freezing Camelbacks

This weekend, I was out skiing, and all the water in my camelback tube froze solid, anyone know of any tricks and/or accessories that will help this not to happen, or at least make it less likely?

take this advice as IMO only - but... personally, I have just stayed away from them in winter. every text I have read and class I have taken - all said the same thing - not good for winter use. I guess there are tricks and stuff, but I just think a bladder system is just asking for trouble in the winter. just my opinion tho and to each their own - probably many people here with much more time and grade than I - that will say with there are ways to make them work well.

good luck

I still use mine in the winter, but it is a bit tricky. Both my bladder and my hose are insulated, so that helps some. I fill it with hot water before a hike, and tuck the tube inside my jacket. Doing so still leaves about 6-8" of the hose exposed to the outside air. So, it's important to take a few sips every 10 minutes, give or take, to replace the chilled water with hot water from the bladder. I'll sometimes forget to do that, and the hose will freeze up. In that case, I just open the bladder and pour the water in a nalgene and drink.

Buying an insulation coolie for a Nalgene appears to be much easier, but I've done the above for several winters and I'm used to it.

Good luck.

thermol control kit

If you go to EMS online you will find a thermol control kit for your camelback for $16, it will prevent your mouthpiece and tubing from freezing.

http://www.ems.com/catalog/subcateg...=845524442032679&bmUID=1136249628130&i=10&n=9

kmac said:

If you go to EMS online you will find a thermol control kit for your camelback for $16, it will prevent your mouthpiece and tubing from freezing.

http://www.ems.com/catalog/subcateg...=845524442032679&bmUID=1136249628130&i=10&n=9

Click to expand...

That's the tube insulator I use. It'll still freeze though.

adding a bit of salt to the water or filling the pack with diluted gatorade will help to lower the freezing point of your drink. get a large capacity one since it's harder for more water to freeze. of course keep the mouthpiece and tubing within the layer nearest to your body. if you can, put the camelbak right below your jacket and tuck the tubing into your sweater, along the shoulder.

I've found that blowing the water back into the bladder (so there's no water in the tube) after each drink works in temps at least as cold as 15 degrees. The bladder is up against my back and that heat keeps it from freezing....I typically carry and insulated Nalgene as well...
I agree that filling bladders and bottles with warm water helps too....
....Jade

J&A said:

adding a bit of salt to the water or filling the pack with diluted gatorade will help to lower the freezing point of your drink.

Click to expand...

This will lower it a half degree or so. Not really enough to make it practical. Anything that will lower the freezing point significantly, will leave teh water unfit for hydration purposes.

Gatorade tends to make it freeze into a slush first, which may help a bit... a little bit.

Try mixing windshield washer fluid into your water. The exact ratio will vary according to the temps. Whatever you do, don't tell your neurologist.



Oh, I almost forgot, for the outdoors challenged, this post is a joke.

As Jade says, always blow the water back into the pack after each drink. This works quite well!

As for antifreeze, Barcardi 151 works well

Pete_Hickey said:

This will lower it a half degree or so. Not really enough to make it practical. Anything that will lower the freezing point significantly, will leave teh water unfit for hydration purposes.

Gatorade tends to make it freeze into a slush first, which may help a bit... a little bit.

Click to expand...

My calculations seem to disagree. If you mix a 15% sugar solution, say 150g sugar/1 L of water (gatorade contains about this much), the freezing point of the water is depressed to -1.6' C or about 29' F (assuming a Kf of -1.86C/m). That might be an appreciable change for some, although I admit it's not sufficient for most practical purposes. Of course, if you use salt instead of sugar (let's say 10% this time), the freezing temperature goes to 12.9'F! That's quite a lot colder, though some may object to consuming a 10% salt solution...

edit: "A," my other half, just alerted me to the fact that ocean water is, in fact, only around 4% salt. And no one would want to drink that. So a 10% salt solution would probably be lethal!

I insulated the section of tubing between my pack and the mouth piece with closed cell tubing insulation wrapped with duct tape. I blow out the water each time I drink and the tuck the mouthpiece under the strap of my pack or inside my jacket. This seems to work down to 10-20 degrees without a problem. I don't have much experience at much lower temps, but I doubt it would work well at low temps. I just got the insulated jacket for the nalgene for colder days.

I have used the so called “thermal control kit” from camelback which does not work. While blowing the water back into the bladder works for a short time, it only takes one time to forget. I have also seen this system from Granite Gear but through experience I would not trust it. While it is a good idea to have the heat pack warmers in the tubing system to keep from freezing, who wants to have to remember to have to go out and buy them every time they go out in the winter (granted I do keep a spare in my “10 Essentials” kit).

http://www.granitegear.com/products/accessories/winterizer/index.html

Stick to Nalgenes with a foam cover, it costs less and is more reliable.

Don't blow air back into the bladder... it will pressurize the bladder and force liquid back into the tube. Instead, do a "statue of liberty"... raise the mouthpiece and squeeze the bite valve. The liquid will flow back into the bladder without pressurizing it. Also, don't pack tightly around the bladder, which will also pressurize it. Frequent sips also helps it from freezing, and keeps you better hydrated.

I just use the bottles (upside down) in an insulated carrier in Winter. Works well. If it does freeze, just bash it around a bit.

My response below is copied from an ealier thread on this site on the same topic. Here is the link to the thread.

Eric Savage summed up most of what I had to say, but I'll add a few things.

I've also had very good success with a hydration bladder in the winter, and much prefer it. Like Glenn S, I fill mine with hot Gatorade (or similar). I find I drink more if the liquid isn't so cold, and if it's flavored.

I would suggest holding the tube over your head and pinching the bite valve to drain the tube, rather than blowing back into the tube. If you blow back into the tube too much you can actually pressurize your system, which will tend to force fluid back up the tube. It may also get to the point where you really can't blow that much more air back into the system because it is already full of air. This is unlikely to happen, but it can.

I keep the bladder in my pack (against my back) and bring the tube over my shoulder and put the bite down inside my jacket through the neck. I have never had a problem with this system, even at temperatures -20F and below. If I don't keep the bite valve inside my jacket, it will freeze up at very low temps, no matter how thoroughly I drain it. This is easily remedied by putting the valve in my mouth for a while, but it is easier to keep it from freezing up in the first place.

I second the idea of a backup in the form of 1 liter of liquid in an insulated Nalgene bottle. If you use a Platypus, it is not a bad idea to bring along a cap for your bladder. That way, if the tube does freeze, simple unscrew the tube cap/fixture, replace with the cap, and put the frozen tube/bite valve assembly inside your jacket to thaw. The bladder can stay inside your pack.

John

check out this post i did on NEIce.com on this subject.

http://neice.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Number=12688