Aaah mold!!

[Mongoose]

I pulled out my winter hiking gear and some of it has mold/mildew on it! It looks like there's a little on the dryloft coating of my sleeping bag. Do you think the mold could get into the bag and ruin the down? It still seems to loft fine... I wiped it down with a little bit a bleach and let it dry overnight...

 

[nartreb]

Ruin? Ruin how? I'm not aware of any mold that can dissolve feathers or artificial insulation, or is strong enough to prevent lofting if you give it a good shake.
If you're not allergic, and you can't see (or don't mind) stains, just ignore it.

 

[WalksWithBlackflies]

You took the correct action. Mold eats organic vegetable matter (ie - carbohydrates), which is why you'll see it on drywall paper (wood fiber), but not in the gypsum filler itself. Feathers are nearly pure keratin, a protein. Therefore, I wouldn't think that the mold would degrade the feathers.

 

[--M.]

Hey! You, with the science! Knock that off!

Or, to quote Platoon, "Don't baby-talk him, man!"

The mold must be viewed from the perspective of a Stephen King short story, and it WILL eat your face off. Burn the bag in the back yard with a LOT of lighter fluid and go spend a few hundred on a new one.

And let's not have any more of that science around here!

 

[Gris]

You took the correct action.

Politely disagree. Bleach will remove any WP treatment on the shell and could even degrade the shell itself. There are much less harmful products specifically made for removing mold from tent flies, etc. No biggie if it was only a spot here and there, but I would opt for the correct product if your bag has a treatment and/or the porblem is widespread. Just my unscientific $0.02.

 

[Neil]

I think mold will eat just about anything with high energy organic molecules, which includes protein.

I highly doubt though that the mold would have eaten through the outer layer and started in on the feathers.

 

[Mongoose]

It was only on the hood around the head. The bag has been hanging on my wall with the hood touching the ground. Sounds like it'll be good to go for this weekend!

 

[DougPaul]

Politely disagree. Bleach will remove any WP treatment on the shell and could even degrade the shell itself.

I agree. Some of the fabrics and coatings used on mountaineering fabrics are chemically delicate.

Doug

 

[Paradox]

I think mold will eat just about anything with high energy organic molecules, which includes protein.

I highly doubt though that the mold would have eaten through the outer layer and started in on the feathers.

Spore me the details Therein lies the rub. Mold spores survive just about anything but incineration. The mold may not have proliferated enough to get to the down, but it will as the relative humidity rises. IMHO the bag is "down" for the count.

 

[dRitter]

It's late in the season but sometimes direct sunlight works just dandy for "whack a mold". Hang it on a clothesline on a sunny day when you know it will stay dry.

 

[--M.]

I can't for the life of me understand how you can have Frank Zappa in your avatar and then not reference The Dangerous Kitchen, to wit:

...
You must walk very careful
You must not lean against it
It can get on your clothing
It can follow you in
As you walk to the bedroom
And you take all your clothes off
While you're sleeping
It crawls off
It gets in your bed
It could get on your face then
It could eat your complexion
...

[with eternal gratitude to FZ]​

I repeat, one must view these things from the proper perspective...,

Although..., I agree with the sunlight thing. And just give it a good wipe-down, or a run through a commercial washer.

To me, it's the gross-out factor: if I can be convinced that it won't grow itself into a representation of a weeping Mary that I could sell on eBay, I can live with it. Otherwise, it's a witch and must be burned with accelerants.

Moving to Salem soon....

 

[Mongoose]

There weren't any stains, it was more like a light fuzz I could wipe off. I was just worried about it getting into the bag and ruining the down somehow.

 

[Gris]

Ok

this thread forced me into the ... garage (yikes)

anyhoo i retrieved the stuff you are supposed to use

it's called "MiraZyme" made by a co. named "McNett"

inredients are only listed as "a blend of 10 unique microbial elements"

this begs the Q - what is a "microbial element"

i doubt it's listed on the periodic table - oh yeah, they wouldn't be; they are unique elements...