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View Full Version : Cleaning the Water Bladder... Yuck.



Wise Old Owl
09-19-2010, 12:58
I have to say I like them - cleaning and drying is awful.

I use a full Walmart brush kit, boiling water and Clorox. Its still a big chore, but the stuff that comes out is worth it, both black and white bacteria from the cracks and crevises of the bladder. You just can't come home, toss the pack in the corner and flop on the couch. You half to empty and dry. Even clorinated water goes bad.

I found spring water less drying to the throat.


Just venting here....


Woo

Mrs Baggins
09-20-2010, 05:26
As soon as I get home I pull the bladder from my pack, fill up the sink with hot water, a little bit of dish soap and Clorox, and swish the bladder and hose and bite valve all around in it. Then I run the hottest water I can stand to rinse it all thoroughly, lay it all out on a towel on the counter and let it dry. I use a clear Platypus bladder, so I can see how clean and well rinsed it is. And if it's been laying in the gear room for a long time between uses, I'll do that all again before using it just to make sure it's still very clean.

Torch09
09-20-2010, 05:33
I went 5 months on the trail without cleaning mine. When i got home, i swear there were things living in there. I tried to clean it, but decided to throw it out instead (it also had a spot where it was almost punctured)

Toolshed
09-20-2010, 07:41
I clean mine with water and a tbsp of bleach, rinse it a few times and let it stand upside down and ballooned open for a couple of days and then roll it up, put a rubber band around it and put it in the freezer.

bigcranky
09-20-2010, 07:48
I finally gave up on using a water bladder because of this issue.

Bags4266
09-20-2010, 08:19
Billy Mays here... Oxi clean!!!!!

camojack
09-20-2010, 08:50
I keep mine in the dark; not too much growth to worry about. :eek:

That being said, I have cleaned the tube a time or three... :o

sherrill
09-20-2010, 09:55
Serious question - is it worth it? From what I hear from other folks while I'm hiking with them, they have a lot of issues.

Seems to me to be more work than reward...I don't mind reaching for the water bottle. Those can either be cleaned a hell of a lot easier, or in the case of the soda bottle, recycled.

10-K
09-20-2010, 20:22
I drain mine and throw it in the freezer as soon as I get home.

So far, so good - except for that thing growing out of my right ear I'm fine.

Wise Old Owl
09-20-2010, 20:28
Billy Mays here... Oxi clean!!!!!

Billies moved on to a better place where yelling goes UN-noticed,,,



How do you use Oxi clean to get the bladder clean?

Bags4266
09-20-2010, 20:29
I could see if your throughing (sp) with one it might be a problem with cleaning. But for section hikers we are able to clean and dry so they are not a problem. I still carry a quart gatorade bottle along with a platy. The gatorade bottles are easy to grab, fill, and drink from.

Bags4266
09-20-2010, 20:31
About a tablespoon of Oxi clean with some hot water and let soak then rince w/ warm water. I use Oxi clean with all my Beer Brewing cleaning and it works great.

rhjanes
09-21-2010, 09:23
I have 2 camelbak's and bought their cleaning kits. they include a hanger and a thing to prop open the bladder so it air dries. I use one of the bladders once a week. I empty it, remove the bite valve, dry it with a small wash cloth, hang it and the plastic thing-a-ma-bobs from the clean kit, hang it, invert it and hold it open. I also stick the small hose scruber up and down in the hose to help dry it. I toss the bite valve into the hung-up bladder and hang them in the closet. No gunk growing even after a year. Never have used the Camelbak cleaning chemical.

10-K
09-21-2010, 10:11
Seriously, I just drain mine and put it in the freezer and it looks good as new a year later. I've never formally cleaned it figuring the freezing temperature killed whatever might be in there.

Are you guys putting drink mixes or something in yours?

sbhikes
09-21-2010, 11:49
If you empty it out and leave it to dry it will stay clean without a lot of scrubbing and chemicals.

If you're on a thru-hike, just bounce the bottle brushes and clean it once in a while. The mold isn't going to kill you anyway. At least it hasn't killed my boyfriend yet and he likes to wait until the hose is black and red. Eww.

