Magic way ( or easy way ) to clean out water bottles.

[Clancy]

Particularly the camelbacks which are my go to bottles but with the nozzle set-up are prone to mold which is a pain to try to scrub out.

Any trick to doing so?

I’ve “heard” that these fizzing denture cleaners work but would like some first hand experience with either this method or some other method that actually works.

[Blue Jays]

My water bottles go through the dishwasher complete with sanitizing cycle.
It is probably a wee bit harsh, yet I do not plan on bottles lasting forever.

[m_sasso]

Not simple, only method I have used is nozzle disassembly, Q tip and low temp dish soap wash. Re-assemble. Plastics and dishwasher heat, no, no, pitch them after any high temp exposure.

[fmradio516]

Do the nozzles come apart at all?

IF not, id prob do a soapy water scrub and dry. Then get some food-grade sanitizer and push it through the system.

[weiwentg]

I have some of the new generation Camelbak bottles. I frequently disassemble them and let them dry out. I'm pretty sure the mold comes from not letting them dry out completely, and unfortunately, they will take some time to dry under the nozzle.

I don't think you necessarily need to fully disassemble the nozzle every ride. I know we probably get gunk under the clear silicone mouthpiece. You can just pry that bit off. I have one of the older Camelbaks (pre 2018) and I believe that nozzle comes off fairly easily.

[rccardr]

Bottle brush, hot water, put cap back on, squirt hot soapy water thru cap, rempve cap, rinse well, cap back on,squirt hot clean water thru, remove cap, wipe outside and allow to dry overnight. Do this as soon as you can after a ride.

Avoid the dishwasher...too much heat for plastics and based on experience I think it degrades the unsulating properties of a Podium.

[cgolvin]

When I see or suspect mold in my Camelbak bottles I disassemble the nozzle and soak the three pieces in a weak bleach solution then just wash as normal.

[Veloo]

I had those 1st generation Camelbak bottles. Didn't like the fact that the nozzle could not be disassembled so I stuck with the Polar brand.

[rnhood]

When I see or suspect mold in my Camelbak bottles I disassemble the nozzle and soak the three pieces in a weak bleach solution then just wash as normal.

This is exactly what I do and it works well. Far as I am concerned, it’s the only way to clean it and ensure all the mold is gone. All of it.

[kppolich]

Dishwasher, or this stuff is magic to soak bottles in.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XYCVDB9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[KarlC]

Particularly the camelbacks which are my go to bottles but with the nozzle set-up are prone to mold which is a pain to try to scrub out.

Any trick to doing so?

I’ve “heard” that these fizzing denture cleaners work but would like some first hand experience with either this method or some other method that actually works.

The EZest answer is to change to Purist water bottles


.

[Dekonick]

Lids, caps, anything that will fit - Ultrasonic cleaner in warm water with typical soap. You can use a sanitizing solution if you suspect mold (1% bleach works)

Something like this: Use it for your bike parts too.

https://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-63256.html

https://www.amazon.com/Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Jewelry-Denture-Digital/dp/B07HRDLTRW/

https://www.amazon.com/CO-Z-Professional-Ultrasonic-Cleaning-Transducers/dp/B01HBC1UHQ/

I really wish I had bought a larger one myself... You will be amazed at the uses you find for it once you own one.

[kmac]

i'm hoping this is a safe space for me to admit that i just don't clean my water bottles very often. i have the camelbak ones, and i only put water in them. i just try not to become too "intimate" with the nozzles when drinking.

i probably hold onto bottles for 3-4 years, and they maybe get once-a-quarter washes. i haven't become ill or died yet, so it seems like it's a viable option. i always figure that even that first day after the quarterly wash, they look all gunked up after the first 20-30 minutes on the road, so why bother?

(oh, and i'm fastidiously neat in all other aspects of my life... i guess the bike is my place to let loose and play in the dirt)

[mcteague]

Check this out. A bit of a pain but you would be amazed at the crud that collects inside the spout if you never take it apart when cleaning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLhbL9lXRVk

Tim

[45K10]

I use camelback bottles too. I take the nozzle apart and put them in the third rack of our dishwasher without any issues and it gets them clean.

I used to use the purist bottles but my two year old at the time would chew the nozzles off if I left the bottle laying around. So I switched to the camelbacks a few years back.

[fmradio516]

Lids, caps, anything that will fit - Ultrasonic cleaner in warm water with typical soap. You can use a sanitizing solution if you suspect mold (1% bleach works)

Something like this: Use it for your bike parts too.

https://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-63256.html

https://www.amazon.com/Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Jewelry-Denture-Digital/dp/B07HRDLTRW/

https://www.amazon.com/CO-Z-Professional-Ultrasonic-Cleaning-Transducers/dp/B01HBC1UHQ/

I really wish I had bought a larger one myself... You will be amazed at the uses you find for it once you own one.

