Author Topic: Alternative cleaning method for down items and sleeping bags...  (Read 37 times)

Danneaux

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Hey All!

I came across this service today...

https://eclean.green/collections/top-products/products/down-sleeping-bag-cleaning?variant=46105236242629

It uses a "cold CO2" cleaning process. I've not used it and this is not intended as an endorsement or sponsorship...just thought it interesting in light of recent queries about how best to clean a down bag...
https://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=15692.0

I (unfortunately and only once) engaged the services of what is regarded by many as the "best" down bag cleaning service in the States several years ago and things could not have gone more wrong. The bag's outer shell looked new when I sent it in and apparently it went through many wash cycles (forgotten in the rotating drum?) and was badly abraded when I received it..."flat as a Pannenkoeken" (Dutch pancake thin as a crépe, never re-lofted). As a bonus, they lost the stuff sack they directed me to send it in and no apology or adjustment!

This new method is food for thought.

Best, Dan.

mickeg

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The retailers of camping gear that I mostly have bought stuff from have generally suggested you do it yourself with a good soap intended for the purpose.  I have probably washed a down sleeping bag at least a dozen times, I own several.  I always used a top loading machine, which is not recommended, because that is what I had access to.  The only time it did not work well was with my winter sleeping bag that was rated at minus 40 degrees.  There is a lot of down in that bag and the down dried out so slowly that the down started to smell a bit in the late stages of air drying it. 

My oldest down bag is 54 years old, I remember when I got it.  I do not recall how many times I washed that bag.  But it was my only sleeping bag during my late teens and early 20s when I was doing a lot of camping.