And if you see visible mold that can’t be scrubbed out? Cut your losses and get yourself a new hydration bladder. The most important thing you can do is to make prompt hydration pack cleaning a habit after every ride.
If your valve is super dirty and you want to dry it out, you can leave a toothpick in there while it’s drying to increase airflow.Let the reservoir soak overnight with hot water in it after being cleaned.(This is similar to the coating used in shoes to prevent mold and smells.) Lastly, hang-drying is always the way to go.īeiden also shared a few additional CamelBak care tips for your worst-case scenarios: Beiden also uses a green scrubber pad-which reactivates the antimicrobial coating embedded in the bladder itself. If he’s filled the reservoir with anything but water, he rinses it out with hot water and the juice of a lemon, which breaks down any residue and washes out easier than soap it also leaves a much nicer aftertaste.
CamelBak acknowledges that bladder upkeep sometimes gets put on the back burner-we don’t all scrub our outdoor equipment religiously, let alone our water bottles and hydration packs.īut here’s the company’s official advice on how to clean a CamelBak or other hydration pack bladder.īut what if you can never seem to get that soapy taste out of the bladder? Seth Beiden, former marketing manager at CamelBak, has his own tricks for keeping his reservoir from turning into an outdoor science experiment.įirst, he stores his bladder rolled-up in the freezer after it’s been emptied out-the cool air keeps anything from growing inside. It’s easy to advise, but not so easy to follow after every single outdoor adventure without fail. In other words, your pack deserves some preventative care. (Personal side note: Never fill it with whiskey.) Hydration powerhouse CamelBak has pretty clear advice: The best way to care for your reservoir is to clean and dry it after every use, especially if you fill the reservoir with anything other than water. There are a few things you can do to keep a terrarium from forming in your pack. However, if you let it sit for a few more days, strange new life forms will start building habitats inside your neglected gear. Of the three, iron bacteria and slime-producing bacteria are the most. The very last thing on that list is cleaning out your dirty hydration pack. The filter pack, commonly called a gravel pack, is composed of clean, well-rounded.
You just got home from a weekend bike trip, and you’re tired, you’re hungry, and you have a list of things to do-unpack your bags, take a shower, grab a beer, or maybe the last two at once.