Washing Instructions for Sleeping Bags

The sleeping bag is a must-have for any serious camper. It can make your camping trip a breeze or ruin every night’s sleep. Thus, proper care must be given in order to maintain your ‘bag’s appearance. Cleaning your sleeping bag can be a chore, but absolute maintenance must be sustained in order to make the item last longer.

Buying a good quality sleeping bag is not always that straight forward. Check out our sleeping bag buying guide and overview of the best available.

If you just purchased a new sleeping bag and want to maintain its just-bought condition, make sure that you take good care of it by following the appropriate cleaning guide below. Your bedroll will stay comfortable and padded if you adhere to these steps. It is the intention of this article to give the reader a broad and detailed instruction about bedroll maintenance.

Sleeping Bag Clean-Up Guide

You can clean your bedroll in three ways: through handwashing, machine-washing and dry cleaning. Prior to cleaning the item, you should check the washing instructions sewn on the label first. Each and every sleeping bag comes with proper instructions for washing and this serves as a guide of whether it is appropriate to clean a bedroll in a particular manner.

Be sure that you follow the instructions on the label carefully. They were put in there for your convenience.

There are a few brands with sleeping bags washing detergents but the most popular brands are Gear Aid and Nikwax and you can go straight to their sleeping bag wash product line here.

Handwashing

This is a method that usually works on bags stuffed with down material. To do this, you need special sleeping bags detergent either for down or synthetic filling, a bathtub or a container big enough to wash your bedroll in and handwarm water.

1. Make sure that you have zipped the sleeping bag entirely.
2. Let the bathtub or container fill up with water, then add around 1/4 cup of special detergent for sleeping bags. Keep blending the mixture until all soap is melted.
3. Position the bedroll in the bathtub or the container. Flatten it as much as you can.
4. With your bare feet, get into the bathtub and walk all over the bedroll until it is completely immersed and the foamy water has thoroughly seeped its way into the bag.
5. Drain the foamy water but don’t remove the bag. Fill it up once more with handwarm water. Keep the bedroll flat at all times.
6. Get inside the tub or container and walk all over the bag once more to force out the soapy excess. Remember, it is important not to wring the item because it can damage the bag.
7. Do steps 5 and 6 until all of the soap is gone.
8. Empty the tub of water and roll the bag into a tube. Squash it down to remove excess water. Again, don’t wring the item.

Machine-Washing

There are two important factors to consider if you want to clean your bedroll by way of a washing machine. The machine should be large enough to accommodate all of the bag and the machine should not have an agitator because this can rip certain exposed parts of the bag like the drawstrings.

Machine-washing the bag won’t take up too much work unlike handwashing it. Wash the bedroll in low temperatures and include a rinse cycle in the procedure. To steer clear from damaging the item, wash using moderate, low revolution spin cycles.

A good practise is to add a few special dryer balls in the washing machine. This will make the sleeping bag be more fluffier and soften the filling of the bag.

Dry Cleaning

Among the methods, dry cleaning is the easiest and the most hassle-free. All you have to do is take your bedroll to the nearest dry cleaner’s and retrieve it on the given day. However, it has its disadvantages too.

The chemicals that are employed during the cleaning process can lighten the color and ruin its structure. Check the label if the item has a dry-cleaning option, but keep in mind that majority of bedrolls are not suited for dry cleaning. Most synthetic sleeping bags can be dry cleaned but don’t dry clean a down sleeping bag. It will remove the oil from the down feathers and will decrease the isolation of the sleeping bag. If you want to use this method for a synthetic bag, be certain that you ventilate the bedroll first to steer clear of adulteration.

For information about washing your outdoor clothing, please check out this page.