A trick for cleaning your down sleeping bag

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

I washed my down sleeping bag a few days ago. What a fight.

I do it by hand. So I filled a large sink with (warm) water and tried to submerge my bag. But it kept bobbing up in places (captured air bubbles), in whack-a-mole fashion.

So, the trick: Put your bag in its stuff sack first. That forces most of the air out of the bag.

Then put the assembly in the water. Wait a bit for water to soak into the down and THEN slowly pull the bag out of its stuff sack while under water.

It will soak up the water like a sponge as it expands under water.

Once fully soaked like this, it will be quite manageable for rinsing.

[chumley]

I lay mine down on towels in the driveway, sprinkle it with liquid dishwashing detergent (liquid cascade preferably; the pod things don't work) and then spray it with the garden hose. Next I put some clean towels on top and drive over it with my truck to squeeze the water out. Good as new.

[RedRoxx44]

I don't wash my down bags, I wear sleeping garments to prevent the old skin flake oil damage. I have a 18 yo WM bag that I have never washed; I will in a 105 degree sunny day sometimes turn it inside out and let the UV rays do their thing.

[LindaAnn]

@RedRoxx44
Same. I’ve never washed a down bag. I use a silk liner to keep the interior clean, never had any issues. I’ll air them out in full sun occasionally, toss in the dryer with tennis balls to fluff for a few minutes, then store them laid out across a spare bed.

[RedRoxx44]

When I remember I bring my silk liner alas the old gal isn't what she used to be.

[big_load]

I wash mine in the bathtub every 3-5 years, depending on how many nights out I've had (less often if mostly cold weather). Washing is the easy part. It's the drying that kills me.

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

I don't use a liner. But I do change into (clean) sleeping clothes (and socks) at night. And I've only slept in it maybe 20 night in the past year.

It wasn't so much the inside of my bag, but on this last trip, I noticed the outside was kind of grungy looking.

I always hang my bag on a clothes line after a trip and spray the shell (inside and out) lightly with water and let it air dry for a day.

So I was surprised by how dark the water was coming out of it when I cleaned it.

You'll never know unless you try.

And, too, it gave me a chance to use a Down Rejuvenator product, which is supposed to restore the water repellency of the down, FWIW. (I noticed my bag can be damp in the morning, presumably from temp/dew point stuff from my body perspiration during the night.)

Super lofty now.

[outdoor_lover]

I wash mine every couple of years with Nik Wash in our washer. Our washer doesn't have an agitator so it's basically a big tub. Throw it in the dryer on low heat with a slew of tennis balls and it really works well.

[rcorfman]

I washed my quilt once sometime after I hiked the PCT with it (and several other trails too). I don't know if it made much of a difference. I slept in the same clothes I hiked in. My legs were most always filthy, I'd play whack-a-mole with my socks to get the dirt off before bed. If I needed more electrolytes, I could just suck on my shirt. There really is no reason to use a liner or sleep-clothes to keep your bag cleaner. At least not out here in the west.

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

@big_load
Clothes line. (In the sun.) Took two days this time after a very thorough (deep) wash.

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

@rcorfman
Umm... how to ask this politely: Doesn't your quilt stink after a while? I know it's backpacking and we're supposed to "embrace" all sorts of unpleasant things. But I like to start off with clean equipment. (I even dunked my backpack in the bathtub this time and again was surprised by the dirt that came out. If I were a gram-weenie, I'd be happy that I saved an ounce.)

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

As an aside, I found a QC problem with my bag after this last washing.

You're supposed to fluff up your down while it dries and one way to test for that is to hold your bag up to the sun to see where the fluffed-up down blocks the light.

Well, I have one totally empty baffle. It must have always been this way (no where else for the down to go on this bag). Fortuantely it's on the bottom side, which is crushed anyway when you're sleeping on it.

[jonathanpatt]

I work in trails and conservation, and sleep in my down quilt 200+ nights a year. I generally go to sleep in the dirty work clothes I have. I have never washed it, though does occasionally get soaked from rain, etc., and have to get dried out with a dryer. More often than not it dries again naturally from the sun or body heat over the next few days after getting wet.

I don't notice it smelling particularly bad, but I have a high tolerance from living with myself and others in close quarters for 8 days at a time without bathing. More importantly, it hasn't noticeably lost loft, probably in part due to using a liner in the winter and shoulder seasons. I use the same 20° quilt year around, and just supplement with a liner and extra down layer on top if needed for colder nights, and less clothes and partial covering in the hotter summer (but usually work at high elevations in the summer).

[big_load]

@big_load
Clothes line. (In the sun.) Took two days this time after a very thorough (deep) wash.

Maybe in AZ, but two days of just hanging on a clothesline won't do it in most places, especially if it's a warmer bag. What @outdoor_lover does is the standard technique, although many people stop several times along the way to manually break up whatever clumps the tennis balls don't getl. I usually lay out flat to dry for two days after getting most of the way dry in the dryer.

[rcorfman]

Well, I have one totally empty baffle. It must have always been this way (no where else for the down to go on this bag). Fortuantely it's on the bottom side, which is crushed anyway when you're sleeping on it.

I'd be surprised if it was always that way. There are usually breaks in the baffles to move the down around. How do you think the down is filled in the bag during manufacture? You should find out where they are and move the down back into the empty baffle and evenly distribute the down throughout. It is good practice to know where the down flows between baffles so that you don't hold it in a way where all the down moves out of the baffles. For example, I have an Enlightened Equipment Enigma quilt. The baffles go from top to bottom and the ports are on the bottom side, so I never hold it up from the top (head end).

[rcorfman]

@rcorfman
Umm... how to ask this politely: Doesn't your quilt stink after a while?

That's why I mentioned here in the west. I assume that would be a bigger problem in humid climates like in the east where one may be sweating at night. My quilt wasn't fresh after the PCT, but it didn't smell bad either. I know that because it didn't bother me after I had been off trail for a while (plus my wife never complained about it when she'd open the closet I store it in).

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

@rcorfman
I've often wondered how they put down in bags during sewing. I watched a video about a making a DIY sleeping bag. Almost like a comedy movie, trying to move down.

Were it I, I might experiment with putting wet down in the baffles, and then sewing them closed. Nothing flying around that way.

Anyway, I'll experiment more with my bag. It seems like the baffles are sealed off at the end. (I forget what they call the ends. Mine aren't "sewn through." Some kind of end 'plates'.) But I do shake it around, left to right and right to left (which is the direction of the baffles) to even out the down when backpacking.

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

Another advantage of cleaning your equipment: I don't know if this is measurable, but clean equipment should last longer than dirty. Having dirt in between the fibers is like having sandpaper without the paper, grinding away the fibers.

[Jim]

This subject has me wondering if I should sell my down mummy sleeping bag bought in 2008, I think, and rated to 20 degrees + Fahrenheit. I camp with blankets and sheets, and sleep almost like I am at home, but my air mattress is no memory foam topped serta. I stopped even taking the down bag with me to act as a backup blanket as I pretty much prefer to not camp below 45 degrees.

It is a Kelty Light year, gray, and I am 5'11". It fits me well. Any one interested?