 Poster: A snowHead
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Beloved Rab down jacket was washed and died at end of last season - I was not involved in those processes - and I’ve just unpacked it in prep for departing to the Alps next week.
As you can hopefully see from the photo, the down has packed into balls and is no longer uniformly distributed along the quilt pockets…
Any ideas/tips on how to evenly distribute the fluff in the puff?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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dried not died, although ….
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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You could try chucking it back in the wash for a rinse and then back in to the drier with a few tennis balls, or one of those fancy spiky plastic ball things if you happen to have one.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@kitenski, @oink, thanks both - there’s a very clear moral illustrated here!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Grinning, up to 5 hours drying time in a dryer appears to be the important bit!! Good luck
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@Grinning, if you can get to a laundrette with BIG dryers, that's a bit more effective. I use little rubber bouncing balls, as that was all I could find years ago. My down jacket's been washed probably 10 times?
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There's a JYSK shop near us that sells "Dryer Balls". They're effectively heavy tennis balls and sold in packs of 3. Low heat setting in a tumble dryer. Should see some improvement but can take a while. (but you get free bongo tunes)
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Dryer balls work well. My 2 year old’s down jacket got washed quite frequently (cos he’s a messy little chap) and it always puffed up nicely with them
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Ordinary tennis balls are ideal - no need to buy anything new.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I use ordinary tennis balls in my tumble drier. I have quite a few quilted/padded gilets as well as ski jackets and sometimes they look very sad and flat after washing but always bounce back into life after bing bong with the tennis balls.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Yes, they do bong around! I tried to avoid doing it when my downstairs lodger is in her room, as it shares a wall with the garage, where the tumble drier lives.
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if you are lucky enought to have a dog in the family, use its ball, kill 2 birds with 1 stone
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You know it makes sense.
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@Grinning, if you have/have access to a heat pump tumble dryer, they are much kinder to outdoor fabrics as they use only lightly warmed but very low humidity air to do the drying. One of the problems trying to tumble dry down kit is that most of the jacket fabric is bone dry (and therefore heats up a lot in a conventional dryer), long before the down is dry.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I've find mine are adequately "fluffed up" after quite a short time in the dryer, then give them a good shake and hang in the warm to finish drying. I think the tennis balls create a huge amount of static, which helps the down to fluff up.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Looks like an x-ray of a drugs mule's innards.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I have a down gillet that I hand-wash from time to time. When it is dry, it looks like yours. I spend half an hour shaking it and generally agitating it in order to re-puff and re-distribute the down. Works fine for me.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'm not sure why down jackets are so popular. My wife has one and she is rightly terrified of getting it wet. I on the other hand have a manmade fibre filled one. It packs almost as small and only weighs a few grams more. On one occaison I dropped when paked in its pocket. It bounced down the mountainside and lodged in a stream with water flowing over it. I Pulled it out of the stream unpacked it, gave it a good shake and put it on. It still retained a fair bit of body heat and was dry in a hour or so.
They are not cheep, perhaps more expensive than some cheep down ones but pretty efficient - see https://rab.equipment/uk/generator-alpine-jacket for example.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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My down things are not skiing things - and I don't wear them out in the rain!!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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My wife's jacket is not for skiing either. It and mine are usually refered to as "belay jackets" you wear them while stood at a stance belaying a climber then they pack into your rucksack while actually climbing. They are also very useful as emergency warm clothing and like my waterproof jacket spend almost all their time in a rucksack.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@johnE, https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/down-vs-synthetic.html
Down
Pros
Higher warmth-to-weight ratio than synthetic insulation
Very compressible
Very durable; with proper care, a down sleeping bag or jacket can last for decades
Cons
Loses insulating power when it gets wet and takes a long time to dry
Cleaning down requires special care
Not hypoallergenic (rarely an issue)
More expensive than synthetics
Synthetic
Pros
Very water-resistant and continues to insulate even when wet
Hypoallergenic
Less expensive than down
Cons
Heavier and bulkier than down insulation
Offers less warmth for its weight than down
Less durable than down; insulating power gets reduced each time the bag is stuffed into a stuff sack
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Tue 29-11-22 16:53; edited 1 time in total
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| oink wrote: |
| You could try chucking it back in the wash for a rinse and then back in to the drier with a few tennis balls, or one of those fancy spiky plastic ball things if you happen to have one. |
This. All of those sorts of jackets need to be dried like that.
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| pam w wrote: |
| My down things are not skiing things - and I don't wear them out in the rain!! |
Yep on the skiing, although many do, inc a mate who lives in the Alps.............
I have a couple of Rab jackets, one duck down, one synthetic down and both Pertex coating - which means I dont "mind" wearing them in rain, but always allow to dry after, preferably in the wind (usually available in Edinburgh !).
I also have a duck down gilet (Alpkit) which again dries outside if poss.
In fact, thinking on it, I have never washed any of my down gear, I am almost certain they wont perform as well after washing.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I washed a couple of my down jackets three weeks ago, both high-end, Jotnar & Elevanate jackets, knowing full well without a dryer I'd have issues, having seen the OH results post wash.
I dried them over a heater and would try and spread the down out with a rolling pin and then stretch pulling the down by hand, I did this every half hour or so.
I also read to hang it out to dry in the cold air which I did, have to say now they are not too bad.
I had to wash mine as when ski touring I get really sweaty even if it's cold, and as soon as arriving at the transition point, the down jacket is the first thing I pull out of my bag and put on, hence, one the Jotnar did start to smell. The Elevanate was bright orange and attracted the grime, I used NIK wax down protector after the NIK tech wash.
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Crikey, they do sound a faff. Luckily I eschew such garments on the grounds of not wishing to be mistaken for the Michelin Man. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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As others have alluded to-
Put it back in the wash and put some Nikwax tech wash in the washing machine drawer
Dry it again in the tumble dryer. I don’t use tennis balls in mine and all of my puffy items come back out the dryer looking as they should, make sure you don’t overload the dryer.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I have shoved mine and Mr HH's downs in the washing machine on a gentle wash and the hung them on the line to dry several times....never had a problem and never worried about them until I read this! May have to be more careful next time
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I just binned a down sleeping bag after 18 years of sweat, bug repellant, fishing and hunting smells got the better of it. Tried to wash it and it was no good after. But 18 years of regular use was impressive. If the new one lasts as long I can probably be cremated in it.
Personally I always use a synthetic for anything involving getting sweaty. So much better. My favourite is a Montane Prism Ultra, really light and small pack size for the warmth.
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You know it makes sense.
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