Washing my sleeping bag

[farkewie]

Hi,

I have a MH synthetic bag and need to clean it, I have read there instructions (http://www.mountainhardwear.com.au/MHW_care_bags.html) and was just curios on how flexible they are?

My machine is a 5.5KG top loader (one without the vertical thing in the middle) and I don't have a dryer. Has anyone had bad experiances using a machine like this? or hanging the bag horizontal across the top of the line to dry?

I could go to a laundry but that would cost a fortune here in Brisbane and take forever!!

[Moondog55]

Unless you really; really; really; need to clean it now wait until it is hot and windy. Despite what any label may say sleeping bgs are far too fragile to use a machine.
I know I ruined a down bag using a commercial front loader, even tho the instructions said to do so.
Wash in a bath with very mild detergent rinse about 4 times and line dry in the shade.

I use TX10 on all my insulated gear, but wait until they are dry before heat setting the resin in a tumble dryer

[Franco]

Same here.
Never washed a synthetic but done a few down bags, always in my bathtub.
Be very gentle with it. I let the water out after the final rinse (yes about 4-5 changes of water, warm not hot) and leave it there for a while. Than I push some more water out of it and I use a hammock to lift it out of the bathtub letting extra water drip out of it.
Added : that is a net type hammock, not a Henny....
That avoids the baffles/stitching being ripped apart. In really hot weather takes me most of three days to get down dry, synthetic will be a lot faster than that .
Franco

[Moondog55]

Quote {That avoids the baffles/stitching being ripped apart} End quote
that's what happened to mine

[Ent]

Hi

As for synthetic not so sure. Sent an old one to sleeping bag heaven by using an top loader. Best follow the manufacturer's recommendation in that regard.

Cheers Brett

[WarrenH]

I washed my -10°C down bag yesterday and had it dry by the evening. I though it would take days to dry.

I used Nikwax Down Wash. I filled the bath about 8 cm with comfortably warm water. I used 300 ml of Nikwax ($16) I doubled the volume of wash water, because in 4cm of water (as recommended with 150mls of Nikwax) I couldn't wet the bag out completely. I gently pressed all of the air pockets and made sure that I wetted out the bag well and by patting it up and down for about 15 minutes. The colour of the water was shocking from what I thought was a clean bag. I was only washing the bag because it was getting flat and the down needed rejuvenating.

After the patting wash, I very carefully gathered the bag to one side to let the water out of the bath. The sleeping bag must have weighed well over 40 kilos. I can certainly see how a bag can get damaged when wet. The weight of the bag was extraordinary.

I rinsed with cold water, I followed Nikwax's instructions about washing and rinsing water temperatures. I filled the bath relatively deeply a few times, and patted the bag, until the rinse water was as clean as.

For the next 5 minutes I kept trying to pat the water out of the bag and got it onto a towel and then put it in the washing machine and gave the bag 3 spin cycles at the lowest spin speed which was 600 revs per minute. Between spin cycles I repositioned the bag in the barrel.

Nikwax recommends using several new tennis balls in the dryer with the bag to help break up the clumps. If things hadn't gone so well I may have gone and bought some tennis balls.

After the spin cycles, I put the bag in the dryer set on the lowest heat for 5 minutes at a time. For the next half an hour. After each 5 minute period I took the bag out and broke up the larger clumps of down then the bag went into the dryer for 15 minutes at a time between breaking up the clumps. All up the bag was in the dryer for 3 hours. Then the bag got its act together, it got so big It wouldn't fit in the dryer ... it looks like a new bag and it smells like the real deal. The down has redistributed uniformly. Following several shakings and a bit of patting.

I bought a natural coloured pure silk 'Silk-Light' inner from Sea to Summit to compliment the washing effort. The inner was only $45. Years ago I paid a lot more for a single sized silk inner, I think was about $85.

This was the first time that I have washed the bag ... now the bag is so big it takes up half of the lounge room. To quote Borat ... "a big success."

I'm still leaving the bag out in the lounge room draped over the furniture for a few days, to make sure the moisture is well and truly gone. The bag feels completely dry, but I'll be overly cautious.

Warren.

[Moondog55]

I find the Nikwax washing instructions quite good, but I am surprised it dried so quickly, How many grams of down fill are in that bag?? Mine has 900 of 850 loft and I can not even get it into a home tumble drier.

[ninjapuppet]

Far out! 900 of 850 loft!?!?

would that be an overkill for most australian conditions?

[Moondog55]

Not winter in the High Plains when you are a cold sleeper, OK for most people it is borderline too warm, especially as those J&H bags have no zipper.

But seeing as they were designed to wear a down suit inside they are big on the inside and take some warming up. what you gain on the swing you loose on the roundabout. It is a good minus 18C bag on its own, and -35C with the down suit inside.

[WarrenH]

Moondog55, G'day Mate.

I've no Idea about how many grams of down are in the bag. It was one of Fairydown's top of the line bags, when I bought it. I went to the Fairydown/Macpac site to check ... top of the line bags have a fair bit of down. Big and fluffy.

The bag dried quickly because I put the effort into breaking up the clumps early. Yesterday was a labour intensive day. The bag spent an accumulated time of 3 hours in the dryer. I've no idea how much time I spent breaking up the clumps, maybe a few hours more ... it was a labour intensive drying day. I broke the clumps up by pulling them apart not by rubbing them.

ninjapuppet, you are right, total overkill. I can't remember the last time I zipped the bag up even above the tree line. If the bag was zipped up, one could die from heat exhaustion. I can't even remember the last time I needed to be wearing clothes inside the bag. The silk inner sheet does the job and the bag is a cosy doona.

When a bag is zipped up ... it pre-empts being in a coffin. One doesn't want to speed up the process.

Warren.