Washing pillows in a Miele

[chris74]

Maybe...

...90 degrees boil-wash is a bit over the top, @nrones? However, high-heated drying is recommended to avoid moldering. What kind of detergent did you use?

@launderess: I did not say chlorine bleach but a little bit of oxi or a stain-booster won't harm the filling, I believe. I think if you give them pillows to a dry-cleaner's they will just throw away the ticking and wash the feathers only (or treat them as you described it perfectly).

By the way: I wouldn't dare to wash a duvet in a normal household machine. I bring ours to the launderette...

 

[mrboilwash]

Have to say I`m really disappointed to learn that the Pillow Cycle on Youtube does not spin between the rinses at all. What were they thinking ? You probably end up with a lot of soap residue when washing down filled pillows.

Tide with bleach as seen in the video isn`t a good choice either. High pH, enzymes and so on is so not suitable for protein fibers like down. However downs can withstand high washing temperatures very well, hot or nearly boiling water is fine.

Switched to synthetic filled and never looked back, but when I still had down filled myself I treated them the same way like Nrones. Prewash, 60 or 90 wash and maximum spin on normal cottons cycle. Never ever had a serious OOB problem.

 

[nrones]

Pillows wash

@foraloysius, thanks for the tip! I'll deffinately try it next time, sounds like a great idea

@chris74, why do you think 90 is too much? I use that wash quite often, I must admit

 

[jerrod6]

I have  washed two down pillows at a time  in my Miele 1986 even though it doesn't have a dedicated pillow cycle which probably would work better.  No problem with balancing.  I used Miele Care Down wash, and just used the Dedicates cycle setting the water temperature to 85F.  The dedicates cycle fills the drum almost 1/2 full of water, but there are no spins between the rinses.  After the final spin and the end of the cycle I follow this with a fine rinse cycle which is two very high fill rinses followed by a spin of any speed you select.  I select high speed.  Dry the pillows in the dryer with a few Nike or whatever tennis shoes.

 

 

Biggest issue is getting them dried.  It takes forever on low temp and hearing the tennis shoes bounce all over the place is annoying.

 

I use pillow covers under each pillow case so much of the soil is captured there unless my dog has an accident...then the trick is to get all of the cases off of the pillow ASAP.

 

I like the method Laundress mentioned where the down is extracted from the shell and cleaned separately but so far I have not found any place that does this in my area. 

 

 

I did have one occasion where a guest washed down pillows from the guest bedrooms at 190F although I don't know what detergent was used, and  that was the end of them.  Taken out of the dryer there was no fluffy filling inside,  nothing except hard bits that felt like raw field corn kernels suitable for nothing but cows and bulls.  I know they meant well but....

 

 

 

[launderess]

Pillow Cleaning In The USA

I send my heavy vintage bolster pillows here:

http://www.blancplume.com/pdf_files/pricing3.pdf

 

[launderess]

More:

http://www.blancplume.com/specialization.html

 

[launderess]

@Chirs74

One did not say *YOU* recommended chlorine bleach but was pointing out the fact that on this side of the pond Americans hear/see the word "bleach" and assume it means LCB. If you want to take that to mean your endorsement of such things then by all means go ahead. Am growing weary of the semantic LE of late.

Local Dry Cleaners and Laundromats & Down Filled Items.

Here in this area at least nil to few clean down items properly. You drop them off and they go into the same laundromat/commercial front loaders used for routine washing. Unless you supply everyone I've seen in action uses Tide (powder or liquid) or worse commercial powdered detergent that comes in huge drums.

Most laundromat front loaders do not spin between the pre-wash and main cycle. So the down floats and bobs around the first two washes and then only becomes flattened after the first or second spins. Depending upon how many rinses the machine is set to give it could be near the final rinse before the item is water logged enough to achive a good through cleaning. Suppose a way round this would be to run the thing through again but that takes time and costs money.

Drying may or may not be done properly for several reasons.

First to dry down takes along time and should have a machine with decent airflow but gentle heat. Even if done right it takes hours for down filled pillows or duvets to dry and that means tying up a machine for the duration.

Next though many laundromats and dry cleaners (again locally) do have 50lb or greater washers, few to none have dryers to match that capacity. Theory being one supposes that large loads from the washer will be spilt amoung one or more dryers. This is fine for laundry but some queen and certainly king sized duvets do not have room to tumble properly. As the down dries and fluffs the drum fills and can lead to damage. For instance if the duvet constantly rubs against the glass door frame/seal it can lead to friction "burn" marks.

 

[launderess]

Maybe In The Minority Here

But am not that fond of eiderdowns. Find sleeping under one causes one to wake up the next morning nearly soaking wet. This even on very cold nights with the heating turned off.

Much prefer a nice wool filled duvet and Peacock Alley cotton blanket.

Cause of the warmth may be related to the thick featherbed under the bottom sheets, but as there isn't a place to store the thing off season it remains on all twelve months of the year.

 

[jerrod6]

Laundress that's for the links to the French Laundry services.  Prices seem reasonable.

 

I don't understand what you mean by your featherbed under the bottom sheets.  Is this a mattress or in  addition to a mattress? 

 

[launderess]

Pillow top mattress (covered, then featherbed (covered) then bottom sheet.

Historically featherbeds can go either above or below the bottom sheet, it all depends upon what one perfers.

Featherbeds like duvets come in mainly three designs: baffles, channels, and open. With the last one many like to use it above the bottom sheet (covered) or simply covered and it being the "bottom" sheet of the bed. This allows whomever is sleeping in the bed to shift the down to their preference. Some like to create a "nest" in the center,others will shift the feathers away from them towards their partner (or whomever is sharing the bed), others shift the filling to provide more or less support where wished.

 

[vacfanatic]

Miele W3033 Pillow Cycle Video

Here is a video of the Miele W3033 washing a down pillow. I always have excellent results with down. Synthetic I've ruined a couple, the filling clumps up and never goes back to the way it was.

Andrew

 

[logixx]

Here is a video of the Miele W3033 washing a down pillow

see reply #7 ;-)

 

[jerrod6]

logixx

I sent you an e-mail yesterday but it was returned by the server.  You still at the same address?

 

Jerrod