Sawyer squeeze storage?
9mon 1d ago by sh.itjust.works/u/beastlykings in backpacking@lemmy.ml
I'm trying to find information on this. So far their website has no useful information besides sanitizing with a bleach water mixture.
Several reddit threads have people arguing everything from buying a new one every year, to storing it dirty and never having a problem, to completely drying it out.
I currently use a life straw bottle, I drink out of it while hiking, and just turn it over and squeeze the bottle into some larger bottles to use for cooking and stuff. It's not ideal and I'm looking to change it up. Currently I store my life straw bottle in between trips by following their instructions, sanitize with bleach water, rinse, then fill with salt water mixture to prevent growth and keep it wet. Drying the filter ruins its ability to get wet again, and therefore it doesn't filter well.
What I'd like to do is store the Sawyer squeeze the same way, sanitize, rinse, store in salt water, maybe in a mason jar? But would that damage it? Does drying it ruin it too? Some people complained it's hard to actually get it dry.
How in the world is it that there is nothing in the manual or the FAQs about storage?
I dry mine out after back flushing it with tap water. I've had it for about three years and just use it a couple of times a year. I also presoak it about a day before a trip and test that it still flows before leaving for the woods.
You feel like the flow rate is the same?
Yeah, I don't see a difference. I use it with a CNOC Vector 2L for gravity feed camp water filtration, I haven't seen any reduction in performance since I got it.
Good to know, thanks!
I'm camping tomorrow. Last year I cleaned and dried my filter, and stored it open to air in its mesh bag.
I tested it yesterday and it was full blocked, dry. I soaked it for about 30 minutes, still blocked, barely dribbling water.
So I used the coconut water method that lifestraw recommends. That brought it back to about 70% flow rate. Still noticeably slower than before. I flushed all the coconut water mixture out and let it soak overnight, I forgot to test it this morning, but I'll likely use it for camping tomorrow even if it's still 70%.
If it comes back to 100%, then maybe I just wasn't patient enough.
If it doesn't come back to 100% I'll replace it, and going forward I think I'll follow lifestraws saline storage method.