Why do Bean Bags go Flat? – Prevent & Fix Deflation

If you ever owned a bean bag chair, you must have faced your bean bag goes flat after using it for some time. Bean bags are not like the rigid wooden chairs. Manufacturers built bean bags mainly for the comfortability. But when you regularly use your bean bag chair, it will go flat ultimately. A good quality bean bag will last for around 3 years without going flat.

Bean bags go flat because of the beans used as the filler. Bean bags mostly filled with EPS beads, which contain air in 98% of its volume. When you use the bean bag for some time, EPS beads will lose the air, and the size of the beads will decrease. Eventually, you will see your bean bag chair deflated, and it goes flat.

Above is the main reason for bean bags to go flat. Now let’s discuss the factors which will boost this deflation process and how to prevent it.

Fluffing your bean bag regularly will prevent the bean bag from going flat.

Table of Contents

• Factors that will Boost the Deflation
  • Filler Material
  • Usage
  • Bean Bag Cover
  • The shape of the Bean Bag
  • Products
  • Movement of Bean Bag
  • Size of the Bean Bag
  • Recycled Beads
• How to Stop Bean Bags from Going Flat
• What should I do for my flat Bean Bag?
• Refill your Flat Bean Bag
• Recycling Old Filling
• Conclusion

Factors that will Boost the Deflation

Filler Material

Most bean bags use expanded polystyrene (EPS) beads as the filler. EPS is a close relative of Styrofoam. Quality bean bags are filled with virgin beads that are manufactured exclusively for use in bean bags.

These beads have numerous pockets of air inside them, and as they are used, the beads become compressed, reducing their size. This compression, in turn, gives the beanbag a flat appearance. 

But if you use a different but rigid material as the filler, you will keep your bean bag without going flat for a much longer time. But it will drastically decrease the comfortability of the bean bag chair. You can use rice to fill your bean bag to prevent deflation. But it will not make you comfortable like a EPS filled bean bag chair.

Usage

Bean bags go flat after you use it for some time frequently. Then the air will go out from the filling beads gradually. Many people new to bean bags are shocked to discover that their chairs have gone flat have extended periods of regular use. What was once a fluffy, route and comfortable chair has become a flat disc about way less than the half of its original size.

However, this is a universal phenomenon experienced by all bean bags filled with traditional polystyrene beads. However, if you use shredded foam, it is possible for your bean bag to go flat because Shredded foam also goes flat and compressed.

If your kids use your bean bag frequently if will mostly tend to lose it’s air quickly. Kids usually tend to jump onto the bean bag as they feel its a toy that can play, so they jump on the bean bag. Kids playing with the bean bag chair is a common scenario for most of the houses that has kids. But it will significantly reduce the lifetime of your bean bags, and the deflation will happen too soon. 

So hard and frequent usage of your bean bag will speed up the process of removing air from its beans. And will deflate it too quickly.

Bean Bag Cover

However, sometimes bean bag factories will install standard length zippers, making it impossible to get a filled inner liner into the main cover. If the product does not have a long zipper and you are filling an inner liner before placing it inside the bean bag cover, your bean bag can go flat reasonably easy.

The shape of the Bean Bag

If you have a beanbag chair that is anything but round, positioning the inner liner, so it aligns with the shape of the outer cover can be challenging to say the least. It will not move  around because it is tied in place.

The beans are then not able to move around the beanbag as they should, and you are left with an uncomfortable chair with the beans in all the wrong places, and then the bean bag will begin to go flat.

Products

If you purchased a beanbag that is machine-washable or dry cleanable and you didn’t correctly obtain a beanbag that uses an inner liner, it is possible for bean bag to go flat too soon.

If you are buying a heavy-duty outdoor beanbag and the fabric is not machine-washable then your bean bag can go flat quickly.

Movement of Bean Bag

Also, Bean bag chairs are the only furniture other than plastic patio chairs that are easily movable. This portability makes them ideal for apartments, the poolside, and any other outdoor area. Re-purposed polystyrene is an inferior filling for several other reasons.

It is often very noisy when sitting or adjusting your position because the irregular pieces rub against each other and shift awkwardly in the cover. Also, this beads may damage your bean bag. The pieces easily break into tiny fragments that get stuck in the zipper.

Size of the Bean Bag

Bean bag comes in different size that requires a specific amount of beans. Most retailers are using polystyrene beads in liters so it is different from water measurement.

If the size of the person frequently sitting on the bean bag chair is much bigger, tendency for the bean bag to go flat is very high.

Recycled Beads

Recycled beads, sometimes referred to as eco-beads or eco-beans, are often purchased to promote environmentalism or save money. Essentially, this material is recycles polystyrene that has been cut or ground into small, irregular particles.

