How to dry water bottles?

I don’t think putting in UV would be good, slowly deteriorates plastic

You could use aquarium pump and tubing into the bottle

I have a board on wall with 1/2 inch dowels stuck into it, and put the bottle on the dowel but it takes several weeks

Get an aquarium air pump and a few feet of hose. I hang my bottles upside down to drip dry and feed the hose in. The pump works great for shoes, packs, etc for getting into areas that are slow to dry.

I used to try to get out as much water as possible and then put them in an sun exposed window or outside in 100 degree weather to dry out.  Now I just rinse out with hot soapy water, rinse, flip around to get as much water out, and then cap and store.  I figure the slight amount of tap water has enough chlorine such that nothing will grow. Prior to the next trip I rinse out a couple of times and it’s good to go.  So far I’ve had no problems with smells or bad tastes. If you want them dry, then the aquarium air pump would be the way to go.

A final rinse of 70% isopropyl alcohol works well because the alcohol evaporates much more quickly than water. Just use a small amount and swish it around the bottle thoroughly. Also, make sure the containers are in heated space, or air condtioned if it’s humid.

Generally I don’t use soft water bottles, only hard ones. Yes, the 1.25 L rocket bottles I use (old fizzy mineral water bottles, zero cost) have narrow necks which slows the drying, but it doesn’t seem to matter.

Cheers

Hmmm…sounds like maybe I’m being just a bit too retentive about this.

I’m liking @kkkeating’s suggestion to store wet and rinse again before reuse.

@andyf: how long have you been using isopropyl in this manner? I would worry that it would affect the plastic.

I use two .5L disposable bottles you get in a case for my “walking around” water and a platy bottle for camp or when I need to carry more water. I just recycle the plastic bottle at the end of a trip.

I’ve given up on drying the platy bottle. At the end of a trip, I fill it with warm water and a couple of drops of bleach. Let it sit for 30 mins and empty. Then I roll it up and store in the freezer. No mold.

I like the aquarium pump method.  I can stick the hose into the mouthpiece of my drinking hose and run the end of the hose into the bottle (not screwed on tight), and dry both with the same aquarium pump hose.  Cheap and quick.

I’ve been using the “aquarium pump and tubing into the bottle” method for the last 3 years.

Quick, easy, and efficient.

Takes about 2 hours to dry a 2-Liter Evernew collapsible bottle, under an hour for a 16-oz one.

I use this as well for my hydration bladders (a 3L Camelbak and a few smaller ones), and never timed it, but all of them are fully dried out when I check back after 4-5 hours or overnight with the little pump running.

Prop them on a dowel or pencil over a heater vent or radiator.

There are places in a house, notably the utility room, which are warmer and drier than other rooms of the house.  Things dry faster there.  And even faster with a aquarium pump blowing into them.

Or, yeah, store them full of water, ideally water from a municipal supply that’s been chlorinated.  If you store them in the fridge, even less biology will happen between uses.  Full water bottles around the house is emergency preparedness, too – earthquakes, power failures, zombie apocalypse, etc.

+1 on using the aquarium pump. I thought it would never work, bought the pump on a whim just to try it. It works great. FYI, for some reason, many of them are sold without the hoses. Get one with two hoses so you can dry two at once.

I just packed up my soft water bottles but I suspect that if you stick a funnel in one and then use a hair dryer on low it will dry the bottle no time at all.

not that everybody has an hair dryer (a fan might do it..) but would save buying a pump.

With Platys, I simply fold them up and put them in the freezer.

The Gatorade bottles sit on a window sill and dry out in a couple of days.

Wups, double posted somehow.

Well, the old advice for drying boots is to stuff them with newspaper, which seems to suck up moisture pretty well.  So roll some newspaper into a tube and shove it in the bladder overnight and see if that works.

My Gatorade bottles dry pretty quickly in the kitchen sink drainer. I balance my platys upright in the tube of my Peet’s boot dryer.

geoff

To clean the Platy bottle:

• I use a bottle brush to thoroughly clean the inside of the Platy with dishwasher soap and then rinse it completely
• Next I inflate the Platy a little then loosely roll a paper towel (I use Bounty – you don’t want one that tears easily) and put it in the Platy
• I reinflate the Platy and put a cap on it (so it looks like a pillow with a paper towel in it
• I then shake the living daylights out of it (my girls enjoy this part) and most of the remaining water is absorbed by the paper towel
• To get the paper towel out I use two chopsticks – put one on each side of a piece of the paper towel and then twist them a couple of times and I’m able to pull out an inch or two of the towel before the chopsticks slip off

To clean the hose:

• Remove the accessories (mouthpiece and Platy connector) from both ends
• I have a long hose brush from an old Camelback that I use to wash the inside of the hose
• Rinse completely
• Take it outside and whip it around in circles a dozen times and use the centrifugal force to encourage the water to come out.  Switch ends of the hose and repeat.

I then let them sit out for 2-3 days to completely dry before putting them away.  I’ve never had any issues.

Bob M is on to it. The easiest and quickest if you have space in your freezer. If they’ve been used as dirty bags, obviously, wash/rinse first and then freeze. I’ve been doing it for years and no problems at all. Maybe the plastic wears down faster but nothing that I’ve noticed as any quicker than normal wear and tear.

Earlier thread on this topic: https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/89533/

My solution:

Shake the water out, dump a tablespoon or so of baking soda inside, put the cap back on, shake it all around, throw it in the gear box. Never had any problems in 30+ years. Works on all kinds of water bottles. A small funnel helps to get the baking soda inside, not essential. Don’t worry about a few drops of water remaining in the bottle, the baking soda soaks it up. Be sure to rinse before next use.

— Rex

@rex – I heartily thank everyone who offered a solution, but I think I like your’s best. Simple, cheap, no UV, freezing or extra equipment.  Just makes sense.

Thank you.

I also am a fan of the aquarium pump method.  Split the hose for as many bottles as you want to dry at once and have at it.  Super cheap pumps work fine.  Freezer method seems nice too, but we don’t have that kind of freezer space available.

Actually, Dave uses the same method I do. Simply rinse the bottle out, then refill it fully and put it in your gear room.

There is no real food supply in water. Not enough of anything can grow that will hurt you. I used one last year that had been setting on the shelf for over a year. Just rinse it out and fold it for carrying it. Small and light. I use two 500ml bottles for drinking water, so anything in the bag is considered dirty. I usually fill up at camp just as a convenience, though I have been known to carry that much water on some trips.