Advice on washing down sleeping bags

A mild soap, such as Woolite or Ivory liguid (not the dish detergent), should not damage the DWR coating on a down bag. For my quilts, I use the gentle cycle, spin in the perma-press cycle to get more of the water out, then dry in the perma-press cycle with tennis balls and fabric softener sheets. After three or four cycles, about 3-4 hours, the quilts come out fine, but I cannot guarantee that the tennis balls would not damage the baffles on a not too sturdy bag. Nikwax Schmikwax.
Sam

I researched this topic extensively some time ago. I would use ( and I've done it) Atsko Sport Wash which is available at some WalMarts, although i bought mine online. This renews down and Goretex and removes all odors and perfumes which can hurt the loft of down and plug up your goretex and diminish your fleece loft. The Atsko website has good technical information. Roger Caffin posted about it some time ago.It's actually economical too. I've read that Woolite is no longer the pure soap it once was.

Nikwax products don't use Teflon DWR coatings so many find them less effective than other DWR coatings. It is a whole topic of concern for renewing coatings. What fabric is the shell of your Hydrogen made from? Is it water resistant? Also I assume you are planning on drying your bag in a front loading dryer , preferably a large one at a Laundromat?

I thought the fabric softener was bad for the DWR. I never use it for my outdoor gear.

"What fabric is the shell of your Helium made from?"

There is no Helium mentioned here.

–B.G.–

Right. I mixed up the two bag names. Dryer sheets plug up DWR coatings.

The shell is made of nylon rip stop – I don't know exactly which one. It is water resistant and I'm just trying to make certain it stays that way. I am currently hanging it in my garage to dry.

Thanks for all the help.

The first thing you should do is buy some down soup and fallow the directions on the bottle. The use of other cleaners my remove the oil from the down feathers. Also buy a bag of cheap tennis balls about 10-15 balls.
Wash the bag in a large front load machine with warm water or what ever the soup bottle says.
Dry the bag with the tennis balls in a large drier on LOW HEAT. You can dry it with no heat but it will take forever. The tennis balls help break up the clumps of down and speeds up the drying. Make sure there are no metal burs, gum or anything else bad in the drier. When the bag is dry you should notice a big improvement in the loft.

http://marmot.com/faq#12

Thanks for the heads up guys

Or, you can send it to these guys

http://www.rainypass.com/

Rainy Pass is expansive and they use the same method I described above.

I think you will find this a very informative site AND will answer all your questions:

GO HERE

Mid way down on the page you will find an excellent video presentation:
“Click here to watch a video describing how to properly wash, dry and apply a new DWR finish to a down sleeping bag.”

You may experience periodic “Stop & Go” issues with the video but hang in there; it is worth your time and effort.

Down-specific soap: check.
Front-load washer: check.
DWR restorer: Not needed. A relatively hot dryer will restore the DWR's water-repellent properties. Only clothing should require DWR restoration, after repeated washings.

FWIW I've not found the tennis ball/tennis shoe in the dryer trick to be necessary. Good down seems to restore its loft on its own once it's really dry. It may take some handwork to redistribute it, but that's all I've ever needed to do.

Enjoy your new old bag!

Rick

What Rick said.

Cheers

If your down bag has a water resistant coating then wash it inside out in a front loader gentle cycle with extra rinse, finish with a fast spin. Dry on low heat and every 10 minutes or so pat down each baffle and pull apart the down clusters as I am not aware of a down manufacturer that recommends putting tennis shoes or balls in the dryer as they can tear the stitching between the baffles. Only use cleaning solutions recommended for down.

Three companies most mentioned on BPL that make excellent products and have definite bias towards cleaning and storage that I would look at BEFORE I got into washing and storing my down sleeping equipment for the first time would be:

Feathered Friends

Nunatak

PHDesigns

Don't use tennis shoes in the dryer with your down equipment. They are too heavy and may damage the baffles.
Tennis balls >may< be ok.

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Ken and John,
Thanks for the tip about the damage to the DWR coatings from fabric softener dryer sheets.
Am curious. Could you tell me how you determined that the dryer sheets have this effect?
Thanks,
Sam

Hi John

Before using Nikwax on a Marmot you need to check what DWR was on the Marmot bag. IF they use Nikwax then you can go ahead, but if they use a fluorocarbon DWR you should NOT use Nikwax.

You see, Nikwax is a wax, not a flourocarbon, and the two are not very compatible. Nothing wrong with Nikwax on untreated fabric: it works quite well, but in general mixing Nikwax, silicone and fluorocarbon DWRs may be a recipe for failure. They won't bond to each other.

Cheers

This article by Atsko sums up the problem. Dryer sheets /perfumes pose similar problems.
http://www.atsko.com/articles/odor-control/proper-care-for-performance-fabrics.html