How to wash your sleeping bag?
Your sleeping bag is a key success element of your bivouacs and/or mountain hikes. It is the key warranty for a comfortable and warm recuperative sleep / sleep. It can be filled with polyester / synthetic fiber (easier to maintain but heavier and denser) or with natural down (light and compact but also warmer and more comfortable). Maintaining your sleeping bag is crucial, so you will benefit from all these qualities of optimal comfort over the long run.
If you have a sleeping bag made of synthetic wadding:
We do not blame you! There are very good sleeping bags filled with synthetic fiber… At Pyrenex, we have chosen to offer only sleeping bags with a natural filling. Anyway, make sure to follow the following steps:
- Place your sleeping bag in the washing machine with 2 or 3 tennis balls (new or previously washed): the tennis balls will prevent the wadding from forming "wads".
- Wash with a 30°C program with no spinning or at a very low spin.
- Dry your sleeping bag outside, if possible in the open air.
Washing a natural down sleeping bag:
Regarding sleeping bags filled with natural down (a mixt of duck down and feathers), the maintenance is a bit more delicate than for a synthetic down sleeping bag. Check on the label of your sleeping bag if machine washing is allowed or if you rather need to wash it by hand (both options are doable with a Pyrenex sleeping bag).
Washing machine instructions:
- Proceed similarly to washing a synthetic down sleeping bag except that no spinning program is allowed!
Hand washing instructions:
- Soak your sleeping bag for 1h30 to 2h in warm to cold water (no more than 30°C), in your bath with a mild detergent, or shampoo.
- Rub the stains gently
- Rinse by changing the water in the bathtub several times
- Eliminate as much water as possible by squeezing gently, but do not wring, you will break the down
- Dry in the open air, shaking occasionally to separate the down
- Be careful: do not store your sleeping bag until it is completely dry (check that there is no moisture left in the seams)
