Small balloons rarely fail. Large ones fail in four specific ways, and every one of them is avoidable.
1. The helium bill nobody modelled
The most common regret, and it is not a failure of the balloon.
A 13-foot blimp takes 170 cubic feet to fill. A 30-foot takes 1,510, which is over seven cylinders and roughly $2,265 at typical local rates. And you lose about one percent a day whatever the size.
Work out your fill cost and your monthly top-off before you order, not after. The purchase is one payment; the gas is every month.
2. Nobody wants to handle it
A 13-foot blimp is a ten minute one-person job once you have done it. A 25 or 30 foot blimp is not.
If the person who was going to put it up decides it is a two-person forty-minute task, it stops going up. That is how large balloons end up in storage.
Decide who handles it, and be honest about whether they will.
3. Anchoring treated as an afterthought
Lift scales with volume. A 30-foot blimp pulls very much harder than the three pounds a 13-footer manages, and a sandbag is not the answer.
Plan a proper anchor point before delivery. This is the one place where the large sizes need real thought rather than common sense.
4. Riding out a forecast
The rule is the same at every size: over 25 miles per hour forecast, bring it in. A larger envelope simply gives the weather more to grab.
Weather loss is not covered by our warranty or anybody else’s. On a $6,772 blimp that is a serious number to lose to a decision somebody made at lunchtime.
Ask for a quote. Call 1-800-791-1445 or email sales@arizonaballoon.com and tell us the size and whether you want it printed.
More at balloonprices.com.