Disinfecting Sleeping Bag? (Synthetic)

Germaphobe backpacker? Maybe move this to gear swap.  ;)

I mean, I’m not THAT bad (although I give a hearty dose of hand sanitizer after I..dig a hole). I just want a poo-free bag.

That said, it WOULD make a good Gear Swap post- “FS: four-year old synth bag, used heavily on-trail and also at home on a near-daily basis during the winter with a pet who really loved sleeping in it and clawing at it before eventually choosing to foul it. PM me with how much it will cost me to make you take it.”

http://rainypass.com/down-services/

My cat barfed on my main down bag and I just spot cleaned in with Dr Bonners soap.

Soap (or detergent) and water and sunshine are very effective disinfectants. You could wash the bag in a machine without agitator following the manufacturer’s directions or spot clean,

You are already surviving having the cat in the house, yes?

^ Fair point. I’ve learned to live with the cognitive dissonance of hearing him dig about in the litterbox and then seeing him hop up on the kitchen counters.

Mayhap I’ll just soak the heck out of the area with something like alcohol sanitizer and call it a day.

just wash it normally.  mild soap.  in machine or tub.  let the water drain out of it – don’t lift waterlogged bag fabric will tear.  You could just hang it out to dry or gentle dryer cycle.  Drying synth bag is easier than down bag

UL gear wears out.  synth wears out.  Don’t use for everyday use.  Save it for backpacking trips.  When your synth loses it’s loft from use, then you can replace it and use for everyday use

Front loader washer, warm water, tech wash or other gear type soap, low temp dry. Then let the cat out of the dryer :)

It should disinfect just fine with a good machine washing in hot water and normal laundry detergent.  After all that is what everyone does with cloth diapers.  The reason to avoid a top-loading machine with an agitator isn’t because of the down, it’s because the agitator action can damage the sleeping bag baffles.  So if your synthetic bag is baffled, avoid agitators.  Laundromat has the right kind of front-loaders.  If you want to pre-treat the affected spot for germs, use white vinegar.  Also, for the surface fabric, sunlight disinfects.

Mina

+1 to Mina’s comments.

If you are really worried about pathogens and micro-organisms, you could pre-treat with a fresh bottle of hydrogen peroxide (which might also slightly bleach your colored fabrics).  But I think warm water with detergent is more than enough.

@ Dale. Before my cat passed away, I always had to check the drier before use since he used to like to sneak in and take naps inside it.

Take it to a professional cleaner?

Or just wash it as anything else; if you have a cat you can’t be that big of a germaphobe ;)

I wouldn’t wash anything with synthetic insulation in hot water, for the same reason you shouldn’t put it in a hot dryer. Heat is the enemy of any synthetic insulation. Water hot enough to disinfect will destroy the loft of your insulation. The fibers are crimped with heat to make them kinky and thus lofty. Heat them again and they straighten out.

Soap, detergents – generally fine. Alcohol? easy enough to try a small test on it, then if you are truly concerned about biohazards you could dunk the whole thing in alcohol and then wash it out.

Maybe if you stuck it in a freezer for a few days that would kill anything that was living in there?

Maybe one of those pet-specific cleaners, like THIS?

You could always take it to a vet….

Mina nailed it.

Wash it in a front-loader (there are more laundromats near your house than you realize), using normal DETERGENT (e.g Tide), not a “mild soap”.  Detergents are fabulous at (1) dissolving fats and oils (2) removing stinking molecules found in cat poo, and (3) busting up bacterial and viral lifeforms.  Mina gives the wonderful example of washing poopy baby diapers in the washing machine with regular laundry detergent and then putting them right back onto our precious children.

And, yes, front-loaders are FAR more gentle on your clothes.  I can put a folded cloth napkin in our front-loading washer and it comes out, 30 minutes later, completely clean, moist after the spin cycle, and STILL FOLDED!  It is worth the $2.50 in quarters at the laundromat to use a front loader and minimize the stress on the seams of your sleeping bag ESPECIALLY for a UL sleeping bag.