Camelbak Maintenance On Trips

[Ron_B]

After some years without one, I've gone back to using a Camelbak this year.

 

Up 'till now, I've only emptied it each day to refill it with fresh clean water, waiting until the end of whatever trip I'm on to clean the bladder & tube with a spoonful of bleach and a complete dry. Next Monday I'm leaving for Torrey, then going straight to Maggie Valley NC for about 15 days on the road. I'm going to bring a tiny bottle of bleach this time, and am wondering if anyone here does thorough cleaning/disinfecting while on a trip and how often.

[JR356]

I was out for 11 days in July.

It was hot and the Camelbak was used a lot!

Just rinsed it out every day or two and would occasionally disassemble the bite valve and run under very hot water.

Did not bleach and did not get sick.

 

JR356

[BFish]

if mine sits for a long time i'll use warm water and a very small amount of bleach. other times i add a bit of mouthwash to freshen it.

 

either way i rinse the hell out of it before using with fresh water.

[tallman]

I have more problems with my camel's hooves than his back.

 

Can't hurt to give it a rinse w/very lite bleach just in case.

[Rougarou]

After having used one for months on end on a daily basis, I can honestly say that I have never really "cleaned" one out. I would occasionally, fresh water rinse, but that's about it. I've had everything from coffee to cokes in mine with nothing more than a rinse. Held up fine for several years until I retired.

[johnlt]

Living in the desert, I use a camelback a lot. I clean it once a year maybe. I've never had a problem. It may be half full of water for a week or so and I just add some ice and more water and use it again. If you ever put sports drink in it, it must be clean soon after or you'll get grass growing in it.

[Rougarou]

Living in the desert, I use a camelback a lot. I clean it once a year maybe. I've never had a problem. It may be half full of water for a week or so and I just add some ice and more water and use it again. If you ever put sports drink in it, it must be clean soon after or you'll get grass growing in it.

 

Agree on the sports drink, but a simple rinse out sufficed. I used one nine months straight on a daily basis and never had any issues. When I changed "flavors", it would simply get the fresh water rinse, nothing more.

[Guest Kakugo]

If you are so worried about it, buy some emergency drinking water tablets (iodine-based). They are surely handier to carry around than bleach and dirt cheap. Not to mention nothing will happen if they spill in your bags...

Use 2 tablets/quart, then flush twice and use as normal.

[elkroeger]

If all you put in there it municipal tap water (which should contain low levels of disinfectant such as chlorine), I wouldn't worry about it. I do this with my backpacking water bag and I clean it very infrequently. I empty and dry it out after every trip. One time I did wash it with dish soap. On the next trip I was stuck drinking lemony fresh joy. YUCK.

 

What you might do is bring some bleach in a small vial. Add a couple drops of household bleach per quart. Chlorine is popular with the red cross and other disaster agencies. You might want to look up the dose yourself. Disinfecting in the flask should take care of any "growth" you might encounter. It's cheaper and tastes a lot better than iodine (the little backpacker tablets).

 

Another option which tastes better than iodine or chlorine is hydrogen peroxide. It works in the same way as chlorine, but degrades to just plain water and oxygen, so you're not "adding" anything to the water. I'll let you look up the dosage on that too.

 

[Downs]

I haven't cleaned mine in a few years but all I put in mine is water and ice.

[eddd]

The 180 proof moonshine I always have in mine seems to be a good disinfectant.

[BULLman]

Had many. Never cleaned them out. Never got sick from THAT

[LBump]

The 180 proof moonshine I always have in mine seems to be a good disinfectant.

 

 

Yep, that'll work.

 

Or, you could try some cleaning tablets every so often. REI and backpaking stores carry them as well as bicycle stores. They're packaged under CamelBak so you'll be paying more. You could also use a denture cleaning tablet. Never tried'em but I hear they work. You'll also need a loong tube brush for the junk that builds up on the inside of the suction tube.

 

[DiggerJim]

A homebrew or winemaking store will have B-Brite sanitizer. Also Micropur or Portable Aqua Chlorine Dioxide tablets are easy to use and you can find them at REI or sporting goods stores.

 

 

[Ron_B]

Thanks all. Lots of good ideas, and confidence not to worry about it too much!

