Sleeping bag storage and down resilience

Did you try throwing it in the dryer with a few tennis balls? May need a bit more than a simple shake to regain full loft.

3-days shouldn't have any long-term effect on a down bag. The only time I've had difficulty with a down bag losing loft like that is when the down is damp. Try tossing it in the dryer with a few tennis balls and I'd bet it will be right back where it was.

Three days is sort-of a long time. If it was dry then it probably needs some heat. Down responds well to fairly high heats. The *shell* and zipper are the limiting factors for heat so be carefull you do not glaze or ruin either. Down and feathers can take up to boiling water in heat. Most nylons and zippers can, too, but please check this as you go. The down will reloft with a shake or two (or with dryer balls) when done at fairly high heats.

If it was at all damp, as others have said, it could well loose some loft. But this should put little stress on you at above freezing temps. Normally, your body heat will finish drying a bag as you sleep, so it will get a bit more lofty as you go.

I typically compress mine down to about 1/20th of the origonal volume. I spend about 30secs to 1 minute shaking the bag out at night. This is after about 10-12 hours of being compressed. Sometimes, I will pack the day before a hike. Sometimes this takes a couple days to fully recover. Like I say, three days is a longish time. It might take 3-5 days to recover. Or, as others have said, put it in a dryer for 10-15 minutes.

"Out of curiosity, is there a certain period of time after which compressed down doesn't regain its original loft?"

A long-time-ago post mentioned a down bag that got lost under the bed, compressed in a tight stuff sack for ~ 3 years.

After a day of hand "fluffing" it appeared to be very close to the original loft.

n=1
YMMV

About a year ago I was upset with ZPacks for shipping a sleeping bag to me compressed. It took about a week to get to me. Joe replied to my complaint that it would not be a problem to reloft the down. He said that the down is shipped from suppliers to him so compressed that it forms a hard brick. I did not think to ask him what process he uses to loft that brick. Anyway, it seems he was right, I had no problem lofting the bag after it has been compressed for a week… I just shook it a bit and let it lay out overnight on the floor. That seemed to work fine.

billy

Here is an example :
.
the bag on the right had just spent 2 years inside that tiny stuff sack, the other was left fully open.
Both had been used, washed 2 or 3 times each prior to this (over several years) and were sort of clean before storage.
I had a look at them recently, I can't tell which is which now.
BTW, all it took to fluff it up was some vigorous shaking.

Yeah, if the down is damp and is stored HIGHLY compressed for a few years (5?), it might take a bit to fluff back up.

Cheers

Franco, that demonstration is extremely helpful. Thanks! I've wondered the same thing as OP. For what it's worth, in my experience after a few days of having a bag stored in a compression sack, it will be back to normal after a few hours with lots of shaking.