Sawyer Squeeze Filter Bag Failure

there's no warranty on the bags themselves and they started putting cards in the packages saying this. they're cheap, i would just deal with the loss and get a platypus bag or something similar to substitute.

I have heard that these http://www.evernewamerica.com/EBY205208.htm work perfectly and are much more durable.

You can pick up 3 of the 2L bags from REI for $10. This way the threads will match.

James is right, the Evernew bladders match the thread on the Sawyer Squeeze filter perfectly. This is what I use and they are much tougher. You could also just buy more Sawyer bags. As discussed elsewhere before, the Platypus bladder threads do not reliably match the Sawyer Squeeze filter.

Did you push on it really hard to get water to flow through filter?

Maybe better to apply only gentle pressure?

I've used mine on one trip without problem but was fairly gentle because I have heard of failures

I tried Platypus on previous trip, but the threads aren't quite the same. It sort of works, but water leaks a little and tends to run down into the treated water container.

Hi,

Thanks for the evernew bag suggestions. I'll try that. I've generally been gentle with the sawyer bags, but I felt on this past trip that the filter flow was low–probably should have back-flushed it at home beforehand. The first bag leaked instantly with minimal pressure and the second eventually leaked probably after a bit more pressure, but nothing too extreme.

Thanks again,

rhz

"…the bags sprung leaks near the the top…"

Around the cap block, at the seams, in the middle?

Thanks

where the plastic bag meets the white screw-top plastic piece.

Not sure how the Sawyer Squeeze fittings are done, but I bought a 3-way inline Sawyer, cut my hydration bladder hose, and inserted the filter. The bladder works as both a squeeze for cooking water and as a normal hydration pack. As always, treat everything with care and it should last. That may not be true with the materials in the squeeze bags, but flexible bladders don't get the same kind of pin-point stresses as mylar or equivalent bags.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=65867

"where the plastic bag meets the white screw-top plastic piece."

Same place mine leaked last year. Sawyer was not real friendly about it, nor did they want to take any responsibility for their fragile bags.

Get the Evernew, or carry a bunch of Sawyer bladders.

Not good news, but good to know.

Thanks.

Is there a site that has the Evernew bags in stock? Mine have been on backorder for at least a month now.

Ebay has some 600ml ones.

"where the plastic bag meets the white screw-top plastic piece."

This reminds me of Big Agnes Clearview pad failures at the valve block before they rounded the edges. On the first edition pads the corners were going through the PU when your rolled them up and stuffed them.

I can envision a similar scenario with the Squeeze. I think the approach is to roll and squeeze, or do a two-handed squeeze, and always avoid squeezing the bag around the valve block. Don't mash the bag to get out the last few drops.

I've had two of my Sawyer bags start leaking in the same areas, and I've been babying the second one. The first didn't last very long, it started leaking on the second trip out. The second that started leaking lasted quite a bit longer, but not in absolute terms all that much use (unfortunately).

I thought that one reason that the first one failed was that once you attach the filter to the bag, it acts like a very convenient handle. When the bag's empty that's fine, but when it's full, there's enough weight in it to stress those joints. Whether or not that theory is valid I don't know, but even being careful to only hold the bag by its corners when full, it still started leaking around that joint.

I'm going to look for some of the Evernew bags when I get back from this weekend's trip.

John,

here is a link to all of the places that sell the Evernew products

http://www.evernewamerica.com/shoplist.htm

Another data point. My Squeeze bag leaked after ~15 liters.

I spoke with the Evernew rep by phone a few weeks ago asking when they would have them available again in the states and he told me that Gossamer Gear would have them shortly. I noticed today that they are back in stock on Gossamer Gear's website. I bought a couple to go with my Sawyer Squeeze Filter to replace the stock Sawyer bladders that have gotten such a bad rap.

I switched from Platypus bottles to Evernew a couple of years ago because I was forever losing the Platy lids. Evernew has a plastic "thong" attaching the caps to the bottle, so I no longer have to carry extra caps. I'm really glad I made the change, because the newer Platypus bottles, whose threads were formerly compatible with soda bottle lids (which I could use as extra caps) and other fairly standard items, are now no longer compatible–including with the Sawyer filter. If Cascade Designs thought this a good marketing ploy, I beg to differ–they have lost me as a water bottle customer and I will no longer recommend Platypus, which used to be one of my staples. I also bought two 0.9L Evernew bottles to replace the bladders (essentially the mylar kind used in wine boxes) in my dog's Ruffwear pack. The Evernew bottles are much easier to fill and clean and the pair are 6 oz. lighter than the wine box bladders. There's no way my aging dog could carry a gallon of water anyway!

What I plan to do with my Sawyer Squeeze filter is to use one of my 2L Evernew bottles as the "dirty" bottle (marking a large "X" on both sides with a Sharpie) but take along the 2L Sawyer bottle as an extra water container, since it's lighter. It would appear (from home testing with the 1 L bottle) that the Sawyer bottle will work just fine for occasional use if I'm not squeezing it. Actually, it held up just fine for squeezing in my at home tests, but it does seem quite fragile for such continued stress.

Back in May I was able to get 2L Evernew bladders from Trail Designs. I got the 0.9 L size from a place up in Washington called the Great Outdoors Depot. The latter were out of the 2L size. It seems that Evernew's production was severely curtailed by the 2011 earthquake/tsunami.

Now that Evernew pots and pans are once again arriving from Japan, I assume the water bladders are available as well.

I also ditched Platys once they weren't compatible with soda bottle lids. For some reason the design geniuses said "hey, lets make the sides of the Platy lid as smooth and slick as possible so that they're especially hard to operate when the hiker's fingers are wet, like when they're filling water bottles…". Apparently they couldn't take a clue from the soda bottle lids which have fine ridges on them making them super easy to operate with cold/wet fingers.

I must have an old Platy (it's a PlatyPlus, the one with the handle), because not only does it mate fine to the sawyer (sawyer bag sprung a leak after about 35 liters), it also seals fine with the replacement water-bottle cap I had to use after losing the original. How recently was the change implemented? Mine can't be more than 5-6 years old.

I believe it was about 2 years ago that Platypus (Cascade Designs) changed the design of their bottles. I can only assume that was when they changed the threads. The last time I bought a Platy was three years ago, and it was still the old standard that was compatible with standard soda and water bottles. I lost the cap to that one three times that summer, which was why I decided to switch to Evernew.

As a caution, the Evernew bladders aren't perfect. I just used one with the Sawyer Squeeze on a JMT thru hike and it started leaking badly at the seam near the top on day 12.

I don't mean to sound like a devils advocate, but perhaps a lot of people are attempting to squeeze the bags far harder than the water flow rate allows for, if even other bags are failing. In my limited use of the Squeeze I've found no real flow gain past a gentle squeeze, and even that is only about 25% greater than just letting it gravity flow. Perhaps people's expectation of flow through the Squeeze is too high.

While I've only used mine about 8 times now, I haven't even had a problem with the original Sawyer bags. Not doubting that the Sawyer bags aren't really well made, because they simply FEEL cheap to me…but perhaps closer observation of flow rate gained at different pressure rates would explain a lot. If you squeeze anything harder than the restriction being imposed on said object….it's bound to rupture in some way.

…just sayin' IMHO.