[nealopp]

I'm withe Digger. I was gonna recommend PBW (a brewing cleaner) if it gets really nasty, followed by a StarSan rinse.

 

For the time you're talking about, though, I wouldn't worry. If anything, give it a thorough rinse, but as long as you're not adding anything but water, no worries!

[OoPEZoO]

I use nothing but water in mine, and I have never "cleaned" it out with anything except a little more water. I just rinse it out when I get home, let it air dry, and pack it away until I need it again.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

I use nothing but water in mine, and I have never "cleaned" it out with anything except a little more water. I just rinse it out when I get home, let it air dry, and pack it away until I need it again.

 

This is my policy too. On long trips it's perpetually filled with some amount of water. When I come home and it's not going to be used for a long time, I empty it out as completely as possible, hang it from a camelbak reservoir dryer, and disassemble the mouthpiece (silicone bite valve gets removed from plastic shutoff valve, which in turn gets removed from the hose). Have never cleaned it with soap, detergent, or bleach. As long as nothing but water is placed in it, and as long as it gets to dry out completely between uses, there shouldn't be a problem.

[cris nitro]

I use one 100% of the time dirt biking and use nothing but water. Still after a while the hose starts getting a little cloudy, then brownish. I don't have a reservoir dryer like Joe, but I do have the long flexible cleaner with bristles on the end. Warm water, a teaspoon of bleach and a quick pass with the brush in the hose has it looking like new. Camelback makes the cleaning brush. Works great.

[randy]

not sure why but I clean mine with hot water. We have one of those hot water dispenser on the coffee maker at work. Most gas stations have one on thier coffee machine. Many times I just put a couple cups of hot water in my camel back, run it up the hose, into the bite valve and out. Everything gets very clean. That has always kept mine very clean and water etc tasting as it should. Generally I do a hot water rinse/clean on each fill up. if it is just water I do maybe a 8oz cup of hot water a quick swish around the inside of the bladder. If I happend to use a sport drink or come water flavoring then I do the more extensive 16 - 20 oz of hot water and run it into the hose and bite valve.

[jbr7t]

Never used mine on the motorcycle, but I've used it backcountry camping for up to about 15 days. Starting out with municipal water and then refilling from springs using the iodine backpacking tablets. Get home, let it air dry and wait for the next time. Never used any bleach or cleaning agents other than the iodine tablets to make sure the mountain spring water was potable.

[JR356]

Instead of the expensive Camelbak drying hanger,I use cheap plastic serving/BBQ tongs inserted into the fill hole.They spread enough to allow good air circulation for drying,but don't stress the reservoir.

Should be cheap at the local $.99 store.

 

JR356

[kmac]

It depends on the style bag you have in a hydration system, but most are going to a stiffer bladder over the old really pliable bladder. On the newer stiffer style bladders you put a couple of rubber bands around it sometines and that will shape it into a circle forcing it open to air dry. You then hang it inverted over you handle bar to air dry at night.

 

Tap water in most areas is treated with a bit of chlorine. I just tested my tap water and it has a 1.0 ppm of chlorine which my pool test kit says is ideal for my pool water. So it is very disinffecting overall. It is a rapid off gas type of chlorine unlike a pool chlorine which is designed to stay in the pool as long as possible, but it will clean your bag and hose fine.

 

I would not hesitate to use mine for 15 days with clean water in it without anything more that a flush of tap water.

 

As far as sports drinks or powder additives I would NEVER do that again, I did it once and even after cleaning and drying thoroughly it mildewed inside after a short time especially in the hose....never again they are bad for the plastic.

 

If really feel to need to put that crap in your body [NOT ME] then put it in a water bottle in yor tank bag and stop every once in awhile and take a poisonious slug if you want too. But not in your bota or bladder hydration system.

 

But that is just my opinion based on about 20 years of desert racing with a hydration system of some type including the pressurized hard bottle type that you just bit the mouth piece and water shot into you mouth, nice to not have to spend the energy to suck on the hose while racing, but I hated the hard bottle on my back and prefer the looser and softer feel of the bladder system.

 

Hot water is not a bad idea, but tap water in most places is fine.