How To Clean A Duvet Without A Washing Machine

The average person will spend about a third of their life under a duvet. This is why it's so important that you regularly wash your duvet.

The main difficulty with washing a duvet is it's unlikely to fit in your washing machine. If you have access to an industrial-sized washing machine, you could wash your duvet in it. However, if like most of us you only have a typical washing machine you'll need to come up with another solution.

Before you start, make sure to read the label. Make sure that you know how your duvet needs to be cleaned. If you have a feather and down duvet it might need to be dry cleaned.

Option 1: Use a bigger washing machine

7 kg washing machines can usually hold a double duvet. Depending on how thick the duvet is, a 7 kg might also hold a king-size duvet. However, you normally need at least a 10 kg washing machine to wash a king-size duvet.

When it comes to placing your duvet in your washing machine, fold it in half and try to spread the weight as you feed it into the drum.

If your washing machine is not big enough, you could take the duvet to a launderette. Their washing machines are the perfect size for cleaning and drying duvets.

Wash your duvet on a gentle cycle. If you have a feather and down duvet make sure you only use a non-biological detergent.

Option 2: Wash it in the bath

If you don't have enough room in your washing machine, you could always use your bath. Fill your bath with tepid water and add some detergent. If you don't have a bath, use a large plastic container.

Once you have added the detergent, mix it with your hands. Make sure you're wearing gloves so your hands are protected.

Now put the duvet under the water ensuring it is fully submerged. Move the duvet around so the detergent reaches all of the dirt. Do this for a few minutes. Now rinse all of the detergent away until the water runs clear and the soap has gone.

Squeeze out as much of the water as you can. Chances are you will have to leave the duvet to drip above the bath for a while as there will be a lot of water running from it.

Wring the water out again and shake the duvet to fluff it up a bit.

The next step is to hang your duvet on the washing line. Make sure you do this as soon as you can so it has more time to dry.

Ideally, you should wash your duvet in the summer months when the days are long and hot. This will give you plenty of time to dry it.

Why You Need to Wash Your Duvet

Until someone invents a self-cleaning duvet, we will have to wash our duvets ourselves. We need to keep our duvets clean because we shed skin cells every night.

In addition to this, we sweat while we sleep. This can attract dust mites who produce droppings. These droppings can potentially cause asthma and eye irritability.

All of these droppings, skin cells and all of that sweat begins to accumulate on our duvets.

Do not worry though; you can wash your duvet quickly and easily. Use the above instructions to help you keep all of your duvets clean so they're more of a pleasure to use.

In The Wash is your guide to the best laundry and cleaning products, tips and tricks. Our mission is to solve the UK's cleaning and laundry dilemmas!