Im waiting for Black Friday, but ive got the Harbor Freight UC in my cart!

[tctyres]

And when you're done cleaning, do not store your bottles with the lid on. Mold will grow with the residual moisture.

[FlashUNC]

Dishwasher, top rack, easy peasy.

Let 'em air out after before storage. Both magic and easy.

[pdmtong]

Dishwasher, top rack, easy peasy.
Let 'em air out after before storage. Both magic and easy.
^ this.

I only use water or Nuun.

Dishwasher and air dry with one of these
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009L8DG8/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Never any mold or problems.

[dem]

i'm hoping this is a safe space for me to admit that i just don't clean my water bottles very often. i have the camelbak ones, and i only put water in them. i just try not to become too "intimate" with the nozzles when drinking.

i probably hold onto bottles for 3-4 years, and they maybe get once-a-quarter washes. i haven't become ill or died yet, so it seems like it's a viable option. i always figure that even that first day after the quarterly wash, they look all gunked up after the first 20-30 minutes on the road, so why bother?

(oh, and i'm fastidiously neat in all other aspects of my life... i guess the bike is my place to let loose and play in the dirt)

In your club, man! As long as you use plain water, no big deal. I just wipe the nozzles out with paper towel when they look a bit grungy..

[thwart]

i probably hold onto bottles for 3-4 years, and they maybe get once-a-quarter washes.
https://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1697987702&stc=1&d=1572544106

Oh, man.

Most Spring rural rides hereabouts involve riding through a bit (or more than a bit) of cow manure. And if the pavement is a little wet...

E. Coli anyone?

[Hindmost]

I've been watching this thread and hoping somebody would come up with some magic. I'm afraid I may resort to a small bucket, bottle brush, and bleach.

[Spdntrxi]

I have a steamer sprayer that I used to clean my kitchen tile.. works really well on bottles and around faucets and what not.

[zmalwo]

garden hose probably have enough pressure to wash off all the algae and molds

[Ronsonic]

I don't let any mold happen. Only water in the camelbak and don't let it sit long.

Occasional cleanings with an overnight soak with four efferdent or generic denture cleaning tabs in a full bladder. Once the tabs dissolve force the solution through the nozzle to get it into the hose. Rinse in the obvious ways.

Works great. Not exactly magic, but chemistry.

[Veloo]

This vid came up after.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KubaQN_0PB0


Check this out. A bit of a pain but you would be amazed at the crud that collects inside the spout if you never take it apart when cleaning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLhbL9lXRVk

Tim

[zmalwo]

You can always let it soak in chlorine solution to chemically clean your bottle then rinse it well.

[dddd]

Clean out a water bottle?

Did something besides water get in there?

I only rinse water bottles with water. Before each ride.

First I rinse off the outside of the bottle, using my fingers to rub away any detritus around the spout.

Then I open the bottle and rinse out the bottle and cap, then add a few oz of water and point the bottle downhill under the faucet while I work the spout open and closed a few times. This pumps water through all of the crevices about the spout and it's more internal moving-part surfaces.

That's about it, and this even suffices for bottles that contain a carbohydrate solution, as long as it hasn't been left to sit for weeks or something.

If you want to use someone else's used bottle, rinse as above but use a mild bleach solution with perhaps a half-teaspoon full of bleach in the half-full bottle.
Then place the assembled cap in a mug of near-boiling water for a few minutes. Rinse well, working the spout open and closed a few times under running water.

Bottles left with the spout fully closed will tend to develop a very loose fit between the spout and the cap, such that the spout may act like a one-way valve as you drink from it. That's no good, so to restore the snug fit, simply open the valve and place the cap assembly in a mug of hot water for a while so the plastic will somewhat restore it's factory dimensions.
I've bought bottles from Goodwill and have gathered up some of the pro's team bottles from the side of the road, they all can be returned to service safely using the above simple procedures.

Avoid leaving any kind of protein-fortified drink in a water bottle, which can produce rot of the sort that will leave lingering odors and festerment for decades. Toss any such bottles!

Bottles can impart plastic flavor/odor to their liquid contents, so I store my most-used bottles full of water. This actually reduces the rate of such leaching of chemical flavors as long as (of course) the bottle is emptied and rinsed before refilling for your ride.

[Clancy]

This vid came up after.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KubaQN_0PB0

Constantly surprised at what’s found on YouTube.

I believe a complete disassembly and soaking in a mild bleach solution will take care of my mold issues. Not magic or all that easy but certainly doable.

The sonic cleaner is a great idea but a lot of expense and counter top space for a solution that can be solved by elbow grease. I’m on a simplify my life kick.

I realize that putting in powered supplements causes the mold, but prefer Sratchlab over plain water. Hence the mold.

BUT! Never thought about e-coli from road splatters. Should this be a real concern.

