Cleaning your Camelbak

[pooks]

You can dry the inside of the reservoir with a paper towel?

I need to investigate my camelbak more closely, because I had no idea you could "get in" it!

I guess even though it has had nothing but water in it, I need to go to more trouble.

[emily_in_nc]

I guess even though it has had nothing but water in it, I need to go to more trouble.

You're not alone, pooks -- I normally just rinse my bladder with hot water, squirt out the tube, wash the mouthpiece with a little dishwashing liquid and hang it dry. I only use water in mine too. So far no problems in a year of use, but I guess I should be a bit more careful!

Emily

[Dianyla]

I have a lot more experience than I wish I had with the dreaded funk.

I always rinse with plain water, only on rare occasions will I add a few drops of bleach to the rinse water or hot water with denture cleaner tablets. A few times I've used a long bristle brush (available in a hydration bladder cleaning kit) to scrub the tube out if it's looking suspiciously cloudy.

As for drying, first I drain the tube and try to shake out most of the water. Then I use a paper towel to sponge off as much of the inside that I can reach. Some of my hydration bladders have a big opening that I can stick my whole arm down - those I dry completely with paper towels. Others have a small filler cap - what I do in that case is stick some paper towels just inside the filler neck and use it to sop up little trickles of water as much as I can.

As long as I rinse and dry the bladders within 12 hours of using them, I rarely have a problem. Forgetting to do this, or storing a damp bladder, or leaving a bladder half-full forgotten in a backpack for a week (oh, I've done it!) usually results in the Black Plague. Note: I only use water in my hydration packs.

[7rider]

Clean it???

You're supposed to clean it???