Washing Down Bags? Advice needed

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shocks

Forager
Dec 1, 2007
174
0
Devon
Hi

I need some advice from the more experienced of you. I own a Mountain Equipment Snow line down bag. I bought it nearly 13 years ago and I have never washed it. Its only been used about 10 times in all those years. ( I spent 10 years in the tropics) It has mostly been stored in a large mesh bag in a dry wardrobe in the UK. Its still clean, no odour and looks like new but I do feel thats its not as warm as it used to be and it doesnt loft as well as a new bag.


My question is this, would a professional sleeping bag cleaning service improve the warmth / loft ? It doesn't feel or smell so I'm not sure what cleaning would achieve. Its an expensive bag, in my old age ;) I feel the cold more and I would like to use it next year in the Nordic winter and I'm not sure whether it will be up to it. Any suggestions?
 

exped.equip.

Member
Sep 30, 2007
16
0
Glos.
I`ve cleaned two down bags a few years ago---one i did myself and the other went to the cleaners.The one i did myself turned out to have the best result as i had plenty of time to dry the bag in the tumble dryer which took somewere in the region of 4/5 hours on a low heat setting and had to be constantly taken out and shaken.Although clean it had not improved the loft and compared to a new bag the warmth had gone out of it.I think over time and use the down breaks into smaller pieces hence the loss of loft and less warmth.The bag that went to the cleaners had even less loft---i put that down to their time factor and drying abilities and not being on hand to check how things are progressing.If i were to wash one now unless it was really,really dirty i wouldn`t bother just use a liner to keep it clean and depending on the make/model of liner this would improve the warmth as well.
 

Agile

Forager
Dec 27, 2006
179
2
Bournemouth, Dorset
I've just taken my Snowline (exact same bag, but probably the more modern version - rated -20 comfort, -37 extreme) to Norway in Jan. My bag was ~ 2 years old, and had been used ~20 times already.

The min temperature experienced was about -25 and it performed really well.

Saying this - temperature resiliency does decrease with age, as does the warmth of the bag.

You can get inexpensive liners which are supposed to increase the warmth by a good 5-10 degrees, so that's an option. If you really feel that it's lost it's loft, then you could always augment with a smaller bag as well - perhaps it's best to bring it along and not use it just in case?

Hope this helps.

Ag
 

gregorach

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 15, 2005
3,723
28
50
Edinburgh
Well, I've always been of the opinion that washing your doss bag is something to be avoided as far as possible, but if you must... A good trick for down bags is to chuck a couple of tennis balls in with it in the dryer - as they bounce around, they break up the clumps and improve the loft. But it'll still probably never be as good as new.
 

Mike Benis

Tenderfoot
Feb 8, 2008
53
0
England
You're bag isn't really dirt enough to worry. Stick it in a tumble dryer with a clean plimsoll (heavier than tennis balls) and just let it dry out nicely.
I you absolutely must wash it, use something like Soppy.

Never dry clean a doewn bag - it will reduce the life. And if you, make sure you air it throoughly before use....

Cheers

Mike
 

Tourist

Settler
Jun 15, 2007
507
1
Northants
A mate of mine used to have the contract to clean the Army bags from Tidworth.

All he did was throw them into the dry cleaning machine for a wash and then shake them and hang them for a while to air before re-rolling and sending back to the QM.

I have machine washed my own down bag and my North Face jacket a couple of times, using a mild detergent, shaking during drying and lots afterwards to redestribute the feathers.

I like the tennis ball idea.
 

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