[KarlC]

This vid came up after.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KubaQN_0PB0

I had to do this cleaning process to my camelbak bottles several times, its a bit of a pain. I thought about just tossing them every few months and buying new ones, but that would suck. So I did some research and found a lot of people had the same issue with mold deep inside the camelbak caps, they did not have this issue with Purist water bottles.

So The EZest answer really is to change to Purist water bottles, once you do you will not want to go back.

.

[MikeD]

You guys saying to use only water in the bottles are denying a fact that sports drink helps a lot on rides longer than an hour.

[jmoore]

Most Spring rural rides hereabouts involve riding through a bit (or more than a bit) of cow manure. And if the pavement is a little wet...

E. Coli anyone?

That's why we have immune systems

[pobrien]

As my old riding buddies from university days would say, about many things, if it doesn't kill us, it makes us stronger!

I apply this to water bottles that only hold water. I just drink water.
Dry them out and all is good.

[OtayBW]

For me, I just use bottles with the Watergate top. I think it's a Specialized thing. But it's tight, dripless, and the pull top (insert) will twist right out for perfect cleaning. A better mouse trap, IMO.....

[unterhausen]

I can't just drink water anymore if it's hot at all. I get nauseous or even start suffering from cramps. I have had problems with things growing in my water bottles, sometimes it's difficult to get them in the dishwasher soon after a ride and just rinsing them doesn't always do the trick. Then I go with a bottle brush.

I looked at how to clean a polar bottle cap, and the mouthpiece unscrews. I have one bottle that has a funny taste, I might take it out and wash it with my eyes closed.

[KarlC]

For me, I just use bottles with the Watergate top. I think it's a Specialized thing. But it's tight, dripless, and the pull top (insert) will twist right out for perfect cleaning. A better mouse trap, IMO.....


Yep its a better design with less parts ...... The EZest answer is to change to Purist water bottles .

[denapista]

the real question is, what to do with old bottles? I have an entire kitchen cabinet full of them..

[OtayBW]

Yep its a better design with less parts ......
Oh - I see. I never associated them with the Purist bottle. I just always got other bottles with that cap.

[KarlC]

Oh - I see. I never associated them with the Purist bottle. I just always got other bottles with that cap.


http://www.specializedwaterbottles.com/water-bottles/the-purist

http://www.specializedwaterbottles.com/building-better-bottles

You can get them else where also as a lot of companies use them now.

.

[Dekonick]

Constantly surprised at what’s found on YouTube.

I believe a complete disassembly and soaking in a mild bleach solution will take care of my mold issues. Not magic or all that easy but certainly doable.

The sonic cleaner is a great idea but a lot of expense and counter top space for a solution that can be solved by elbow grease. I’m on a simplify my life kick.

I realize that putting in powered supplements causes the mold, but prefer Sratchlab over plain water. Hence the mold.

BUT! Never thought about e-coli from road splatters. Should this be a real concern.

I hear you on the size for ultrasonic cleaners... You can get smaller units made for jewelry and just do the caps. They are extremely useful... but I get it.

[simonov]

the real question is, what to do with old bottles? I have an entire kitchen cabinet full of them..

I think some are recyclable.

[thwart]

BUT! Never thought about e-coli from road splatters. Should this be a real concern.
Probably... most folks' 'immune systems' are tolerant of some water contamination, but if you're riding through some wet cow manure (as we do here), and don't rinse off your nozzle before taking a swig you are risking an ingestion of a large enough dose of gram negative bacteria (like E. Coli) to become ill. And with the antibiotics being used in livestock nowadays, some of those bugs are multiply drug-resistant.

[54ny77]

yes, my camelback tops (inside the nozzle) were disgusting, i noticed it recently. lordy knows how long they were gross like that, but so be it.

i took the tops off, soaked 'em all day in a big bowl with a light bleach and hot water solution. i just eyeballed it, probably was about a half gallon or so of hot water and a quarter cup of bleach at the most.

sat for several hours, poured water outta the bowl and they were good as new. rinsed thoroughly and wiped 'em down with sponge and soapy water after.

:cool:

[classtimesailer]

Take them apart, and with dish soap, hot water, and a tooth brush, scrub them clean. After a use or two, you won't taste the soap any more. And then after 2 or 3 more uses, repeat.

Edit. Oh ya. Put that little valve thingy in right side up and it works better.

[Rpoole8537]

I buy the newly designed Polar tops from Amazon and use the on my best Camelback bottles. They are an improved model and clean more easily, they fit and do not leak.
Also, I have arthritic hands and I have issues pulling the Camelback tops apart! Any suggestions? Vice grips?

[bikerambler]

When on tour I use denture cleaning tablets for my bottle, leave the tablet in the bottle for a time, then use the same for the nozzle. If you don't rinse afterwards, you get a minty-tasting drink. At home, I have put my Camelback in the dishwasher for several years now and it's still okay.