress to be past its prime.
Please make sure your mattress is somewhat clean if you opt to send it to us. We don’t need (or want) to be able to eat off your mattress, but certain mattresses have turned up here that look to have been used extensively and solely by goatsthe terrible kind you see on death metal album covers, not the beautiful fluffy ones who faint when delighted. Clean your mattress by inflating it and cleaning it down with a light detergent if that’s the case. After that, give it a rinse and let it dry before shipping it to us.
Please note that if your mattress comes at the repair office excessively dirty or with a strong off-putting odor, it will not be worked on or evaluated and will instead be returned with cleaning instructions.
This brings us to another point: it is critical to keep your mattress clean in order for it to last as long as possible. Body oils, bug repellent, and suntan lotion, whether it’s the foam in a self-inflating model or the internal baffles in one of our NeoAir models, can all contribute to the breakdown of the laminates that bond the external fabrics to the internal components, whether it’s the foam in a self-inflating model or the internal baffles in one of our NeoAir models, on long-term camping trips. Using a sheet on the mattress and cleaning it (both the sheet and the mat) on a regular basis can help you get the most out of it.
We aren’t concerned about the manner of shipment if you send a mattress to us, although we do encourage using a trackable way. If something goes wrong with the shipment, you can at least figure out where it was accidentally delivered. Go to our warranty website and create a Return Authorization Number to get started with your repair.
You would quickly become cold if you slept directly on the ground while camping due to heat transfer from your warm body to the cold ground. Your body would compress the synthetic or down insulation in your sleeping bag, making it ineffective as a barrier. As a result, sleeping pads act as a barrier between you and the groundto varied degrees, depending on the thickness, insulation, and other features of the pad. The R-value of a pad indicates how well it insulates.
An R-value, in technical terms, is a measurement of how well an object resists (thus the “R”) heat (this measurement is used to quantify thermal resistance in windows, housing insulation, and much more). A sleeping pad’s R-value indicates how well it resists heat transfer and keeps you insulated from the ground. Sleeping pads typically have R-values of 1 to 7, but thicker and less portable mattresses might have R-values in the double digits (but these have limited appeal for most backpackers). It’s important to remember that this is a stand-alone scoring system (i.e., R-value numbers have no correspondence to temperature).
Should I stuff my sleeping bag with my sleeping pad?
Yes, you can stuff your sleeping pad inside your sleeping bag. This, however, is not the proper method to utilize a sleeping mat. Sleeping pads are intended to be used in conjunction with a sleeping bag.
This is because their aim is to protect you from the ground’s frigid temperature. When determining where to put your sleeping mat and which model to use, consider yourself the following questions:
What Surface are You Going to be Sleeping On?
Sleeping pads are used to keep you warm while sleeping on the ground. If you’re sleeping on the floor, make sure they’re underneath the bag. If not, putting them within each other will impair the insulating properties of the mat.
Before deciding where to put your sleeping pad, make sure you know the answers to these two questions.