Posted by: OregonMouse
Successful wash of down sleeping bag! - 03/13/11 07:31 PM
My Western Mountaineering Ultralite lost some of its loft. I measured it and discovered that it was almost an inch less than it should be, even after fluffing it up in the dryer. That explains why it didn't seem very warm on last summer's trips! I think the problem was that I had to stuff it in my pack damp and then had a couple days' drive (with damp down squashed inside a dry bag inside my pack) before getting home. Next time I'll leave the sleeping bag spread out in the car even if it does get full of dog hair!
I'm fortunate in that my son and daughter-in-law have three kids and, a couple of years ago, purchased a large front-loading machine (it's actually bigger than the one at my local laundromat) and a dryer to match. I bought ReviveX Down Cleaner and ReviveX Spray On Water Repellent as recommended on the Western Mountaineering website's product tips and care section.
First I washed my bed quilt, running it through a second full cycle with no detergent in hopes of getting the laundry detergent (not recommended for down because it strips the oils from the feathers) out of the machine. It didn't quite work, so I ran the machine through another cycle empty. This time there was no trace of detergent left in or around the dispenser, so I started the sleeping bag.
First, I put a third of the bottle of down cleaner in the detergent dispenser (that was almost too much for this high-efficiency machine). Then I folded up the sleeping bag, sat on it to squash it, then hurriedly put it in the washing machine. (This supposedly helps the bag soak up water more quickly.) I used the gentle cycle and ran the bag through two complete cycles. When I got done, I found a dripping blue flat blob taking up hardly any room in the machine. Unfortunately, my DIL's machine doesn't have an extra spin cycle, and the bag was dripping water. I therefore very carefully gathered up the blue blob, took it outside, and very gently squeezed out some of the extra moisture (I had previously washed the glass patio table out back). It was still extremely soggy, so I decided to run it in the dryer for half an hour before applying the water repellent spray. This worked out well; the fabric shell was still damp but no longer dripping. I took the bag back out to the patio table, sprayed the shell thoroughly and then returned the blue blob to the dryer (on low heat). I was very encouraged after a couple of dryer cycles to see that the flat blob was beginning to loft. After a couple more cycles, it actually resembled a sleeping bag! For the last two cycles, I alternated between turning the bag inside out and then back with the outside out. This seemed to work fine. There was no evidence of down clumps, so I didn't use any tennis balls.
About 9 hours after starting the process, I have what is essentially a brand new sleeping bag! In fact, the loft measures half an inch higher than when the bag was new! The DWR finish on the outer shell, which I tested with a spray bottle of water, also appears more moisture resistant than when the bag was new. There was no evidence that any down was lost during the process (believe me, I looked, since I was really nervous).
If you don't have a large capacity front-loading washer at home, you will have to spend the day at the laundromat with lots and lots of quarters. Washing in a top-loading machine will tear the delicate baffles (the dividers inside the bag that hold the down in place). You also need a large capacity dryer that will lift and drop the bag--not a big deal when it's a just-washed blob, but important when it's about half dry. As mentioned, this process takes a long time, so take a good book with you!
I'm fortunate in that my son and daughter-in-law have three kids and, a couple of years ago, purchased a large front-loading machine (it's actually bigger than the one at my local laundromat) and a dryer to match. I bought ReviveX Down Cleaner and ReviveX Spray On Water Repellent as recommended on the Western Mountaineering website's product tips and care section.
First I washed my bed quilt, running it through a second full cycle with no detergent in hopes of getting the laundry detergent (not recommended for down because it strips the oils from the feathers) out of the machine. It didn't quite work, so I ran the machine through another cycle empty. This time there was no trace of detergent left in or around the dispenser, so I started the sleeping bag.
First, I put a third of the bottle of down cleaner in the detergent dispenser (that was almost too much for this high-efficiency machine). Then I folded up the sleeping bag, sat on it to squash it, then hurriedly put it in the washing machine. (This supposedly helps the bag soak up water more quickly.) I used the gentle cycle and ran the bag through two complete cycles. When I got done, I found a dripping blue flat blob taking up hardly any room in the machine. Unfortunately, my DIL's machine doesn't have an extra spin cycle, and the bag was dripping water. I therefore very carefully gathered up the blue blob, took it outside, and very gently squeezed out some of the extra moisture (I had previously washed the glass patio table out back). It was still extremely soggy, so I decided to run it in the dryer for half an hour before applying the water repellent spray. This worked out well; the fabric shell was still damp but no longer dripping. I took the bag back out to the patio table, sprayed the shell thoroughly and then returned the blue blob to the dryer (on low heat). I was very encouraged after a couple of dryer cycles to see that the flat blob was beginning to loft. After a couple more cycles, it actually resembled a sleeping bag! For the last two cycles, I alternated between turning the bag inside out and then back with the outside out. This seemed to work fine. There was no evidence of down clumps, so I didn't use any tennis balls.
About 9 hours after starting the process, I have what is essentially a brand new sleeping bag! In fact, the loft measures half an inch higher than when the bag was new! The DWR finish on the outer shell, which I tested with a spray bottle of water, also appears more moisture resistant than when the bag was new. There was no evidence that any down was lost during the process (believe me, I looked, since I was really nervous).
If you don't have a large capacity front-loading washer at home, you will have to spend the day at the laundromat with lots and lots of quarters. Washing in a top-loading machine will tear the delicate baffles (the dividers inside the bag that hold the down in place). You also need a large capacity dryer that will lift and drop the bag--not a big deal when it's a just-washed blob, but important when it's about half dry. As mentioned, this process takes a long time, so take a good book with you!