Compressing Down

[trippclark]

I'd be surprised if there is any evidence or data on this, but I am curious to get folks thoughts, opinions, and practices regarding how long down must be stored in a compressed manner before there are any negative effects.:-?

I store all of my down items loose and uncompressed as is generally accepted as the way to go. Most everyone will tell you that if you store down compressed, it will lose loft and therefore efficiency. But does this occur after hours, days, weeks, months, or what?

For example, if you are going on a backpacking trip and you pack 3 or 4 days before the trip, is there any damage done by packing your down items that early and leaving them compressed 3 or 4 days, or is there any advantage to waiting to pack those down items on the day of or night before the trip?:-?

Just curious, and thought I'd see what others thought . . .

[bigcranky]

I don't worry about packing my down bag a week before a trip. Given my work schedule, I often have to pack the weekend prior to a hike, when I have more time (and can think clearly). I haven't noticed any loss of loft doing this. After all, your bag will spend most of its time compressed in your pack during a hike.

[headchange4u]

When listening to Gary Schaezlein of Western Mountaineering's trailcast (http://www.trailcast.org/programs/44) he states that he would not recommend leaving a bag compressed for more than 2-3 days. I would say that he would know better than anybody.

[fiddlehead]

I have 4 down bags and keep them in their stuff sacks all the time.
I don't know that it has hurt them. The oldest one is at least 20 years old now and i slept in it once this year. seemed the same to me.
I simply don't have the room for storage to be doing all that textbook stuff with them. I do keep them fairly clean and thing that that is important to not have all of that body oils in the down.
All the bags still seem to keep me as warm as when they were new with the exception of my most used one which i've not slept in aprox 1,000 nights. (feathered friends hummingbird) it has lost some loft but perhaps it is now 5 deg. colder than new. I simply shake them out pretty good after long storage and the loft seems to come back. Of course i haven't done a scientific study and measured it or anything.

[Vi+]

Trippclark,

You ask (Post #1), “... I am curious to get folks thoughts, opinions, and practices regarding how long down must be stored in a compressed manner before there are any negative effects.”

I bought and used one sleeping bag. Most of my use of it included camping in snow in the Rockies and in the Midwest. It was overfilled and rated to a fairly low temperature. I used it for years then bought other bags rated both above and below it. I left the bag, unused and compressed in a stuff sack, for years - I don’t really know how many (sometimes I make myself sick).

I pulled it out and used it one cold night on a ridge line which was well lighted from a nearby town. In the middle of the night I awakened and saw what appeared to be a Cheshire Cat. This turned out to be the chevron-shaped tubes which were about 80% empty; the down, appearing as BB's, had settled at the bottom of each tube. The bag, even though the temperature was probably in the twenties of degrees, still kept me fairly warm.

I took the bag home, washed and dried it (included a sneaker to beat it up in the dryer), and it appears to be much improved. I have no doubt it’s no longer in its original condition.