Trampolines are easy to set up and give us fun times for years. However, some of its parts often start showing problems while using it. An issue we’ve heard of often is the spring paddings melting. If you’ve faced such similar situations, you might’ve wondered, why is the Styrofoam on my trampoline melting?
Well, worry not, as in this article, we’ll tell you all about why this melting phenomenon happens and what measures you can take to stop it. Read more below to find out:
Table of Contents
Reasons Behind Your Polystyrene Paddings Melting
Styrofoam is the name of a famous polystyrene padding brand. The brand has made itself so well known that people would instead call polystyrene “Styrofoam” now rather than calling it by its actual name. These paddings are generally found on a trampoline as padding to the poles and metal bars.
If you’ve set your trampoline up outdoors, you might’ve noticed your paddings sometimes melt. Well, plastic is well known to last for millions of years. And since polystyrene is also a type of plastic, it shouldn’t have disintegrated so quickly, right? Then why the melting? Let’s find out.
Photodisintegration And UV
The atoms in plastic are generally very tightly bonded. However, if plastic like Styrofoam is kept in excess sunlight for a long time, chances are it will start breaking down. Why? Because sunlight has UV rays which cause a chemical breakdown of plastic if hit directly. This process is called photodisintegration.
Here, atoms of certain elements can change into atoms of another element by absorbing light (UV in this case). With bare eyes, we see this as the object breaking down or melting. In a trampoline’s case, you might be living in an area where UV hits directly, and it’s sunny all the time. Hence, the melting of the padding.
How to Prevent the Styrofoam from Melting?
If your trampoline’s padding starts melting like this, it’s a problem. Because of your location, melting is inevitable if you don’t take preventive measures. Therefore, some of the actions you can take are:
Store the Trampoline Indoors
Whenever you’re not using the trampoline, try to store it indoors. You can fold it and keep it in the garage to avoid the equipment’s unnecessary exposure to the sun. Besides, this exposure can also cause your trampoline mat to disintegrate quicker for the same reasons.
Take the trampoline out whenever you want to use it and assemble it again.
Keep It Under Shade
Rather than taking the hassle of assembling the trampoline again and again, a more straightforward solution is just to set up the trampoline under the shade. You can also use a cover to keep it under wraps when not in use and save it from harmful light.
Final Words
Trampolines are a great source of fun and exercise for everyone. But maintaining it can sometimes be hard as one part or the other of it starts showing problems. One such problem is the plastic Styrofoam paddings melting. You might have questioned seeing this issue, “why is the Styrofoam on my trampoline melting?”
Well, in this article, we’ve given you all the answers to why and what you can do to prevent it! We hope you now know what to do to save your trampoline.
Last Updated on September 5, 2022
