Most Common Issue With Broken Yard Inflatable

In my experience with yard inflatables is that after a very wet period of time, some inflatables just do not want to inflate again. After much troubleshooting, the most common and only fix I ever had to use was the following. Please read the steps, because I describe the state of the inflatable so that you will know if this fix will work for you or not.

Easiest Way to Fix an Inflatable Holiday Yard Decoration

  • First, make sure you do not see any exposed copper wiring near the fan. If this happens, there is not an easy fix as these devices do not come apart easily.

  • Make sure there is no exposed wire on the two wires near the plug right before the thick plastic entering the power adapter. If this is your case, once again, this is not an easy fix. It can be done, but you have to know how to solder and rewire. I have had this happen to one of mine (from a kid that would not stop playing with them) and it was just not worth it to fix.

  • Unscrew the adapter and look inside, is it clean or does it have a green like dusty look as seen in this picture below? If it is greenish, that is your problem. Water got into the adapter and hung out for too long.

  • Here is a picture of a bad power adapter and a good one. Do you see how the good one is clean with now green in it?

  • Solution: Replace with a new adapter. You can either use an extra from Halloween or from Christmas (just a different holiday inflatable that is not going to be used). The other option is to order one. This place has them, but I have not order from them because I was able to use another adapter from broken ones or other holidays.

  • After it is replaced, it should work like a charm!

  • After I noticed this trend, I started using plumbers tape on all of the AC adapters by wrapping it around the threads and the connection from the cord to the adapter.

Video (If you want to see more pictures)

youtube video

About Daniel Fredrick

Technology enthusiast, Programmer, Network Engineer CCIE# 17094

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