Cleaning Down Bags

imported
#1

I dry clean draperies for a living. This cleaning takes place with an intrusion/extration method right where the draperies or shades hang. There are a lot of technicians across the country. My question is: Could I use this method with an appropriate down cleaner to clean down sleeping bags. The machine suction is gentle enough to clean the bags. We can and do use a wet cleaning solution for cleaning fabric shades and no rinsing is required. At best it is surface cleaning. A bag could be cleaned in approximately 15 minutes withot the hassle of having to dry it in a dryer. The bag would be damp when finished and would need to be layed out and/or hung up for drying. There does not need to be a lot of heat applied. What are your thoughts on this alternative method to clean sleeping bags? I haven’t tried this yet because my bags are not yet dirty.

Eager Beaver

#2

If I had it to do over again, I would have sent out the bags to be cleaned professionally (once I understood how it would be cleaned). Washing and drying the bags took hours of our time, $6 for the down bag soap, and $4 for the dryer.

swamp fox

#3

down bag cleaning is an art. this is especially important for 0 degree bags and colder rated down bags. the weight of the down can rip the baffles going from the washer to the dryer. watching a -25 550 fill power bag in the dryer will make your belly feel bad! it can be washed in a bathtub, this takes an act of God and i don’t think you ever get the soap out. keep your bottom, pits, feet, clean and wear some comfy silk pjs in your bag. remember that all hikers are much more stinky than you. unless you find your trail name associated with hiker stink! i have only gone 8 days w/0 even a whore bath. davenport gap to fontana dam. Feb 93 i think. lost 20lbs. still think my bag has a little funk from that trip. back in the day the bunks were chicken wire that poked holes in you, your air mattress,and bag!B

benjamin e dunlap jr

#4

IMHO, do yourself a favor and send it out to the professionals. I have used Stitchlines in CO which did a beautiful job on my son’s -10 degree bag. Don’t know if they are still in business, but it should be rather easy to find out. Yes, I have done my 45 degree summer bag myself, but it’s still a slow job plus driving to the laundromat with the great big machines, an extractor and good large dryers. Oy! :oh

Lady Di

#5

Thank all of you for your reply. This does enhance my knowledge of what is involved in cleaning a down bag. I am going to do more research on this to see if I can find an alterntive method to clean the bags. Thanks again.

Eager Beaver

#6

I agree with Lady Di,leave the bag cleaning to the pros.
I believe Feathered Friends also cleans bags.:slight_smile:

old&in the way

#7

Everybody is talking like after trail cleaning stuff what about on? Maybe not a 100% clean just a general destinking. I got to switch my 0 REI down bag out on the PCT in Reno, since the weird correlattion between having REI stamped on something and it’s high probability of having stiches fail happened at an appropriate time. Though just airing out seems good now after 3.5 months. Hydro did her -5 bag in in Burney CA. at the laundrymat. Never really looked or functioned the same afterwards. So is there a good trail fix that would let you maybe Gentle wash and high heat dry to save time that wouldnt kill the bag. Front load or top load. Or just accept that the stinky bag syndrome happens and leave it till after the trail to deal with.:cheers

Guino

#8

The word is that dry cleaning chemicals will stripe the oils off the down that keeps it “fluffy”. Any residue left behind by cleaning product will seriously impact the loft of the bag. A “dry” cleaning is most likely not going to get ALL the chemicals out, whatever the product.

Gravity

Gravity

#9

I’m the daughter of a dry cleaner. But Dad didn’t even touch our vintage 1972 REI down bags. There is a certain type of dry cleaning solvent and method that must be used for down bags, but otherwise it’s a laborious job at the laundry - plan on half a day. I’ve done it several times over the years.

As mentioned above, it’s the ripping of the baffles when wet that you must concern yourself with, so you wouldn’t want to be doing this while the bag is hung up. That’s the bottom line from your question as I read it.

All directions on down bags instructs one to carefully remove wet bag from front loader and load gently into the dryer - even using an intermediary bag to put it in during the transfer process. I have had great success with doing this myself at laundromats, yes after the trail. It could be done while on trail, but would be a long process… and you really need to use the right down soap, which most likely would not be available at a town stop, unless there’s a big outfitter there.

Bluebearee