Bit OT – what’s the best way to clean a down sleeping bag? Mine’s kept me warm on a lot of bike trips, but is a bit grimy now, and there’s beer or something spilled on it too.

I used Mountaineering Designs last year and the service was good, but it’s not that cheap.

You can do it yourself with a bath and tumble dryer, but it seems like a right old faff.

Hmm. The label says machine washable.

A very big front loader, and a detergent specially for down items. Drying it’s the trick. Alpkit have a good article

Ta for the article.

Does look a lot of hassle.

Getting the bag properly soaked is a right pain; it takes hours. Once you’ve done that you are supposed to let it soak then dry it. When I did it, the bag wouldn’t dry and after a couple of days lying like soggy bog paper on a rack over the bath it began to grow bacteria and smell even worse than before so I put it in the spin dryer, which had a miraculous effect. An hour hung up in hot sun and it was lovely and fluffy and I’ve just used it on C2C when it was 41 years old.

I just gave mine to the wife and she sorted it out,
It seems loads better now more fluffier.

Wash in bath – do not use a detergent – soap flakes or dedicated down wash – gently does it with the hand washing – be careful not to scrunch it up when wet as this can stress the fill and potentially compromise loft – dry layed out flat over a few days somewhere warm and dry – in future keep it cleaner longer by wearing base layers inside .. Replenish DWR with spray not wash in – Never leave bag in stuff sack when storing …

I think these guys used to be Franklins/are Franklins, in which case, they are very good.
http://www.downcleaning.co.uk/

They take literally hours and hours in the tumbledryer. Stick some lacrosse balls in with it too 🙂

Some dry cleaners will do them. They use the same process as a down duvet cleaning.

IMO this is a job that’s rare enough and annoying enough to make sending it off the Franklins (or whatever they’re called now) a bit of a no-brainer.