Cleaning Water Bottles (for Drinking)

[vja4Him]

Well, my experiment with disposable bottles has come to an end! I keep getting bottles with stuff floating around, even the new bottles.

 

So, today I rode over to Wal-Mart and bought 15 reusable water bottles, six different kinds, including two different metal bottles. Most of the bottles have the triangle symbol with either #2, #4, or #5. Three of the bottles, from China, have nothing on the bottles at all. For only $1 each, thought I might as well give the China plastic water bottles a try ....

 

I have a bunch of these new reusable bottles in the freezer and some in the frig. So tomorrow at work I'll find out if the water is good .... My guess is that the water will be just fine ....

[StringJunky]

Post back your findings with the new bottles.

[vja4Him]

Post back your findings with the new bottles.

 

So far, cystal clear drinking water everyday. Haven't tried drinking from the metal containers yet though. I put one in the freezer, and I think that ruined the metal container! The bottom bubbled out. I put the metal container in the fridge, and even after the water melted it still won't stand upright.

 

Even the cheap $1 plastic water bottles from China are holding up ok .... I can see now why Wal-Mart was selling them for only $1. The drinking spout won't stay open because it's so loose that it falls downward. So I just unscrew the cap and drink from the container instead. Works ok I guess ....

[StringJunky]

Would you conclude that the problem of the 'bits' lies with the material used in the bottles that you recycled?

 

With the metal bottle (if you have another one) leave the top off when you freeze it. It may still happen again, but when water freezes it expands, the pressure will rise, and the bottom of the bottle is where it wiill 'give', making it round. Leaving the top off allows the air to be displaced to accommodate the new volume of the ice without any extra pressure on the container wall. That's my theory!.

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Water volume increases by 9% when frozen, If you can't freeze the metal bottles standing up and have to have the tops on, try filling them only 3/4 full. They are cheap enough to experiment with aren't they?.

[vja4Him]

Would you conclude that the problem of the 'bits' lies with the material used in the bottles that you recycled?

 

Yes, my conclusion is that the plastic from the bottles is flaking off and floating around in the bottle. I also think that the bleach could be helping the process along of breaking down the plastic.

 

I notice that some of the reusable water bottles I bought have a warning to "Not use bleach for cleaning, just warm soapy water."

 

I will buy a couple more metal water bottles and experiment with keeping the cap off, or loose (would that work too?). I'm concerned about the meat in the freezer causing a strange taste in my water though .... Maybe I could move all of the meat from that feezer (we have three freezers) ...

[StringJunky]

If you want to keep the top on, try half-filling the bottle (dry the screw-top and bottle-neck so you can undo it later) to allow plenty of room for expansion and the air pressure increase and then freeze it upright. If the bottom has not bubbled out you can then top it up with water from your water jug as and when you go out....this method should give you a bit-free chilled

drink.

 

If you think the solid residues floating in the water from your disposable bottles is plastic in origin, it makes you wonder how much plastic residue we have all consumed in our lives from eating and drinking foodstuffs that has been frozen in unsuitable containers?

[vja4Him]

If you want to keep the top on, try half-filling the bottle (dry the screw-top and bottle-neck so you can undo it later) to allow plenty of room for expansion and the air pressure increase and then freeze it upright. If the bottom has not bubbled out you can then top it up with water from your water jug as and when you go out....this method should give you a bit-free chilled

drink.

 

If you think the solid residues floating in the water from your disposable bottles is plastic in origin, it makes you wonder how much plastic residue we have all consumed in our lives from eating and drinking foodstuffs that has been frozen in unsuitable containers?

 

Before experimenting with these water bottles, I never even realized that I may have been ingesting lots of plastic over the years (52 years now!).

 

I've eaten lots of food that has been frozen .... I'm trying to get away from frozen vegetable though. I mostly buy fresh produce and try to eat it quickly, like in a couple days. Some items we do keep around for awhile though, like potatoes, carrots, celery, apples, oranges .... but not frozen!

[JhonnyQ]

I believe everyone is missing the boat on this one. The key bit of information is "and then frozen." The same thing happens to me when I make ice cubes (from our Pur water filter) and then drop them into a glass of water. When the ice cubes melt, they leave behind "floaties" in the water. Marilyn von Savant answered this question several years ago in her Parade Magazine (a Sunday paper national suppliment) column. If I remember correctly, freezing the water does something with some of the minerals present in all water (except distilled) that causes them to become visible and float around. So don't sweat it, there's nothing wrong with your cleaning regime.

 

 

 

Would it be best to use cold water and bleach, or hot water and bleach, for cleaning our water bottles and water jugs?

 

I've read numerous pages about how to clean water bottles, but haven't found anything yet that clearly states whether cold or hot water and bleach is best for killing the bacteria that collects in water bottles.

 

A friend of mine swears by his method of using a little rice mixed with water, shake it around for half a minute, then rinse. I've tried that, but still have problems with stuff floating around in my water bottles (after they have been rinsed really good, air dried, then filled with filtered water (from our home filter), and then frozen.

 

So, I'm back to using bleach. I've read that mixing bleach and baking soda is a good solution for cleaning water bottle.

 

I'm just wondering if hot or cold water is better, or does it really matter? Maybe alternate - one time use bleach (and/or baking soda) with hot water, then the next time with cold water ... ???

 

Some sources claim that you need to rinse with hot water first, then rinse with cold water as well. I think it might have something to do with breaking the bonds of the bleach ... ??? Not really sure about that. I'm not a chemist!

[StringJunky]

I speculated on that in Post 23 and it was eliminated because using metal containers removed the problem IIRC:

 

What do you think to this idea, which has nothing to do with the container material?:

 

Tap water contains salts of magnesium and calcium which are not very soluble at normal temperatures. As the water freezes a block of ice is formed on the surface, which is pure water. As the size of this block increases the concentration of the salts, in the remaining and ever diminishing volume of liquid, increase to a saturation point. When this tipping point is reached, some of the excess salts (at this falling temperature of just above freezing in the last bit of remaining liquid) agglomerate and consequently precipitate into the deposits you see when it is melted later.

[Suxamethonium]

I would suggest only cleaning with hot water and leave to dry for a day. Bleach and soap are more likely to cause problems with precipitation (especially if the water has some degree of hardness) leading to 'floaties' anyway. It's definitely not bacterial and if it is plastic then it's inert enough not to worry about. I doubt that it is contributing to your gastric condition.