How to deflate foil balloons?

There are various reasons for how to deflate foil balloons. The most obvious reason is how you can get foil balloons inflated again which may have been left up and forgotten about, or how to deflate foil balloons that are no longer needed for your event due to the fact that they have lost their helium and cannot float anymore.

Steps to deflate foil balloons?

Inflated foil balloons will stay inflated for days, weeks and sometimes even months if filled with helium as they are made from such a strong material. When deflated they can be kept inflated very easily using the same method that is used to fill them in the first place.

Step one:

Use water to cover the entire surface of where you inflated your foil balloons. This ensures that all of this area will become wet and not just one tiny hole. If there is only a hole then you will find it hard to get these foil balloons deflated or at least it would take much longer than if you had watered the entire area thoroughly.

The reason why you should use water instead of air to deflate foil balloons is that air does not stick together like water does. For example, if you could not find a bucket then if you are standing on your foil balloons and place both of your hands flat on to its surface area then as you raise them up they will pull in all the air underneath which will cause your foil balloon to deflate rather than if you had just stood there with an open hand doing nothing instead.

Step two:

Tie a piece of rope around one side of these foil balloons that have been inflated. The other end of this rope should be tied onto something firm and stable such as a tree branch or even an outside wall.

The reason why you need to use rope is because it is much more durable than string but also because it has a higher tensile strength which means that it can support more weight than string. The higher tensile strength of rope also means that when you pull on this rope the entire length will tighten, not just a small section like with string. This is the reason why you should not use string to tie your foil balloons down, but instead use rope as it has a higher tensile strength.

Step three:

Now start moving yourself backwards, while pulling the rope in order to make these foil balloons deflate and pull them closer towards you. You may have to adjust how much of each side are pulled because if both sides were being pulled then they would be going at different speeds and so one wouldn’t be able to move forwards any further.

If you did think about doing this with air, then you may need to try a few times without water before using the water method as mentioned in step one.

Step four:

Once you have finished deflating these foil balloons you can now throw them away if they are no longer needed or if you want to get them inflated again then you must follow steps one to three again until they are fully inflated and ready to be used again.

How long will it take to inflate foil balloons?

Inflating these foil balloons depends on their volume mostly, but also how large they are too. The larger the size of your item that is being filled up with helium gas, the more time it will take for it to fill up properly. For example, a 6ft wide foil balloon will take much longer to fill up then a 1ft wide foil balloon.

So, when dumping in the helium gas into your item that is being inflated and it does not look like it has filled up enough yet or you can just about see through some small gaps, then leave it for a couple of hours until more helium is added to this item. This time may seem like ages but it will be worth waiting as after this amount of time these foil balloons should be fully inflated ready to go. If you had followed the instructions correctly then they should have already been left standing upright overnight too before all this was done. So, once you add even more helium gas to them they should start becoming full very quickly and so less time will be needed to do this.

How much helium will these foil balloons need?

The more volume your item has, the more helium it will need in order to fill up properly. So, if you are not sure how much helium gas to add then the best thing that you should do is ask a shop assistant what they would recommend because they should know what amount of helium we would use for each item.

How do I know if my foil balloon needs re-inflation?

There are several ways of knowing whether your foil balloon needs re-inflation or not; You may know which brand of balloons you are using, and each will list their lifespan in ‘floats’. Each float is approximately 12 hours or so of being inflated with helium. If your foil balloon has been up for more than a few days (which is not very long), it may need re-inflated. You could also check the foil balloon by gently squeezing it.

Conclusion

This way I deflated several balloons of different sizes in one minute, with no air loss. The ballons are very fragile after you cut them, so be careful how much pressure you exert on the foil surface when folding and pressing down.