campysuks

How do you guys clean the tops of your H2O bottle? I looked at all my bottle top and there is some "growth" in the nozzle and around the perimeter. Is there a way to get in there? A special cleanser?

rha600

try bleach.

happyvalley

Denture tabs kill everything.

slvoid

Um.. maybe if you just rinsed it out every day there wouldn't be any.. "growth".
In any event, I just chuck mine in the dishwasher, no probs so far, YMMV (might even melt).

Otherwise, try denture tabs or hydroperoxide.

ElJamoquio

Rinse it every day. Goes in the dishwasher every once in a while. Usually when I put a non-water product in there, I re-fill it mid ride with water, though, so your mileage may vary.

n4zou

Dawn with Bleach.
https://www.homemadesimple.com/sites/...each_alt.shtml

urbanknight

Yep, I rinse it out right after each ride and put them in the dishwasher once a week. If I forget and get some crud on it, bleach helps (then dishwasher, because bleach is not tasty or healthy).

edit: Slice2 is right, don't throw it away if it can be cleaned.

rha600

I typically use my camelbak anyway. I rinse that out good and then hang it to dry with their special hanger inserted. a little bleach won't hurt you either. key word, "little". during hurricanes down here that is actually how we make clean drinking water. But I think knight has the best solution. replace it.

urbanknight

I forgot about the bleach for cleaning water. We don't have hurricanes here, but I'll have to keep that in mind if we have an earthquake. Had 2 small ones this week, that should buy us some more time before the big one.

barba

Like others suggest, a bit of diluted bleach will do wonders. You have to be especially mindful if you drink sports drinks or anything besides water in your bottles.

urbanknight

That's true. I haven't any problems after switching to all water in my bottles. Be sure to bring salty energy snacks though.

San Rensho 

Walgreens has cheapo "sports" bottles for less than $1 each in packages of 4. At the first sign of grunge, throw it away and pick up another.

They come in different colors for the OCP crowd, and they shoot a good tight stream of water a long way for fending off dogs.

Husker72

I put mine through the dishwasher as often as I can. But if you have growth in them, I'd fill the sink with as hot of water as you can get, even better would be boiling water and let em soak (bleach optional but may dull colored bottles or the writing on them). As the water cools enough that you can stand to grab the bottles, swish em around in the sink to try and loosen that stuff up. Then immediately put em in the dishwasher and start it on the longest cycle you can making sure the nipples are open. If it still doesn't get cleaned out, toss it.

Slice2

Please don't throw water bottles out merely because they need a little cleaning. Take it easy on the environment. Sheesh! Do you throw your clothing away when it's dirty?

To the OP - it's ridiculously easy to clean crud out of a bottle. As already posted, bleach (maybe 1/8" in the bottom), fill w/hot water from the tap, close cap, open the spout so the water can get at the inner part of the spout where your crud is, and lay horizontally in the sink overnight. In the morning, rinse w/hot water a few times and you're good to go. Also helps to get rid of the plastic smell, BTW.

greywolf

Put a bit hot water in the bottom of the bottle place the top beside it in the microwave & give them a good 'nukeing' this should sterilize them ok.

Nachoman

[QUOTE=Slice2]Please don't throw water bottles out merely because they need a little cleaning. /QUOTE]

+1 Everything in our society these days is so disposable. No need.

FIVE ONE SIX

i don't know about you guys, but i would personally hesitate to use something like bleach to clean something that i'm going to drink out of, especially since it says "harmful if swallowed" and "do not ingest" on the back of the label. i use dish washing liquid and a bottle brush, after starting a similar thread a few months ago, and it gets pretty much everywhere i need to get to. but hey, that's just me...

and i agree about not throwing away a bottle, just because of something like this, there's no need to throw it away!

Moochers_Dad

If it wasn't for Denture Tabs, my dear Aunt Mimi would still be with us.

7Sisters

If you dilute the bleach you are fine! I will check with some of my backpacking colleagues to see how much you have to dilute it. The other thing that you can do is use a q-tip and alcohol swab. When I am long distance backpacking, I will get mold growing in my water bottles and will use the alcohol swab to clean off the mold. The other issue is water versus sugar drinks. You won't get too much mold growing if you just use water and rinse out your bottles. However you will eventually get mold if you use s sports drink - unless you wash it our after each use.

Regarding throwing away water bottles when they get gunked - I would rather see you throw away that idea and clean your bottles. It would be great for all if we walk softer and make a smaller footprint on the environment. Yea so many things are disposable, but doesn't mean you need to buy disposable items does it! Get something you can wash, wash it out and feel good about the smaller footprint you are leaving on the environment.

Peace be with you

slvoid

While I use a filter, I can also disinfect water with small amounts of bleach for drinking when I go hiking, I can assure you, it's safe to wash it with.

ElJamoquio

You're basically just over-chlorinating the water when you add bleach to it. Rinse repeatedly and you'll be fine.

dekalbSTEEL

Then don't ever drink out of a glass at a restaurant, what do you think they use to sanitize them after washing?

slvoid

They santize the glasses?

rha600

https://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/bleach.asp

banerjek

Until this thread, it had never occurred to me to clean the top by doing any more than wiping it off.....