10-K
09-21-2010, 11:51
I don't carry one in the winter because of freezing issues and I don't carry one in the summer unless it's a short (a few days) hike because on a longer hike I don't want the weight. So it's always back in the freezer within a few days of leaving.

Maybe I just haven't used mine in the right environment for it to get yucky.

Wise Old Owl
09-23-2010, 14:17
Seriously, I just drain mine and put it in the freezer and it looks good as new a year later. I've never formally cleaned it figuring the freezing temperature killed whatever might be in there.

Are you guys putting drink mixes or something in yours?

No, and freezing does't kill, it justs puts growth on hold.

But that works for you - thats ok

hikerinnc
09-24-2010, 15:45
efferdent tablets! cheap, 1 per liter. buy em at sams, costco even cheaper

Forever North
09-24-2010, 15:57
I drain mine and throw it in the freezer as soon as I get home.

So far, so good - except for that thing growing out of my right ear I'm fine.

Forgive me for asking but I got to know....what brand do you use and why in the heck would you put it in the freezer?????????

perrito
09-24-2010, 16:15
I usually just put a few drop of antibacterial dish soap in a half filled bladder and give it a good shaking. Then I rinse it about 5 times or until it doesn't smell like the soap. Then I dry it like Jason here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S7XOyX1zyo

Farr Away
09-24-2010, 17:15
I mostly just rinse, then hang it to dry by the point where the hose connects to the bag. That seems to hold it open.

I have also cleaned it with a couple drops of dish soap and hot water. I don't think I've ever used bleach in it. At least once, I forgot to empty it when I got home, and just rinsed it out before I filled it for the next trip.

I've never put anything but water in it, and it's never gotten 'icky'. I've also had it 5 hiking seasons now, and only replaced a defective hose (two hikes after I got it).

-FA

10-K
09-24-2010, 18:54
Forgive me for asking but I got to know....what brand do you use and why in the heck would you put it in the freezer?????????

Camelback 2 liter.... Mold won't grow in temperatures below freezing.

Forever North
09-24-2010, 23:25
Camelback 2 liter.... Mold won't grow in temperatures below freezing.


Ok, thanks for the information. I've only used a hydration platypus durrning my 2005 hike and only the good lord knows where it's gone to. :-?

Hooch
09-25-2010, 07:37
I clean mine with water and a tbsp of bleach, rinse it a few times and let it stand upside down and ballooned open for a couple of days and then roll it up, put a rubber band around it and put it in the freezer.
+1 on this, exactly what I do to mine. The best way to keep the nasties from growing is to keep it clean and put it in an envorinment unsuitable for bacterial replication. Simple micrbiology: bacteria need a warm, dark, moist place to do their thing. If you store your bladder where this can't happen, then your bladder will stay clean. Just always make sure you wash it thouroughly, dry it out as best as possible (I hang mine in the sun for a few hours, the UV rays also help to kill the nasties) and then store it away in the freezer.

Country Roads
10-09-2010, 21:10
I fill my Platy with water then use a couple of denture cleaning tablets in mine ( 2 tabs per Liter); then use an aquarium pump to circulate air into it so that it is dry when I store it. So far, so good.

Wise Old Owl
10-09-2010, 22:23
hey i like that ! Great idea! A micro PC FAN WOULD WORK TOO!

Lyle
10-09-2010, 22:51
A bit of soaking in 10% bleach water has always cleaned mine thoroughly. Fill sink, add bleach, disassemble platy hoser, submerge and make sure everything is filled with bleach water, let soak about 15 minutes, rinse in hot water. Never needed to use brushes, always rinses clean. After cleaning, store in ziplock in the freezer if you're paranoid. I don't.

4eyedbuzzard
10-09-2010, 23:25
This thread gives me pause to think about all the people who worry and obsess about filtering and/or treating water and then put it in a slime and bacteria infested bladder. :-?

