Washing down

We've owned our REI Sub-Kilo sleeping bags for about six years now, and that means that we've used them on about 750 miles of backpacking trips. Since we usually hike about 7-8 miles a day, that's about 100 nights in the bag, not counting some of our car camping trips. Ewww.

So as you can imagine, the bags had started to look a little grimy in places. We've meant to wash them for a couple of years, but it's such a major process that we never got around to it. Until now.

A visit to REI got us the NikWax soap for down bags, and Ifilled up the tub and away I went, first washing the bag, then soaking it for a while, washing again, and then seemingly endless cycles of rinse and rinse and rinse and repeat. Then the delicate process of slowing squeezing most of the water out of the bag, and about 3 hours in the dryer on the delicate cycle. But it worked.

What was a grimy old sleeping bag now looks more or less fresh and new. And we were surprised to see how well they filled out their big "pillow case" storage bags once we had washed them. Before washing, they were not nearly so fluffy--although it's possible we could have fluffed them up a bit in the dryer even without washing them. At any rate, they are now clean! I can hardly wait to get mine packed away in its stuff sack and on the trail again.

I use a Sub-Kilo also. But I probably only have about 40-50 nights in my bag and it doesn't stink yet so I haven't given it a bath. I love the weight of the bag but I think it should have been rated a 30 degree bag instead of a 20... or maybe I'm just cold natured.

For many years, I washed my down in the bathtub with Ivory Snow and hung it to dry for days on end. I finally decided to see if there was an easier way. I am now using one of the oversize front loader washing machines at the laundromat. Depending on what sizes the items are, I might get two bags or a bag and a jacket in one load. I've been using Revivex Down Wash and can't complain. I washed a couple of bags and an old down parka last weekend. One of the bags and the parka did really well, but the other bag came out of the washer dripping wet. It's a heavy old bag and probably had more dust mites than down. I put the wet bag in one commercial dryer and the other bag and parka in a different dryer. I ran them both for more than an hour at the lowest heat settings. The bag and parka came out just damp while the other bag was still dripping wet. I took everything home and hung them to finish drying and equilibrate. I sprayed the parka with DWR. After a day, I ran the one bag and parka through my dryer on the delicate setting and checked the loft. They both turned out really well. The other down bag hung on the porch for three days until it was finally dry enough to finish. It was dry to the touch, but still clumpy. An hour in the dryer on delicate made a big improvement. This old bag has decent loft, but it's still heavy, so it will probably go in the back of the truck as a winter emergency bag.

Once again--the method recommended for the Cadillac of sleeping bags works for all down! Western Mountaineering Product Tips and Care

Do consider the part about renewing the DWR on the outer shell after washing.

I was a aware of the WM recommendations, but had started started using this procedure prior to that. Knowing that they recommend this does make me feel that I have made a good choice. I've just started using the McNett DWR spray and don't have enough experience with it. It does seem to make the fabric stiffer, but a trip through the dryer helps to soften it. I've never used a dwr treatment on a sleeping bag, so I'm a bit apprehensive about doing so now. I have never given it much thought, since I try hard to keep the bags from getting wet. I might give it a try on one of these old bags and see what I think.

I've had very good luck using Atsko Sport-Wash on all of my down items. A second-hand down jacket had been stored in its stuff sack, sitting on a concrete floor in the South for an entire summer. When I received it, the jacket smelled musty and the down was flattened. One short trip through my front-loading washer with some Sport-Wash removed the odor and restored the loft beautifully. Usually, I line dry my down items after spin-drying, then fluff in a dryer. Before we had a front-loader, I washed my bags in the top loader, using the washer only as a tub and to spin. It is easy enough to turn off the machine and hand-agitate the contents, and the washer is certainly easier to use than a bathtub for this purpose.

Silicone spray as a shell treatment flattened my bags, but Atsko Water-Guard non-silicone treatment did a really great job. My $.02 and experiences...