How to Inflate an Air Mattress With a Vacuum Cleaner, Trash Bag, Hair Dryer, and More

Photo: Maria Studio (Shutterstock)

Air mattresses can be awesome, but if you need to inflate one and you don’t have the pump that came with it, blowing one up is a lung-busting challenge. Luckily, there are a ton of different ways you can inflate an air mattress without a pump and without getting dizzy from lack-of-oxygen.

Inflating an air mattress with a vacuum

Whether you can use your vacuum to inflate your air mattress depends on the kind of vacuum you have—some switch between sucking and blowing, and some don’t. If you have a bag style vacuum, like this Oreck upright, you’re in luck: They’re perfect for inflating air mattresses. You’ll need a screwdriver, vacuum tube, and duck tape. Here’s what to do:

Unzip the outer bag.Detach the disposable bag to reveal the intake tube. You might need a screwdriver here.Tightly tape a flexible vacuum tube to the intake hole of the vacuum.Turn it on and run it a bit to blow out the dust from the tube.Attach the other side to the intake of the air mattress with your duck tape.

A word of warning: Don’t over-inflate your air mattress or you could risk damaging the vacuum’s motor. It’s not made to do this, so be kind.

Inflating an air mattress with a trash bag

This useful hack lets you inflate your air mattress with a plastic trash bag. It’s good for no-power situations, like inflating an air mattress when you’re camping. The basic idea is turning the trash bag into a giant lung.

Open the valve on your air mattress.Wave the trashbag in the air to fill it with air.Use your hands to “seal” the trash bag to the valve.Apply pressure to trashbag to force air into the mattress. Try lying down on it.

You can’t fully inflate an air mattress like this. Eventually the pressure needed to force air into the mattress will be greater than the trashbag can hold and it will burst, but it’s still way faster and less dizzying than blowing up an air mattress manually.

How to inflate an air mattress with a hair dryer

With a little bit of duck tape, your hair dryer can inflate an air mattress. At least partly. I’m sure you get the concept, but in case you need a step-by-step:

Seal the hair dryer to the air mattresses intake.It might be easier to use the hole in the air mattress made to release air.Turn on the hair dryer.Make sure it’s set to cool!

Be aware that you won’t be able to fully inflate the air mattress this way. Your hair dryer has a tiny motor not designed for much pressure, so don’t try to force it.

Other methods of blowing up an air mattress without a pump

If you have a shop vac or a leaf blower, it should be obvious how to use them to blow up an air mattress. You could try a bicycle pump too, but many of those only work if you have the kind of valves found on bike tires.