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Cleaning water bladders with denture cleaner?
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Home › Forums › Gear Forums › Gear (General) › Cleaning water bladders with denture cleaner?
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Apr 12, 2013 at 7:52 am #1301616
"Official" cleaning tabs aren't readily available. Folks on another forum suggested using denture cleaning tablets – anyone have experience with this?
Apr 13, 2013 at 6:45 pm #1976339My favorite cleaner is called "Chlorinated Pipeline Detergent" (http://www.stearnspkg.com/all_tek/260tek.pdf); it's intending for cleaning dairy tanks and equipment and sold in "farm" stores. A very dilute solution with hot water works wonders. I use it for water bottles, beermaking equipment, coffee pots, tea-stained mugs, etc. Because of the phosphates, I try to keep it at the recommended dilutions.
Apr 13, 2013 at 8:21 pm #1976364…
Apr 14, 2013 at 12:04 am #1976392Tried it just once. The aftertaste and smell put me off it for good.
Now I just use diluted Clorox bleach.
Apr 14, 2013 at 8:54 am #1976445I use diluted chlorine bleach, too, let it sit in the water containers for a couple of hours, then rinse thoroughly and hang them to dry (upside down over my spare bathroom's heating vent, which is right under the towel rack). I let them dry for several days, or longer if the heat isn't on (it usually is when the containers go into winter storage).
I do have denture cleaner in the house, but use it only for my denture.
Apr 14, 2013 at 9:36 am #1976466I'm wondering why you guys use bleach or denture cleaner. Is there something I'm missing here? I just scrub all the parts of my hydration bladder with soap and water, just as I do with dishes, and it works great.
Apr 15, 2013 at 2:12 pm #1976931My son likes to add the Gatorade flavor packets to a camelbak bladder. I typically add 1 or 2 tablets of generic denture cleaner fill it with warm water and let it sit for 30 or 45 minutes when we get home. I then thoroughly rinse it out, let it dry on a hanger for a few days and store it in the freezer. It might be overkill and soap an water would be enough but i have never had issues with the bladders using this procedure. I have also never noticed a change in the flavor of the water after cleaning with the denture tabs.
Apr 15, 2013 at 2:28 pm #1976937I've used denture cleaner to clean water bottles but mostly to get the gatorade odor out when necessary – otherwise a bottle brush and soap works fine. More importantly, I dry them with an aquarium pump so they are completely dry before I store them. I do the same with water filters – I connect the aquarium pump to the filter cartridge and let the air dry out the inside as much as possible after I have run a liter of water with diluted chlorine through it.
Apr 16, 2013 at 12:42 am #1977166I'll second Rowan's question.
Why do people find it so difficult to clean water bladders?I just use dishsoap and water like I would any of my dishes. Add soap, add water, swoosh it around a bit, let it sit for a minute or two to kill any bacteria, then rinse. Make sure soapy water flows through tube, and make sure the tube gets rinsed as well.
If I'm just drinking water out of it, I don't even bother cleaning between uses, I just store them in the freezer.
Apr 16, 2013 at 8:33 am #1977254Ah, if you keep strong-tasting drinks in your water bladder then I can understand needing something to remove the flavor from the plastic. I just keep water in mine so that didn't occur to me.
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