While some of these pieces are vaguely round and pill-sized, most of them are abnormally-shaped chunks of Styrofoam that are incredibly soft but hardly resilient. Another reason is using recycled beads, this were never means to be bean bag filler.

These are the significant reasons bean bags go flat too soon. If your bean bag goes flat, you will need to refill it to use it again. Let’s see some facts you can use to improve your lifetime of the bean bag and how to stop the bean bag from going flat.

How to Stop Bean Bags from Going Flat

The best thing you can do to prevent the bean bag from going flat is fluffing it regularly. You can start the fluffing even it is in the brand new condition. Regular fluffing can increase the lifetime of the beans inside of your bean bag. You can follow the fluffing process as below.

First, open your bean bag zipper and place the bean bag opening facing upwards. Make sure that you won’t lose any of the fillings inside the bean bag. Better if you can do this in a closed environment as the wind can obstruct your process.

Now shake your bean bag for three to five minutes thoroughly. This process will refill the air pockets of the EPS beads, and they will take their original shape gradually. Deflation happens when the air in the beads goes away. By fluffing the bean bag, you let them absorb the air again to the EPS beads. Fluffing is the only way you can gain the original shape of the bean bag without refilling it.

Finally, close your bean bag and see whether it has regained its original shape. If not, repeat these steps once. If you notice that the bean bag hasn’t gained its original state back even after two attempts, you need to refill your bean bag completely.

Even if your bean bag hasn’t gone flat yet, make a habit of fluffing your bean bag by repeating the above steps regularly. If you fluff it at least once a month, you can keep your bean bag looks new for a longer time.

What should I do for my flat Bean Bag?

Deflating your bean bag can be the worst nightmare someone can have. You will no longer have that bean bag that made you comfortable after returning from your work. 

The only solution for the flat bean bag is refilling your bean bag with new filler. You can choose different types of bean bag fillers for your flat bean bag. There are commercially available bean bag fillers like EPS beads or alternative fillers like worn-out fabrics and beans.

If you use fillers like EPS beads to refill your bean bag once it went flat, you can get the same experience with your bean bag, which you had before the deflation. 

But if you are more focused on the environment friendliness or you are out of budget to purchase separate commercial fillers, you can always fill your bean bag with worn-out fabrics or beans. But it won’t give you the exact comfort you had before.

When you are ready with the fillers to refill your bean bag, you need to start the refilling process.

Refill your Flat Bean Bag

Refilling your flat bean bag is not complex as most people say. If you follow the proper steps in the refilling process, you can do it without making it complex. You can find our complete guide on how to refill a bean bag here.

First of all, you need an assistant for this job. Find someone who can support you. Then find a suitable place for this refilling job. 

Ideally, it should be a room without a running fan or an open window because air circulation can make the refilling process complex by moving your EPS beads everywhere.

Now you need a vacuum cleaner and a funnel to control the flow of filling to the bean bag. Make sure to get a safety pin which required to open the child-lock zipper of the bean bag.

Now you are ready to go.

Now, first properly open the bean bag’s safety zipper and empty your bean bag with the help of your friend. Follow the Bean Bag Expert’s refilling guide for explicit instruction for this. After emptying the bean bag, collect all the old filling in a container.

Then properly refill the new filler to the bean bag by following the steps of our guide.

Finally, close the zipper using the safety pin and clean your workplace using the vacuum cleaner to clean all the micro pieces out of the breathable environment.

It might take several days for your bean bag to get into the original shape. That is because some filling takes several days to get puffed. The time entirely depends on the filling material. Maximum, it will take one week.

Recycling Old Filling

Once you are about to refill your bean bag, make sure to collect all the old filling into a container. You can’t just throw it away if you had EPS or some other synthetic material as the bean bag filler.

That’s because EPS beads are not biodegradable, and you need to recycle them properly. If you could reuse them, it is the easiest thing you could do. Otherwise, hand them over to a proper recycling center.

Conclusion

Even if you buy an expensive branded bean bag with a lifetime warranty, you will not receive a warranty for your bean bag’s inner fillings. Even manufacturers expect that the bean bags will deflate eventually after using them for few years regularly. That is the reason why they sell the fillings separately. 

So the deflation of the bean bag is expected. But proper maintenance by fluffing it frequently and using it properly will improve the lifetime of your bean bag’s fillings. 

Like every other piece of furniture, proper maintenance is a must to keep your bean bag looks to its original appearance without going flat too soon.

If you have a flat bean bag, you need to refill it from a new set of fillings. You can use commercially available bean bag fillings like EPS beads or alternative fillers like worn-out fabric.

The Bean bag refilling process is not a complex one, so that you can do it yourself at home with the support of your friend or a family member. But make sure to recycle the old EPS filling without throwing it away to the environment.

Recommended Bean Bag Re-fillers.