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up vote 6 down vote favorite

I went camping last trip and my nice inflated pad... deflated. I always carry a patch kit but I discovered another issue: I couldn't find the leak. The leak was small. It took quite a while of me laying on it for the pad to deflate. I as not able to locate the leak in order to patch it.

How do you locate a small leak in an inflatable sleeping pad?

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This in no way answers your question, but also check the manufacturer, some patch holes for free. – MaskedPlant Oct 5 '12 at 20:02
If you don't already practice this (many don't), never use your inflatable pad directly on the ground if you want it to remain leak-free. Use it only inside of a tent or in a hammock. Trust me. – manoftheson Jan 17 at 4:28

2 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

Sometimes you don't have a place to submerge your pad to find leaks. In that case there is another solution, albeit slightly less ideal than dunking.

  1. Fill a squirt bottle, spray bottle, hydration bladder (something with a nozzle to control the flow) with water near to the top.
  2. Add several drops of liquid soap (dish detergent works best).
  3. Wet your fully inflated sleeping pad with the mixture.
  4. Look for bubbles forming to isolate the leak(s).
  5. Carefully mark the location of the leak with a needle/pin (you've got to fix the leak anyway) as you will lose it as soon as you rinse the soapy water away. You may try a grease pencil or china marker but not much else will write on a soapy wet surface.
  6. Rinse the area to be patched of the soapy water.
  7. Let the pad dry and follow your procedure for repairing the leak!

I've had to use this method several times and it always works. Be systematic about it so you can keep track of what you've checked. Usually leaks occur on the bottom of your pad, or they could be at a failing seam, so target those areas first. Also you might have to refill the bottle once or twice before you find the leak, depending on the size of the pad and just how lucky you get. If you're mix isn't sudsy enough, add more soap.

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I actually like this answer a lot better. I'm tall and have a long pad which is quite difficult to submerge in a our household bath. – Russell Steen♦ Jan 18 at 14:16
Glad it helps! I work at an outdoor camp and we have a lot of inflatable pads for the backpacking program, and this is the method I usually use. The dunk method is great, but it's sometimes hard to differentiate between bubbles that just happen because they cling to the pad, or bubbles from the actual leak. – manoftheson Jan 18 at 20:11
up vote 8 down vote

Take a bath.

Fill the bath tub with water and the pad with air, and put the pad underwater (if it's too big to all go under at once, check section by section). You should see bubbles coming out of the leak.

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1  
Smart idea! ingenious! – studiohack♦ Oct 5 '12 at 21:26
1  
Awesome answer! Now I just have to ask the right question. – Russell Steen♦ Oct 5 '12 at 22:05
Takes me back to my childhood, when a similar technique (using a bucket, not a bath) would be used to find the puncture in my bike inner-tube – Andrew Oct 22 '12 at 5:55
1  
A similar solution exists if you have no place to dunk your pad. Fill a squirt bottle or spray bottle with several drops of liquid soap (dish detergent is great), fill the rest with water and spray it on your inflated pad until you can isolate the leak by the bubbles forming. You can usually rule out the top as the location but not always, and you may have to refill your bottle a few times until you find the leak. I've had to use this method before, and while not ideal, it works. – manoftheson Jan 17 at 4:23
@manoftheson I think that's different enough you should post it as an answer. – Kevin♦ Jan 17 at 14:22
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