have you had $$$ gear melted in a dryer or on hot asphault?
have you had $$$ gear melted in a dryer or on hot asphault?
No but they definitely don't do well in front of winter bonfire.
Yes i melted my lone peaks on freshly poured steaming hot asphalt somewhere in NJ on a road walk. No way around it.
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I work in engineering manufactured plastics....
You pretty much have 3 bases of plastic (their melting points included)
styrene 170-280F
propylene 200-280F
and nylon 220-300F
I could not find any information on radiant temperatures dispersed by a campfire, but I would say that at 3' away from a campfire that 170-220F could be achieved and with this 7-10D nylon on the market, I could certainly see some shrinkage/ warpage taking place on some garments in certain situations. An egg needs a surface temperature of 158F to cook on a sidewalk. That is only a few degrees below the min melting points of several plastic materials. I couldn't find any evidence of concrete achieving higher than 122F but I didn't do a massive research project on it, just simple google work.
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AT Map 1: Complete 2013-2021
Sheltowee Trace: Complete 2020-2023
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AT Map 2: 279.4
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Lots of quilt manufacturers say that high heat in a dryer can be detrimental the delicate shell fabrics
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melted countless gloves priming those old Peak1 stoves in winter.
I left a pair of Crocs in my car exposed to direct sunlight over a few hot days while I was hiking in Texas (I had meant to put a blanket over them but forgot). When I came back they had shrunk down 3 or 4 sizes and didn't fit anymore.
Life Member: ATC, ALDHA, Superior Hiking Trail Association
Melted the outer cover of a down bag by trying to fluff it up in too small a dryer with no fluff cycle. Long time ago, but I still remember the shock when I opened the door.
Back in '91, I took my first solo adventure; a bicycle tour of some of the western states. I had bought a down mummy from Eddie Bauer and after about 6 weeks on the road, it was in need of some washing, so I stopped at a laundromat. I had read about how to wash down and all the suggestions and precautions for handling the heavy mass, etc. The washing part went fine, but the dryer just had a coin slot and no temp setting. I ran it just a bit too long and it nearly melted the outer shell in a few places. It looked a little darker than the rest and felt stiffer. If you really bent it, it would crack open.
I finished my trip and called Eddie Bauer when I returned home. I was hoping that maybe they could salvage the down and the zipper and put it all together with a new shell for a reasonable price. Even though I told them it was clearly my screw-up and I was willing to pay for the repair, they just sent me a brand new bag, no charge, no questions.
A blanket wouldn't help, it was the heat of the car that made them shrink. Basically, they're made of foam. The excessive heat expands the trapped gases inside and some escapes, but doesn't return when they cool.
On the PCT a clothes dryer melted a big hole in my one and only (nylon) hiking shirt. I told the laundry owner the dryer was too hot and melted my shirt and he said that a lot of people had reported the same problem.
I air dry all synthetics. It's an easy preventative. Down gear gets tumble dried with little or no heat. Takes a while.
"It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss
Polypropylene underwear was very popular in 80s-early 90s.
Its very light and very warm. Cozy soft when new.
But it pilled bad , melted in clothes dryers, and smelled pretty bad too. Also decomposed and got tacky and stretched out and lost shape with age. Thats why you dont see it no mores. At least not 100%.
I ruined some $$$ underwear back then in dryer. I had some expedition wt patagonia polypro in 1984, cost $90 then.....melted in dryer. That would be like $300 today.
Last edited by MuddyWaters; 01-02-2019 at 22:34.
I once leaked a teaspoon of 100% deet on a tent and it melted a big hole in it.
And that's the wonderful difference between radiant heat and infrared heat. Infrared heats the surface of objects within a direct sight line of the source (hot coals), and depending on environmental circumstances plus the material that's absorbing the heat plus the texture of the material, all effect how hot that surface gets.
Give Youtube a quick search for supershelters to see how these characteristics can be taken advantage of for a winter camp, if you're willing to maintain a little bed of coals through the night.
LOL. The Incredible Shrinking MapMan.
I left a rolled up Tyvek cowboy sized groundsheet that was carefully cut to size in the trunk of a car during the summer over a wk. When I went to use it it had become 7" narrower and from 90" long to less than 80". Worse it became a stiff unfoldable hard sheet. I wonder where it went?
LoL "got tacky and stretched out and lost shape with age" - sounds like me....
Plaid is fast! Ticks suck, literally... It’s ok, bologna hoses off…
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