You know that black stuff that appears in camel backs?

ivancarlos

More specifically in the drinking tube. Presumably a mould of sorts - does it do you any harm?

ollie_lucas1985

I havent died yet and Its been there over a year!

ddraver

ewwwww!!!

It probably won't kill you but I'd get rid of it all the same!

Dr_Psychlist

Every few weeks I sterilise my camelbak bladder with Milton - very easy to do and there's no aftertaste to speak of. No black mould for me!

cooldad

If you are lucky, just aids, typhoid and flatulence. If not - death.

solsurf

ivancarlos wrote:

More specifically in the drinking tube. Presumably a mould of sorts - does it do you any harm?

No its what they make wine gums out of

Northwind

You ever watch House MD? You know how sometimes, they can't figure out what the hell is going on and the hot one will say "Could be fungal" to which the short one will say "If it's fungal we've got no chance, he'll be dead before we can treat it?" That's caused by the little black bits in a camelbak.

There was a brilliant story about James Toseland the motorbike racer... For ages he was having raceday weakness issues, he'd be healthy right up to the race but then as soon as it kicked off he'd be feverish and weak. Doctors couldn't find anything, people were assuming he'd lost his bottle. Then, they found his bottle- he had a lucky water bottle he was drinking out of before every race but never at any other time and it had an inch of mold in the bottom of it, which was poisoning him.

solsurf

Northwind wrote:

There was a brilliant story about James Toseland the motorbike racer... For ages he was having raceday weakness issues, he'd be healthy right up to the race but then as soon as it kicked off he'd be feverish and weak. Doctors couldn't find anything, people were assuming he'd lost his bottle. Then, they found his bottle- he had a lucky water bottle he was drinking out of before every race but never at any other time and it had an inch of mold in the bottom of it, which was poisoning him.

great story!

bones3027

I used to get this but then I started to stick the bladder straight into the freezer after each use and havent had to clean it for 6 months.

Deputy Dawg

camelback cleaning brushes are cheap enough & sterilising tablets from Boots are even cheaper.

mobilekat

every ride rinse camelpac out with water and shove into freezer. No mould, no worries and no nasty tastes.

I do worry though, would you eat food with black mould on?..... Hang on don't answer that!

d00m

Another question along similar lines... how do you get rid of the plasticy taste from a camelback? Mine still tastes nasty after months of use :?

Mental Mickey

mobilekat wrote:

every ride rinse camelpac out with water and shove into freezer.

Exactly what I do too, never had any kinda mould appear.

Radioactiveman

boots sterilising tabs mucho cheapo

Anonymous

Freezer trick works well. I take the drinking nipple thingy off though in case it splits.

Oh and if you chuck Milton in it, do rinse it out before you fill it with water to drink!

hoochylala

deadkenny wrote:

Freezer trick works well. I take the drinking nipple thingy off though in case it splits.

Good advice, mine split due to freezing it! I now have to keep it 'locked' shut all the time so eater doesn't piss out all ride :oops:

scale20

Millets do a cheaper version of the bladder cleaning kit, does the job a treat. I found a bladder last night thats been in the shed for months, looks like someone has shoit in it. Bit of milton and a scrub it will be reet

tomtomthepipersson

It's a bugger to get mould out the drinking tube - easier to chuck it out and replace with some home brewing syphon tube. Dirt cheap and it's clear so you can see when it's dirty.

mea00csf

solsurf wrote:

Northwind wrote:

There was a brilliant story about James Toseland the motorbike racer... For ages he was having raceday weakness issues, he'd be healthy right up to the race but then as soon as it kicked off he'd be feverish and weak. Doctors couldn't find anything, people were assuming he'd lost his bottle. Then, they found his bottle- he had a lucky water bottle he was drinking out of before every race but never at any other time and it had an inch of mold in the bottom of it, which was poisoning him.

great story!

You've got to wonder who would carry on considering it lucky after the first few times of being feverish in a race.......??

paramart

use to use milton and camel back cleaning kit, mine still went mouldy then when useing the tube cleaner it got stuck and pulled the pipe liner out never had it since

Radioactiveman

milton will prevent it growing. Mechanical action i.e scrubbing is required to remove it once there

Otters Pocket

The black stuff in my Camelbak is called Guiness... OTT

ivancarlos

Northwind wrote:

You ever watch House MD? You know how sometimes, they can't figure out what the hell is going on and the hot one will say "Could be fungal" to which the short one will say "If it's fungal we've got no chance, he'll be dead before we can treat it?" That's caused by the little black bits in a camelbak.

There was a brilliant story about James Toseland the motorbike racer... For ages he was having raceday weakness issues, he'd be healthy right up to the race but then as soon as it kicked off he'd be feverish and weak. Doctors couldn't find anything, people were assuming he'd lost his bottle. Then, they found his bottle- he had a lucky water bottle he was drinking out of before every race but never at any other time and it had an inch of mold in the bottom of it, which was poisoning him.

Not so much an inch more like a black stain that looks like the remains of marker pen which has been scrubbed off. Not sure about getting a brush narrow and long enough as its in the tubing.

Bikehawk

The camelbak cleaning kit comes with a long thin brush for cleaning inside the tube. Not sure about the supplied cleaning tabs though, the warnings about skin contact etc in their usage insctructions bother me a bit. :roll: Milton's is preferable

Anonymous

Bikehawk wrote:

The camelbak cleaning kit comes with a long thin brush for cleaning inside the tube. Not sure about the supplied cleaning tabs though, the warnings about skin contact etc in their usage insctructions bother me a bit. :roll: Milton's is preferable

Milton has similar warnings!

http://www.milton-tm.com/c2/uploads/mil ... 0sheet.pdf

I forget who it was I was riding with recently that left the milton in and were drinking water + milton :shock:

Northwind

ivancarlos wrote:

Not sure about getting a brush narrow and long enough as its in the tubing.

The camelbak one works perfectly. Pained me to spend that much on it really but glad I did. Other pipecleaners are available But not many that are long enough.

diy

mea00csf wrote:

You've got to wonder who would carry on considering it lucky after the first few times of being feverish in a race.......??

I suspect he was more worried about which of his racing rivals would take his seat this time. He does seem to get replaced a lot. I heard he's racing for BMW next year?

slowslowslow

i found a cheap and easy way to get rid of black bits.

fill with boiling water.
hold up so water goes into tube.

with the other hand rub the pipe between thumb and finger. The aggitation works the black stuff off. work from one end of the pipe to the other.

My pipe was coated in the stuff but it shifted all of it when i emptied it out. now i just rinse with boiling water and keep in freezer. The odd soak in steredent does nicely.

switchback18

I use some tough fishing line or a gear cable to pull a bit of dish cloth (new) with washing up liquid on it through the tube. Not often enough though, which reminds me...

Never been ill though, but I've heard of people who have been & the doctors have put it down to a mouldy Camelback...

I used Milton once & could taste it for weeks afterwards!

dan shard

Its the stuff you cant see that Id be worrying about

Bacillus Circulan
Clostridium botulinum
Paramecium caudatum
Streptococcus aurelius.
Entamoeba histolytica
Corynebacterium diphtheriae
Yersinia pestis

To name but a few

switchback18

I'm thinking that the worst thing is to leave the water in for a long time & then use it without emptying & re-filling. Legionares likes warm water, and I've heard that it has happened. How accurate the "it happened to my mate" stories are I have no idea.

One of my mates years back found a mushroom like fungus growing in the bottom of a water bottle in the shed...