Note to self. Don't sanitize your hydration pack bladder with iodine.

huh?

He tried to clean his hydration pack bladder with iodine. Which probably stained it red, and now water has a really crappy aftertaste.

I think it's pretty self explanatory.

But why iodine?

Because it's a desinfectant but has probably stained the bladder as UmneyDurak has stated.

I haven't even seen iodine outside of a hospital in probably 30 years!

BTW - in the future you might try a little bit of bleach, then rinse well. In fact, you might even try that right now to see if you can get rid of the iodine.

Okay, EWWWWW! I just got an image in my head of an yellowish-red stained bag. It must look like a bag of bloody urine.

I will stick to rinsing and washing often....bleh

Screw bleach. Its disgusting. Strong mouth wash will kill any germs that need killing, and the only after taste will be pleasent and minty fresh. Although, I do agree with Machka that bleach would be good to remove the iodine.

Bleach? You gotta be kidding.

Efferdent works great!

Nope, I'm not kidding. I use bleach to clean my waterbottles, and have been doing it for years. You use a small amount of bleach mixed with dishsoap to wash them out, then you rinse and rinse and rinse. Then you wash them with just dishsoap, and rinse some more. Then you let them air dry ....... and by morning the bleach smell, is gone and your bottle is as fresh as a daisy!

I suspect it would work the same with with a camelbak bag.

I just add a very small amount of bleach to a full water bottle; let it sit for a bit; shake the heck out of it; and rinse it out very well.

NOTE: IF YOU DON'T LIVE ALONE, THEN YOU SHOULD MARK THE BOTTLE IN SOME WAY WHILE IT'S FULL OF THE BLEACH SOLUTION.

EDIT: If you're wondering about the warning -I let a bottle full of the bleach solution sit overnight. I was running late the next morning, and my girlfriend was helping me get out the door. She handed me my bottle of bleach water, and I didn't notice it until I was on the road. Luckily, I realized what happened just as I was bringing the bottle to my lips.

On second thought, it might be best to immediately shake it and rinse it.

They still sell it in long drugs here in very small bottles. They also sell "Hostpital antiseptic solution", which is basically something with 10% iodine. It's great for cleanning road rashes, and lessens a chance of a scar. I preffer it over hydrogen peroxide.

I use Ozonol ... it's an antibacterial substance with a topical pain reliever.


I haven't used hydrogen peroxide for anything in YEARS either. I think I've actually got a bottle of that, but it is probably 15 years old!

I would just replace the bladder.

try neutralizing the iodine with starch?

I can hit the drugstore and get Iodine anytime.

As for cleaning..

bladder: dishsoap

tubing: hot water spreayed through it

bit valve: hot water spreayed through it

ergo-lok: isopropyl alcohol soak followed with hit water spreayed through it. I refuse to let soap go near that valve, and don't trust water alone to get it clean.