Sawyer Squeeze and Heat exposure?

New checklist item:  be sure to test the water filter before you leave.

That item is perhaps the top of my every trip safety checklist…and a painful lesson to learn in person.

I can’t comment on your first question, but since I use a DIY gravity filter system nothing I have found is more reliable or performant than the original squeeze.  And just in case, store it in the house :)

You didn’t say, but were you able to complete the trip or did you have to bail?

SAWYER FILTER MAINTENANCE

https://sawyer.com/water-filtration/faqs/

Sanitation

Before storing your filter, Sawyer recommends sanitizing your filter. This process is simple: Back flush filter. Run a standard bleach solution (fragrance free) through your filter (one cap of bleach per quart of water). Let air dry and then store in a cool, dry place OR store wet and clean before using.

Non-backflushed Filters

In case you forgot to back flush your filter after your last outing and flow seems to be little to diminished, soak the filter in hot tap water (not boiling) for about an hour and then back flush using hot tap water. REMEMBER to back flush FORCEFULLY! When using the syringe, do not be gentle, it will only form paths of least resistance instead of blowing out the particulates that may be trapped in your filter. When using the faucet adapter, hold the adapter on the faucet and ‘turn the water up’ to ensure particle(s) removal.

Calcium Build Up

(If after above steps your filter still seems to be clogged) Soak the filter in hot tap water for about an hour and then back wash using hot tap water. If this doesn’t work, it could be dried calcium. Soak the filter in vinegar OR CLR for 1/2 hour and then flush with DISTILLED water. You may have to repeat this a few times to get it all the way clean. Make sure you back flush with all the force you can. Store in a plastic bag DAMP.

I suspect calcium build up and not the heat.

Before long term storage after sanitizing I always back-flush with distilled water.

Before that I had both an original Sawyer and also a Sawyer Micro clog completely (although to be fair I did not try the CLR or Vinegar before trashing them and buying new), but since I have been back-flushing with distilled water I have not had another clogged filter after storage.

Could it be super fine silt? The streams in southern Utah clog everyone’s various filters very fast. We had that happen to a good filter and had to rely on seeps and a couple pools where the silt has precipitated and settled out. scrubbing and flushing didn’t work well. The filter would almost immediately clog again.

I also routinely check my filter before every trip.

FWIW, I’ve been using a HydroBlu Versa for the last few years when hiking solo, sometimes as part of a DIY gravity feed system. I’m happy with it, and it is still performing well with minimal maintenance.

When I’m with my wife, we use a Platypus gravity feed system. It filters a little faster, but needs more attention (backflushing, burping).

Its odd to me that we had two identical failures.  Both were used in Hell Canyon Idaho 60 days ago. Hardly major silt.   Both were back flushed and put away dry.  Both fail last week.  Not a single drop could be forced thru either one.

My money’s on the minerals–calcium and such.  When you leave water in the filter and let it dry it almost always will clog.  Most of the time you can soak it for several days and it’ll re-dissolve what’s blocking it; then several backflush/filter cycles with distilled water will get it running again.  At least that’s my experience with Sawyers.

Edit:  Next time, do the cycles with distilled water before putting it away after a hike and you’ll avoid the clog part of the cycle.

For hikers that don’t deal w hard water, i.e. dissolved minerals, may not understand the issue with filters. You cannot typically see dissolved minerals in a stream. You can see flakes of minerals in water on a sunny day reflecting light. Those flakes (mica, silica, etc.) become microscopic as they dissolve and once dried out, easily clog the micro tubes in a filter. Regular flushing at home with vinegar and distilled water will keep a Sawyer Squeeze usable for many seasons. There is a reason long distance hikers come to give up on the faster flow filters rated at 1000 gallon life – they easily clog and cannot be properly backflushed by shaking on a bottle. They return to the Squeeze for long term reliability.. Yes, modern filters take attentive care. So did our old, heavy Hiker Pro and MSR pump filters. Can’t have lightweight without attentive responsibility. Its indicative of our society in general – not finger pointing. Humans typically learn the hard way, by experience.

Pre-soak them for 24hrs before each trip. I dry filter mimics clogged often.

I have had this problem too….somehow, letting the filter completely dry out clogged it up to the point that I could not push water through it…even using the syringe.

At home, I had to rehydrate the filter/plastic hollow filaments with hot water to “soften” up the filter material and to get water to go through it.

My solution is simple and I have not had a problem since.

I get home from a trip, back flush/clean and sanitize the filter and then I store it wet in a ziplock bag that I store in a closet in my house where it does not get too hot or cold (freezing) and won’t dry out because the bag is sealed air tight.

When I am going on my next trip, I pull out the filter and push clean water though it and visually check to make sure nothing grew in or on the filter. (It should not because I have pushed water and bleach through it prior to storing it)

Tony

Sawyer recommends using hot water, up to 140 F, for cleaning a filter that is not responding to cleaning and backflushing, so there is that data point.