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We all know the issues of heat from latex (rubber) and memory foam (way too hot). But the solutions by some are adding wool toppers. For me I tried wool toppers (2 different ones) and they may make it somewhat cooler but they made the mattress too hard and impossible for me to sleep on. Then I tried cotton and that helps some, but still makes the mattress firmer. So what is the solution???? I am sick of waking up every few hours and turning over to cool the overheated area. I need to sink in some to have pressure relief for side sleeping, so I sleep even warmer because of that. This message was modified Oct 1, 2010 by Leo3
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| If you want to help reduce some heat build up and humidity directly underneath you, you could try to replace your cotton fitted sheet with one made of linen (flax). Although finding good ones is not going to be cheap. Just another tool you can have in your arsenal. |
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thanks budgy. In fact I saw flax linen mentioned here previously (probably by you) so I looked them up. Yowsa expensive..although someone on ebya is selling the european style (flat, not fitted) for about $30...I wonder about the quality though. Something to keep in mind for sure. |
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Back in the early 1970's the Federal Government required all mattress manufacturers to develop and make mattresses that would resist the combustion of a smoldering cigarette dropped on a mattress. The mattress industry found that putting a layer or two of poly-urethane would not allow the cigarette to keep enough heat on the "lit" end to keep burning the tobacco, so the mattress would not catch on fire and the government was happy. Most latex mattress makers use a layer or two of poly foam to help in the cooling of latex as well. The memory foam mattress makers have tried to use poly foam but it interfears with the comfort that some find so enjoyable about memory foam. If I may, I would suggest a trip to a local upholstery shop and buy a layer of super soft poly foam with a layer of fortrell on top - the fortrell will breath well and the poly will dispert heat from your body - however if your mattress is a memory foam mattress you will loose some of it's comfort. It should have little effect on comfort with a latex mattress. Ofcourse I would suggest you have them sew fabric on the outside to make the entire pad easy to take home and place on your mattress. One more thing to know - the more layers of upholstrey you put on a mattress the more you will find it will tend to feel firmer. this is called stacking - more layers, as they are compressed, tend to get hard, especially if any of the layers above are firmer than those below.
Gunmam4440 This message was modified Oct 2, 2010 by gunman4440
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| that really seems to go against the grain of logic. all forms of foam can sleep somewhat hot, although only a small percentage of people have heat issues with latex mattresses that do NOT contain polyurethane foam. Any form of latex foam is more breathable than any other variety of upholstery foam. the number of people that find 100% latex mattresses hot compared to say memory foam or just regular polyurethane foam is very small. |
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You may think it goes against your logic but that is the reason the mattress makers started using poly foam in the quilting of mattresses in the early 1970's. Before that it was not uncommon to find garnetted cotton, single needle quilted to the top layer of fabric.
Most people do find latex mattresses cooler than visco matts. Visco (Memory Foam) by its design simply retains heat. What we call regular poly by it's design does indeed dispurse heat at normal body temps. I'm not aware of any latex mattress makers that do not place some layers of poly foam (not visco foam) on top of their matts...
Gunman4440 This message was modified Oct 2, 2010 by gunman4440
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I wasn't even trying to refute your statement as to why poly foam was introduced...I was speaking of heat. On the topic of flammability, polyurethane foams without additional chemicals added are incredibly flammable, more so than even cotton batting which was the main upholstery of choice before polyurethane foam was being used extensively. There are MANY manufacturers of high quality latex mattresses that do not use polyurethane foam in some or most or all of their models. -Natura, Flobeds, SavvyRest, SleepTek, Obasan, GreenSleep, Royal Pedic, OrganicPedic, VitalRest, WJ Southard, to name a few...there are many more that I have not listed. |
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I am sorry, Ididn't know we were talking about someone who slept so hot that they could ignite poly! But as I stated before - at body temps - normal body temps poly is used to disperse "body" heat. It will do so up to at least the 700 degree mark, Cigarettes burn at about 700 degrees or more. In fact the old brand of "Pall Mall" was rated at about 760 degrees and was the cig of prefference for the government testing. Today's Flamability testing (Federal 1633 regs) uses, in some cases, with some mattress makers - not all makers - chemicals to block the hight temps that have to be met (1180 degrees for one hour at five different ignition points). However many makers use other fire blocking tecknology such as kevlar and other similar fabric heat blocking and dispersing methods. But I doubt if this poor gentelman is sleep with a body temp of 1180 degrees! So the supper soft poly with a fortrel pad on top of his mattess will serve him quite well!
Gunman4440 |
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*face palm* My first post towards you had nothing to do with flammability....this is about what materials are going to breathe better than others and do a better job of regulating body temperature. Which natural fibres, cotton and wool, etc will do a much better job of than polyurethane foams as you suggested. EDIT: In any event, I have just never heard of someone suggesting to add layers of polyurethane foam to a mattress to help someone sleep cooler. This message was modified Oct 2, 2010 by budgy
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Budgy, I don't understand why you recomend natural fibers when the gentelman said that wool and cotton did not meet his needs. I'm sure there are other "natural" fibers he could try - but are they easily availabe to him? Fortrel, even the higher tech qualofill or hollofill will do a fantastic job of disbursing body heat, and he can find them at the upholstrey shop in his area.
By the way - those latex mattress manufacturers you mentioned - do they realy just put flat fabric down on latex with no quilting on the fabric? I worked for years with Latex International and Sleep Comp Latex and they generaly say a quilted panel on top of their latex make a dramaticly better presentation!
Gunman4440 This message was modified Oct 2, 2010 by gunman4440
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Most of the above manufacturers use large layers of wool to meet flammability requirements. Also, I have a little prior history with Leo, she's a she btw ;) She had tried a few different options in the wool. I believe one was an exposed wool pad with the stiffer acrylic backing, and the other was a thin Natura puddle pad. Personally I can see why both of these have made the mattress stiffer overall. The challenge is that she had specific needs/wants. She can feel most stitching done on most mattress protectors and toppers which cuts out a lot of options. Cotton batting in general is very firm and I can see why that maybe didn't help. I still believe a well made product with a decent amount of stretch will not cause these issues. The comfort plus wool toppers from Natura have more wool in them than any exposed wool pad I have seen, and although they do have some stitching, it is minimal, and they do not have the acrylic backing. Also a St. Dormeir mattress protector is very stretchy where it is stitched. I have never heard of anyone saying they can feel the stitching on those mattress protectors. The other challenge is that I know she would prefer to be as chemical free as possible which means synthetic polyester fibres and poly foams are sort of a last resort kind of thing. |