Washing 800+ fill down.

a few months ago, i used McNett’s down cleaner on a very old EMS down vest (still had my stink on it from years ago – the last time i used it – “boy, did i really smell that bad after the Trek???”. i washed it in the top-loading washing machine (a quilt or bag would be too large to do this) on the DELICATE cycle. this is just one step up from the HAND-WASH cycle on my machine. it agitates very, very gently, but doesn’t pause during the brief 6minute wash cycle. on my machine this cycle rinses and spins real well. dried it in the dryer (lo-heat) with some tennis balls to pound the water out.

i’m not saying that this is the right way to do it, only that i did it that way. you could easily handwash instead of the washing machine.

the light ripstop nylon shell and nylon lining suffered no damage.

John,

This is the information from the Feathered Friends website but I think that it should prove useful:

CLEANING

Down bags can, and definitely should, be cleaned when they start to accumulate oils. If your bag has started to lose loft, or the fabric is badly discolored, it is time for the bag to be washed. Body oils, hair oils, lotions and cosmetics are all acidic and will slowly decompose down. Oils also contaminate DryLoft and Gore-tex and heavy contamination may cause delamination. The down in your Feathered Friends sleeping bag was carefully processed to the correct oil/acid balance. We feel that both Down Suds and Thunder Down are the best soaps for restoring down to its optimum oil and acid level after use. An 8 oz. bottle will wash four bags and costs $4.95. It is essentially the same soap used by down processors with some added stain removers. Do not expect either Down Suds or Thunder Down to remove all the stains. DO NOT DRY-CLEAN you sleeping bag. Either wash the bag yourself by carefully following the detailed cleaning instructions below, or have an experienced cleaner WASH your bag using a special down soap. Feathered Friends offers a washing service if there is no one in your area able to do the job properly. Please call for details.

DETAILED CLEANING INSTRUCTIONS

Local Stains

You can spot treat stains soon after they occur with soap or cleaning solvent. After time, stains will bond with the nylon and cannot be removed without causing damage to the down. You can use solvents to remove sap or tar. Try to move the down away from the spot you are treating. Use an absorbent cloth on the reverse side, and use many small applications rather than flooding the area and spreading the stain. DryLoft and Gore-Tex do not require different treatment than other fabrics.

Dry-Cleaning Warning

At the risk of repeating ourselves, DO NOT DRY-CLEAN! Dry-cleaning strips an excessive amount of oils from the down, and down will not fully recover its loft after even one trip through the dry-cleaners. In addition, dry-cleaning fluids remain in the bag for weeks; breath tests can determine if someone has merely been inside a dry-cleaning shop in the last week! We are sure you do not want to be zipped inside a bag giving off carbon tetrachloride or perchlorethelene. And worse, dry-cleaning usually does not even get the bag clean. Exterior stains may be removed, but residue is left in the down. Dry-cleaning clogs PTFE laminate pores and renders them non-breathable.

Machine Washing

With down jackets or the Rock Wren liner bag, machine washing at home is possible. Use Down Suds or Thunder Down in any machine. Use no bleach or fabric softeners. Apply the soap directly to stained or heavily soiled areas. Soak for 15 to 60 minutes, then run through a normal cycle on gentle, with cold water. PTFE-laminate items will have to be positioned nylon-side out in order to spin properly. It is important to have the load balanced. When it is finished, if you can squeeze out suds, rinse again. For larger bags, use a font loading machine, preferably a double or triple load commercial machine in a Laundromat. Again, soak if possible. Plan on running through two complete cycles, the second time without soap to thoroughly rinse all suds out of the bag.

Hand Washing

Hand Washing is the safest of all. It would be difficult to damage a bag in hand washing. However, it does require considerable time and effort. Use a large tub or bathtub. Soak for up to an hour, but not longer. You will have to work at getting all the down submerged, since the weave of our nylon is so tight that it traps air. Gently knead the bag from one end to the other, to ensure that all the down is thoroughly exposed to the soap. Rinse several times in cold water, then wring out all the excess water.

Drying

Once the bag is cleaned, it is time to dry it. Wring all excess water out of the bag. Use care when moving as soaked sleeping bag, as the down weighing against the baffles is at its heaviest. It is safe to put a PTFE-laminate bag into a large commercial dryer set on permanent press or air fluff. The danger is too much heat. If you feel the shell is getting hot, either select a lower temperature or air dry the bag.
During washing, the down will collect in clumps. Periodically during the drying process (at the end of each drying cycle or every few hours if air drying) it is important to go through the entire bag and pull apart these down clumps, distributing the down more or less evenly through the bag. This only takes a few seconds, and will ensure that the down dries quickly and evenly.
Feathered Friends sleeping bags are tougher than you might expect. The tricot baffling we use is nearly as strong as the nylon shell; and we use stronger but more time consuming tuck-stitch construction. Problems in washing nearly always come from the shell catching in the machinery or seams raveling out. You should not have the latter problem with a Feathered Friends bag. To guard against snags, monitor the wash closely.
Washing a sleeping bag is a somewhat time-consuming, though not particularly difficult process. It is the most important element in bag longevity. With regular washing, you can expect many years of service from your Feathered Friends sleeping bag.

Hope this information helps.

Rich

Richard,

good info. many thanks for posting authoritative instructions.

I’d suggest using, as an alternative to McNett, Atsko’s Sport Wash. And wash by hand, being especially careful not to damage the baffles, which are the most delicate fabric in the bag.

An additional tip when hand-washing: Turn the bag inside-out and stuff it into a stuffsack. Shove the stuffsack underwater and pull out the bag. As the bag inflates it’ll draw in water and begin the washing process a heck of a lot faster than trying to wrestle a fluffed down bag into a laundry tub.

Trust me, it takes an octopus’s worth of hands to drown a high-loft down bag!

Rick,

brilliant idea!!! thanks for sharing. .

>>”octopus…”

been there. done that. now, no longer will my bag washing efforts be a candidate for “America’s Funniest Home Videos”