Whether you are working as a healthcare worker in a hospital or just looking after a sick relative at home, certain situations may arise that may require you to change the bed’s location. When this happens, there’s no other way for you other than to disassemble the hospital bed to make transporting them easy.
No doubt, this will require you to know how to dismantle a hospital bed. What makes the whole process quite complicated is that there are different designs and brands of hospital beds; therefore, the method may differ from brand to brand. I know that may sound worrisome, but this helpful article does not only talk about how to dismantle just one brand of the hospital bed; it covers other types and brands.
Table of Contents
How do you take apart a hospital bed?
- Take off the hospital bed mattress.
- Push on the side rails (spring loaded) to remove them. Remove the wing nuts of the side rails using a plier to remove the side rail system completely.
- This will leave you with the bed frame and some motor assembly that allows the bed to move up and down as well as the headboard and footboard.
- Put your foot under the hospital bed wheel and grab the outer part of the bed so that it is laying on one side.
- The driveshaft will become visible; take it right out through the middle section and disassemble the coupler afterward.
- Once you have successfully disengaged the coupler, remove the hospital bed footboard by sliding it off. Do the same with the headboard, and then you are done.
Note: The process here is for non-foldable spring-loaded hospital beds. After the last stage, you can effortlessly carry it with the help of your partner, who was with you during the dismantling process.
How to dismantle an Invacare hospital bed
- Take the mattresses off the Invacare bed.
- Go to the lower end of the hospital bed, press in on the coupler, and turn it in an anti-clockwise direction to secure it in place.
- Pull the head spring of the bed towards the other direction of the bed frame and detach the hooks on the lower section of the spring.
- Press the bed’s driveshaft to detach it from the bed frame.
- This bed type used to have a button on it; press the button on its adjustable hole and press its tube in afterward.
- Hold the upper part of the bed frame and pull it to disconnect the rivets of the head spring of the bed. Do the same thing to disconnect the springs at the foot section.
- Pull the bed frame up horizontally from its side and fold it at a 45° angle.
- Open the head spring of the bed at a 90° angle in such a way that it will be standing erect.
- Put the foot of the bed and the head spring apart from each other. This will allow the bed’s mounting latch (at the center) to be separated from the rivets at the upper section of the bed’s foot spring.
How to assemble hospital bed rails
- Extend one side rail to touch the cross braces of the foot end and the head end.
- The outer side rail of the bed should be inserted into the head end cross brace barrel.
- Pull the plunger pin (on the head end barrel) and hold it still.
- The bed rail should then be adjusted to any of the 3 positions.
- Free the plunger pin.
- Raise or bring down the bed rail till the plunger is firmly secured into the adjustment hole (upper or lower).
- The inner side rail should also be inserted into the cross brace foot end barrel.
- Steps 3 to 6 should also be repeated for the inner side rail as well as the foot-end cross brace. Then the bed rail should be adjusted to the position in step 6.
- Install the other bed rails by repeating steps 1 to 8. Installation should be done on the bed’s opposite side.
How to remove hospital bed wheels
1. Set up the bed
Remove some parts like the mattress, bedding, and box springs from the bed frame and tilt the bed frame over so that it can be resting on one side. Request someone to hold the bed for you, or you can just lean it against the wall so that it wouldn’t move around when you start to remove the wheels. If the bed is not the heavy type, you can just turn it over so that the wheels will be facing in an upward direction.
2. Remove the wheels
Bed frames are designed differently, but in most cases, the wheels attached to the frames are usually casters that have posts, meaning they will fit perfectly into the grooves of the bed frames. Therefore, to remove the wheels, all you may have to do is pull the wheels out one after the other.
And if a wheel or two are not coming off easily, you can wiggle them from side to side fit a while, and then they will come off. Alternatively, you can also slightly tap the wheel slot top for a while using a blunt object to free the wheel from the socket.
How do you move a hospital bed?
- Before you can move your hospital bed, it is advisable to contact the manufacturer for directions on how it can be appropriately done, or you may check the instruction manual of the bed.
- Begin the removal process by disconnecting the hospital bed from the power supply if it is the one that uses electricity.
- Disassemble the bed according to the instruction manual or direction provided by the manufacturer. When you are about to move the bed, it should be carefully lifted with you bending your knee and not your back to avoid injury to that region of the body.
- Make use of protective equipment like moving straps when you are moving the bed to help transfer some of the weight off your arms and back. You can also use transport carts if the hospital bed is foldable.
- Suppose the manufacturer of your bed type does not offer any assistance instead of trying to move the bed by yourself. In that case, you should call professionals that specialize in handling such equipment.
How do you take apart a hospital bed frame for moving?
- Remove every pillow and bedding from the hospital bed frame.
- Remove the hospital bed base and mattress to make it easy for you to dislodge the footboard and headboard from the main frame.
- Unscrew the bolt holding the footboard and headboard to the bed frame to detach them from the frame using a screwdriver.
- In case your bed doesn’t have a base, it must have been designed with slats and removed these slats from the rail. If the state is joined together, roll them up and start moving your bed frame. If they are separated, unscrew them individually.
- Store all removed screws, bolts, washers, and nuts in a ziplock bag, so you dont misplace them.
- Wrap the bed frame with material suitable for the bed frame. For instance, all types of bed frames should be wrapped in bubble wrap, but if your bed frame is made of wood, you may first of all need to wrap them with a moving blanket before they are wrapped in bubble wrap to protect the wooden surface from damage.
How do you fold a hospital bed for moving?
- If the bed is electric, coil the cables safely away and securely with the provided loops and hooks.
- Remove every screw at the hospital bed center.
- Push the hospital bed center upward till the ends meet.
- Fasten back the screw and tighten the bed’s new position using the latch.