I'll stick with bottles (and the steripen - though I think it's largely unnecessary).

mkmangold
10-10-2010, 00:31
So someone in another thread says he uses a platy to carry alcohol for fuel. Then I read this thread so it got me thinking: what if I alternated water and alcohol? On one trip, Bladder A carries drinking water and Bladder B carries fuel. Then, on returning home, I fill Bladder A with alcohol, run a little bit out of bite valve, and let it become Bladder B (the fuel platy) on the next trip? Besides a slight off-taste from the first few sips from the water bladder, wouldn't that work to kill off fungi? Run off the alcohol after each trip from Bladder B, too.

Trailbender
10-10-2010, 09:22
I could see if your throughing (sp) with one it might be a problem with cleaning. But for section hikers we are able to clean and dry so they are not a problem. I still carry a quart gatorade bottle along with a platy. The gatorade bottles are easy to grab, fill, and drink from.

Yeah, I use a Gatorade bottle as well. It is much cheaper and simpler. I had a couple of platys for camp water.

Wise Old Owl
10-10-2010, 18:29
So someone in another thread says he uses a platy to carry alcohol for fuel. Then I read this thread so it got me thinking: what if I alternated water and alcohol? On one trip, Bladder A carries drinking water and Bladder B carries fuel. Then, on returning home, I fill Bladder A with alcohol, run a little bit out of bite valve, and let it become Bladder B (the fuel platy) on the next trip? Besides a slight off-taste from the first few sips from the water bladder, wouldn't that work to kill off fungi? Run off the alcohol after each trip from Bladder B, too.



Oh the horror.... We need a Halloween Pumkin smiley...

Serious use only grain alcohol not wood... you would go blind.

4eyedbuzzard
10-10-2010, 19:50
Oh the horror.... We need a Halloween Pumkin smiley...

Serious use only grain alcohol not wood... you would go blind.

Actually, small quantities of methanol (wood alcohol) such as the trace amounts that might be left in a bladder after rinsing with water are harmless (especially as methanol is water soluable and will be rinsed out). Higher concentrations of methanol occur naturally in fruits and vegetables and their juices - we ingest them all the time.

Yellow heet is 99% methanol and 1% proprietary additives (likely a light oil to help prevent fuel system corrosion). It's that 1% of "proprietary additives" which I might be more worried about, but it's doubful a small trace amount of refined petroleum oil would have any health effects.

By the way, the treatment for methanol poisoning is to drink enough ethanol to prevent the methanol from being metabolised (it will then pass unmetabolised via the renal and respiratory systems). So if you accidentally ever drink a bottle of heet - get some vodka and get drunk FAST!

Skidsteer
10-10-2010, 20:04
This thread gives me pause to think about all the people who worry and obsess about filtering and/or treating water and then put it in a slime and bacteria infested bladder. :-?

I'll stick with bottles (and the steripen - though I think it's largely unnecessary).

Just got back from a weekend hike. Headlamp started acting wonky so I figured it was time to change the battery. Opened my Steripen up to get a replacement and realized I had cannibalized the batteries for my wireless computer mouse and forgot to replace them. As usual, I hadn't used the Steripen on the hike thus far and had been drinking straight from the source.

Moral of the story?

Steripens would work better as a spare battery holder if the battery compartment lid was see-through plastic.

4eyedbuzzard
10-10-2010, 20:11
Yeah, technology sucks when there ain't no juice to power it. My steripen uses the CR123's and my headlamp uses AAA's so I always pack a spare set of both unless it's just a 1 to 2 day hike.

mkmangold
10-10-2010, 22:52
Oh the horror.... We need a Halloween Pumkin smiley...

Serious use only grain alcohol not wood... you would go blind.

I really meant grain alcohol. Off subject, but couldn't a fellow mix grain alchohol, grape kool-aid, and water and make a "trail wine?" Oh wait, how about a whole line of wine-flavored grape powders so that one night you could have Merlot, the next Port, etc?

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/images/yahoo/43.gif

Wise Old Owl
10-11-2010, 21:21
Grape powders are usually faked flavors so it really would not turn out,