Restoring a down sleeping bag

[hovermn]

I have a down sleeping bag that's spent a good part of its life smushed up in a compression sack. Yeah, I know, not good for it... Are there ways of restoring the loft in the down, say by washing or shaking it or a combo of the two?

Also, does anyone have any experience with Nikwax Down Wash? Would that help any? I wouldn't run it through the washer with regular detergent, but would this stuff help at all?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Surface Tension]

Put it in the drier with a tennis shoe on low heat to get the loft back.

There should be washing instructions for the bag on the tag.

[hovermn]

A shoe? Interesting! Mind if I ask how you came up with that?

[Wellesy]

I'm guessing as an extra agitator?

[Walterwontfalter]

Shake the bejeezus out of it so the fill goes to one end, and then shake it all to the other end to loosen it a little and then in the dryer with the tennis shoe. It'll break up the clumps and restore the loft. just make sure it's a somewhat clean shoe. I put one of my old shoes in and my sleeping bag ended up smelling like... well, not too good.

[fivebucks]

I've used tennis balls in the dryer on anything down that I've washed and it works pretty good also.

[hovermn]

Thanks guys. I've done a little bit of reading and found that one of the issues with down is that it can absorb oils from your skin and matt up the down. A light detergent is recommended to break up the oils and help restore some of the loft. After that, it sounds like the tennis shoe is the way to go. I would have just thrown it into the dryer and see what happens.

Thanks for the advice!

[Bobby Bass]

I always put the tennis shoe inside a pillow case and tie the case, you will be surprised how much crud can come off the tennis shoe bouncing around inside of the dryer. Tennis shoe trick works great when doing down coats to..

[BigWadeS]

I used a shoe once, but with having size 15 was told never to do that again, so I use a couple tennis balls and it works great too

[hovermn]

From tennis shoe to tennis ball. Hmm, suppose a tennis racket would work as well? I was wondering about the tennis balls. Sounds like putting the shoe in a pillow case isn't such a bad idea either.

I'm washing tomorrow. Again, thanks for the ideas. I would have never thought to throw an agitator in there.

[fivebucks]

I've got a couple of old tennis rackets I would donate to you if you wanted to try it.

[hovermn]

I bet sticking them in the dryer would make one heck of a RACKET! Couldn't resist!

[Bob O]

A mild detergent that is designed for wool or fine fabrics should work ok. Something soft and heavy, such as a clean tennis shoe mentioned by others, helps to break up the clumps and restore loft while in the dryer. However, if you wash it, then you should let it air dry enough to get rid of most of the water. Otherwise the heavy clumps can tear the internal baffles that keep the down distributed evenly.

[delcecchi]

The conventional way to wash a down sleeping bag is in the bathtub with mild soap, or the soap made specially for down. Make sure you rinse well. Mostly you let the bag soak and occasionally gently agitate it with your hands. Let drain and press water out well and be careful transporting to dryer. Use low heat, with the aforementioned tennis shoe or similar object.

If you search on "wash down sleeping bag" you can find more detailed instructions.

I'm sure if you called REI in Bloomington they have the soap and can tell you how to do it.