UKC

My belay jacket has reached the point where it needs a cleanse and the care label is faded. I don't think I've washed synthetic insulation before - I wang all other my outdoor gear through the machine on a 40 degree delicates wash with liquid soap flakes, then line dry on a good weather day. Will this be ok or do I need to do something special?

Ta.

Wang it in the machine along with everything else, that's all I've ever done. I thought that was the whole point of synthetics, easy to clean. 

I'd just chuck it in a normal cycle wash with soap flakes. Never done any of my jackets any harm

Delicate, 30-40 deg. and low to no tumble cycle. Dry flat.

Just wash my primaloft things on a standard 30/40 degree wash with an eco type washing liquid (which I use for everything). No issues over many years!

My now quite old Alpkit Heiko is primaloft filled. I looked at the label and it says 30 wash, but says look at the website for more info. The website says:

"Washing Instructions
Wash on a delicate cycle at 30˚C or hand wash with lukewarm water. Use a technical wash product or pure soap. DO NOT use detergent, fabric conditioners or softeners. Rinse thoroughly in clean water. Line dry or tumble dry on low heat. Use a cool iron to reactivate the DWR."

I have washed it plenty, in 30 degrees with the same non-bio powder I use for everything rather than pure soap. It still seems to be working fine!

I've a primaloft filled gilet from Patagonia that's at least 20 years old & gets washed regularly, just goes in the machine with other synthetic stuff at 30° with whatever detergent we have in the cupboard. Moderate spin (600 rpm ?) then put it on a coathanger & hang to dry.  Gilet is still fine although the fabric is starting to show some signs of wear, eg on the shoulders. Also have some other primaloft filled gear (eg gloves) which get the same treatment but not as old (yet) but seem to survive the washing machine

Thanks all. 

I was led to believe that a tumble dry on a low setting improves the ‘lofting’ of the insulation. 

I’ve never tumble dried any of my synthetic insulation garments. My oldest, a gilet, is at least 15yrs and appears to loft the same as when it was new by just line drip drying. It looks puffy anyway.

IME the synthetic garments dry very quickly and don’t need tumble drying (some care labels say not to tumble dry, whilst others say can be on cool). My “heaviest” ones at 133g weight insulation fully dry overnight, if not a lot quicker, indoors. Personally, I always hang on coat hanger to dry, not flat, and so far never had a problem.

Also, my understanding is synthetic insulation fibres can be damaged over time by rough handling and tumble drying could accelerate this breaking of fibres during tumbling. On a similar note I’ve read some suggest not using stuff sacs regularly for the reason that each “stuffing” into a sac/storage pocket breaks some fibres. That said, I’ve never thought my 15 yr old gilet as fragile (it has never been handled as such) and to me is as good as new as far as insulation goes.

That’s my experience anyway over decades.

As I understand it, synthetic fibres don't really benefit from tumble drying the way down might, even if not recommended for it (to prevent down fibres from clumping up). To the contrary, synthetics tend to have the best longevity with the least compression (which would include centripetal forces from tumble drying), while down actually does benefit from some physical shaking up (be it manual, as in shaking it by hand while drying out, or the tennis balls in a dryer). Down has nanoscale barbs that tend to "help" it clumping together, and any physical agitation during drying helps to release those barbs and restore their loft. Plus the natural fibres are generally more resilient against such physical agitation, unlike synthetics.

Think of down as inter-catching springs that need to be loosened to loft properly, while most synthetics are just weaker springs that only get tired and break from all the repeated compression cycles.

TL;DR: Down should be shaken, not stirred, while synthetics should be left alone.

The rationale for flat drying synthetics comes down to the baffle design, I think. Primaloft and similar are usually just some loose flat sheets of insulation not really bonded to the outer fabric, just baffled. The thinking being that when drying out flat, the sheet won't deform. That might obviously depend on the baffle design, but most synthetic jackets seem to be like that. 

Bucking the trend of the other posters, I'd wash it using nikwax tech wash.

Then after final spin treat it in a sink or bucket with a generous dose of nikwax polar proof kneeding it in warm water for ages, wear gloves, while the water goes clear (the white stuff being taken up by the jacket).

Then spin it in the machine and hang to dry. Once completely dry give it 10 mins in the tumble dryer (check wash instructions).

My reasoning is I'd like it fluffed up for best insulation (I know it's not down but think there is a slight effect, think about washing synthetic pillows for example and how useful a dryer is). Also I'd like it as water repellent as possible so it absorbs less damp in use.

That's not really bucking the trend that much, Tech Wash is essentially fancy liquid soap. However, that's what I would do to - you spend hundred(s) on nice kit, buying the recommended soap is a small maintenance cost. It's not like you wash this stuff more than once every 3 months anyway!

The rest though, I do think is overkill.