It works well for me down to about 15-20*F then its pretty much game over and the hose freezes...unless you fill your Bag with warm water :thumb:

1) The camelbak cleaning tablets work well but are expensive. The fruit and veggie cleaning spray you'll see in the produce section of your favorite supermarket works very well too. I just spritz the inside throughly, fill halfway with water. Then shake, shake, shake. Drain a good bit through the mouthpiece to clean that. I generally drain the whole soapy mess through the mouthpiece. Rinse well. Then Rinse again.

2) I don't notice a plastic taste so I'm not the one to help you here.

3) I have the hanger kit but I don't use it. I use a cloths hanger with clips like you find pants on in a department store. Clip the camelbak so that the hose end is down, and detach the hose. You need to put something inside the bladder to keep it open so air can circulate. I use a slotted cooking spoon.

We use the sanitizing agent from our beer brewing outfit - Its food grade, safe, and unlike other cleansers, won't damage the equipment or leave residue. Its designed as a final rinse before use, so you don't have to worry about getting the equipment dry fast:

Five Star 1 lb. at $8.90 - it will last you forever.

http://www.breworganic.com/index.asp...ROD&ProdID=405

I don't have a clean kit but always think about making a hanger device to help dry out the camelbacks. As far as cleaning goes about once a year I buy a liter of 30% food grade hydrogen peroxide and dilute it down in a spray bottle. I use it to clean and soak stuff that ends up in my mouth. As far as the camelback goes I put a little H2O2 in the bladder and add a half liter of water, burp the air out of the bladder and line. Let it sit over night and rinse it out before the next ride. I do this about once a week. I will also soak the mouthpiece in a cup with a stronger concentration of H2O2. The 30% H2O2 is used in the food industry as a cleaning agent and preservative. When it is concentrated it will burn you so be careful. Regular H2O2 found at your local pharmacy has additives and is a much lower concentration. Great for cuts but don't use it on anything that will be ingested. To get rid of the new bladder taste just leave water in it between rides for a few weeks. I'd recommend staying away from the bleach also. GD

I don't bother cleaning my CamelBak bladders, but they see water only.

Once in a while I may rinse one and dump it a few times, but that's it.

Has anyone tried putting Ultima Replenisher in your Camelbaks? Amazon carries it. Being low sugar it looks like it'd be a good choice for an electrolyte mix with less chance of feeding gunk. Getting the required quantity to dissolve in a Camelbak might be tricky though. Starting with a little warm water, mixing, then adding the rest of the cold water is supposed to help that. I haven't tried the mix yet but it was recommended to me.

Even with water only, I think you would be shocked to see what kind of gunk builds up in there. Gross stuff builds up that you can't actually see until you scrape some of it off.

I regularly use gatorade powder in one of my camelbak bladders -- as long as you keep it clean gunk is no problem. Most people probably couldn't even guess which of my bladders is used for water only and which is gatorade/wine/whatever else.

I have not had any problems with my camelback. I suppose hat if it got really gunky I would just buy another; they are like eight dollars on sale. I currently use sigg bottle cleaning tablets, but when those run out I will just use a chlorine/water mix. Maybe I will buy the cleaning kit as it would last a lifetime.

I use a bleach and water solution

water is demineralized

then rinse with more demineralized water

works perfect for me

Yeah, that's usually when I dump and rinse, when the brown, gelatinous masses floating around in there break out the margarita mixer.

+1

I used to put perpetuem and gatorade in my camelbak, but it's too much of a pita to rinse out. Now, I just put water in it. When I remember, the camelbak goes in the freezer, but I don't worry about leaving it out with water for weeks at a time in the garage. It hasn't been cleaned in over a year and it's just fine.

I use water only. Unless I'm camping, I clean after every use, with a drop or two of dish soap.
I believe the most important part is keeping the bladder dry when it goes to storage. I use a hair dryer to blow directly into the bladder hole until the inside is dry. Be careful though, because the hair dryer air does get hot. I have a dryer that also blows cold air, so I alternate between hot/cold.

BTW, REI has Camelbak MULE's on sale for $63 for a few more days. I picked up one today along with the last cleaning kit on display at my local store. It's overkill for my needs but, hey, good sale...

That Ultima Replenisher sports drink mix I mentioned earlier seems to be pretty good, especially given the lack of sugar. If you want something other than plain water, +1.

Ahh.. well I own a Thermobak which only has the neoprene sleeve on it and I think the drinking tube is charcoal or black so kind of hard to check inside the tube it it's having a funky party and I'm not invited. :roflmao2: :twitchy:

Thanks for the heads up on the sale. I'm north of the 49th parallel but I know of a fellow USA rider which can benefit from this (or perhaps buy me one).

Hmm.. I just used the baking soda mix for the 4th time already to try to remove the plastic taste from the Thermobak and I'm not sure if the plastic taste thing is more dominant on the Thermobak models or on all Camelbak models? Can everyone that ones thier Camelbak or bladder system note what brand/model they own? Thanks in advance.

I live in a desert climate, so my Camelbak bladders usually dry quickly and completely just being hung up with a wadded-up paper towel insidr to keep it from collapsing. I have often put a half-full bladder in the freezer and that has been an excellent way to avoid the cursory cleaning and then hanging-til-dry that I normally have to do.

I did live in the midwest for two years... The humidity makes it a whole different ballgame... Be careful with the bleach.

DWR

The recommended procedure that I remember from the directions is to clean it with a baking soda-water combination and then run a few drops of lemon juice through with water. It leaves a nice, mild lemon taste.

Bleach is not recommeded. (But then again, neither is ice, and I use that daily.)

I can't do the baking soda, since I have a reaction to it. (Baking soda causes my skin, especially around the mouth, to crust up, peel off, and leave bleeding.) That's why I was interested in this thread.

As for the platic taste I just used mine and after a while it went away. For cleaning I use a few drops of bleach mixed with a liter or so of water, swith it round and force the solution through the tube and mouth piece then let it sit for a short time. Then I empty it out and rinse with plain water once or twice. I dont worry about drying the blader out I store mine in the freezer. I have been doing this for years and have never had a problem. A word of caution any use a small amount of bleach. You will also have a slight beach taste in the water. I only use the beach for cleaning every few uses. Normally I just rinse with water and store in freezer.

Cranky1

I put vodka in mine when I stored it once. I don't know if it kept it clean, but it had a very nice taste for a while.

Makes me wonder if anyone designed a say 2xAA battery warming sleeve adaptor for the camelbaks or bladder packs and that unit turns on every 3-5 mins to warm the tube to keep it from freezing. Being a neoprene cover it should hold the heat in and cycling every 3-5 mins would save battery power.

Hmm... I think I just came up with an idea for those that are skilled enough to make it come true it the product is not already out there.

my statements exactly.

my camelbak has been through hell and back, its standard Issue but I have used it on the bike.

in my experience, water only in them unless you have different bladders for each drink.

before I use it I empty the water that's been sitting in it for the past month (in the garage no less) run hot soapy water thru it and the tube, fill her up and that's that...no plastic taste unless the bladder is brand new.

I've used it for 2-3 months at a time just w/o cleaning it, just filling it up with water multiple times a day.

Chad

+1