I hope there is nothing wrong with the fill. But down is not that hard to wash, or, to dry. A little knowledge and some care is all that is needed. I think you did things mostly OK, but you may have missed one step.
On Heat:
I used to tie flies and subject my maribou plumes (a type of down) to relativly high heat during dying and and drying. Wood duck, mallard, and goose were also used, a bit. Anyway, heat up to about 200F does not bother a down plume. I was told to not boil the feathers, but heat and hot water was OK. I belive this was to protect the skin the feathers were attached to since it became brittle. In a sleeping bag, of course, the synthetics will start softening at about 120F. Plastics in general will distort permanently at 150F (Hot water,) depending on the type (the chemical make up) of plastic. Light heat or no heat, depending on your washer/dryer set up, should be fine. BTW, I still use a tea kettle with steam heat to revive hackles on dry flies and perk up & straighten down plumes on streamers. They do not become brittle, nor degrade even at the high temps of steam (212F+.)
Soaps and Detergents:
As long as it was never subjected to any type of detergent, you should be fine. Detergents and soaps are about the same thing, I guess. But soaps do not have the strength to pull the natural oils out of the plumes. Detergent does. Even some soaps can, so use caution. And, use half as much, or even a third as much of a dedicated soap, ie down wash. It will still clean a bag pretty effectivly but will leave stains. After many (at least 50-100) washings it will do noticable damage, though. Typically, for a bag that is used a lot (more than 30 nights per year) this means at 2 washings per year it will last at least 25 years with no noticable damage. Using a detergent once (or having residue left in a comercial washer) will do damage every time. Detergent will strip the lanolin-like oils out of a plume leaving it brittle. The barbules will break free and may clump even dry, as you are seeing. The easiest way to destroy a good down bag is to wash it incorrectly, once. To my knowledge, there is no way to repair this type of damage. I will GUESS that Marmot will add more down or simply replace the bag, if they determine that this was the cause of the clumping. (This is my guess, but only a guess, and was probably not your doing, Jason…see below.)
Dryer Balls vs Sun drying:
Low or no heat with 2 dryer balls, or tennis balls) works fine. Both in commercial dryers (unpredictable heat) and at home. This will break up any clumping. Mostly the clean dry plumes will pick up an electrostatic charge and repel each other. So, declumping is usually a built in process. This also helps a bird in cold dry air to "fluff" it's down keeping it warmer. A clean dry bag should loft at or slightly more than the rated loft due to the static electricity in the down plumes. Out on the trail, it almost never does. The slight banging by the balls only helps the plumes do what they want, ie separate. Using the bag 'may' help with your clumps, but, they should have naturally separated. Sun drying is OK, in a pinch. The UV will kill bacteria (the source of the smell) and degrade any food for them. It will also degrade the synthetics in the shell. Soo, use this with caution. I reserve this for on the trail. Heavy weights, sneakers for example, can break the internal baffles, damage zippers, rip pockets and hoods, loosen seams, etc. I do not use this methode on my bags, though some have had no problems with it.
Washing:
Just to be complete, Jason. I know that you are well beyond this. Any washing machine without vanes is fine. A couple years back we purchased a new washer without vanes. I tried my jacket, it worked fine. For the past few years I have been washing my bags at home. If you use a comercial washer, clean it and check for any buring inside(dryers, too.) Check to insure that ALL the detergent residue has been cycled through it. This may mean a couple dollars in quarters, but, it is worth it to protect your bag. Choose a machine that is level. Often these machines are off level. This will mean that the sump may collect small amounts of detergent water and build up a rind. Generally, you cannot fix this. Every wash done in that machine will have some detergent in it, soo, choose a different machine. Again, washing a down bag with detergent once can destroy the down plumes. I suspect this may have been what happened, Jason. Again, not you fault if thay cannot keep the machines level. Drying should be thurough…twice or three times more than normal bedding. Our down bed quilt is cotton covered and more than 5 years old. It gets washed 4 or more times a year and dryed on high at home with no problems. Down itself is rugged and durable.
Handling:
Handle wet down like a baby. Fold it or roll it while it is in the washer, never lifting more than is necessary. Slip both hands under it, spreading your fingers and move it to the open dryer. Incorrect handling can break internal baffles and loosen seams. Carefuly, unroll it there and dry it with a couple dryer balls.
Anyway, these are some breif notes on washing down. To summarize: No vanes in washers, clean and level, use small amounts of very mild soap (downwash,) double (if available) or tripple rinse the bag (another cycle,) handle wet bags carefully, use the hotest heat your shell material can withstand safely, add light weight tennis balls (or porcupine dryer balls), stop and fluff it after it has mostly dryed. Dry it thuroughly, and take it home and hang it. It should not be a hard or long drawn out process like you went through, Jason. There is something wrong somewhere.
Marmot may never tell you what they did. Anyway, please keep us posted. Thanks!
