Winter Water Bottle

Keep Your Water from Freezing!

Drinking water is extremely important in the cold. Often times your natural thirst is absent because you are cool, making it more likely for dehydration to set in. In addition to the typical dangers of dehydration, it can accelerate frostbite, and is an attributing cause of hypothermia. Avoid eating snow because it can lower your core temperature.

Frozen water is dead weight. Here are a few tips for keeping your water drinkable on winter hikes or overnight trips.

Prevent Freezing

The obvious tip is to prevent freezing in the first place. A frozen nalgene requires a lot of time, energy and effort to thaw because you cannot apply heat directly. The primary preventative measure is to store your bottle in a place that will best prevent freezing (in your pack, close to your body or in your jacket, sleeping bag, etc.). Placement inside your pack is better than an outside pocket, though it may be more cumbersome to access. Don't let the inconvenience discourage you from drinking, though.

Warming your water before putting it in the bottle will extend the time before it freezes, as well. The myth that hot water freezes faster than cold water only holds if a large amount (up to 1/4) evaporates, leaving less water to freeze. In a sealed water bottle, there is no evaporation, and it will remain unfrozen longer.

Using chemical heat handwarmers stuck to or stored with the bottle will keep your water from freezing, and may last longer than simply warming the water. Using handwarmers in combination with the wool sock insulating sleeve, described below, is a winning combination. (As an aside, sticking the warm water bottle in your sleeping bag is a great way to make it cozy.)

Finally, use Gatorade. The salts contained in Gatorade or other electrolyte drinks will lower the freezing temperature of your water. The impact may be minimal, but the changed freezing properties can make for a great tasing slushy.

Using a Bladder

When using camel backs and like products, try these recommendations:
 

1. Keep the bladder close to your back, or try hanging it from your neck with a makeshift lanyard;
2. Use an insulated tube;
3. Drink frequently, to keep a flow of unfrozen water;
4. After each drink, blow the water back into the bladder, so it is not in the tube where it can more easily freeze, clogging the tube; (Thanks 96avs01!). Repeat after taking your bag off; the tube may refill with water.
5. Shove the tube inside your jacket (through the collar or pit zips).
6. Consider removing the bite valve, which can quite easily become frozen.

Even though most bladders are designed to withstand freezing (the bladder/tube won't burst), under truly cold conditions, the tube will freeze and so they are not an ideal choice. You're probably better off with a nalgene bottle, so save the bladder for warmer weather.

Upside Down

To improve your chances of being able to drink water that is freezing in your bottle, always place it upside down. Your bottle will freeze from the top down because ice floats, and the ice that forms will rise to the top. This phenomenon is particularly notable in an agitated bottle, as is the case when stored in your backpack. With a bottle that is always stored upside down, even if the bottle starts to freeze, you can access the liquid portion from the capped end. The only caveat is to keep the cap tight!

By the way, Nalgene bottles will withstand freezing (they won't crack or burst, even if full of water before freezing).

An Old Wool Sock

Before you throw away that mismatched wool sock, consider saving it for the noble purpose of extending the length of time your water will stay liquid.
 

Image 1

The simple method is to double up the sock and slip it over the nalgene. Fold it in a counterintuitive way, with the top of the sock folded inside; this makes for a tidier insulating sleeve (the two can be compared in the image). The insulation will help prevent freezing in your pack, and is quite useful if you have your bottle in your jacket, to insulate the water from the portion of the bottle pressing against your outer shell.

A craftier way is to assemble the insulater as follows. Cut a 1/2-inch slit horizontally in the sock (reinforce with thread or duct tape if you like), at the location where the sock layers are at the top of the bottle. An ideal location for the slit is the heel, where there is some exceess, non-symetrical material. Remove the cap ring from the bottle, squeeze it in half and insert it through the slit (see Image 2). Now the sock is hanging from the cap loop, with the cap and ring on either side. Slide the sock over the bottle, replace the ring, and the sock will stay in place (see Image 1). The socks can also serve as a spare pair of dry socks or mittens in a pinch.

Commercial solutions are readily available (see comment section below).

Heating Element

TNF has a patent for a heating element to prevent the tube from a water bladder from freezing. I wonder if they will be able to develop something that makes it to the market. The patent can be viewed here:

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.html&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=(%22north+face%22.AS.)&OS=an/%22north+face%22&RS=AN/%22north+face%22

Comments

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evolution_star - Feb 14, 2007 8:11 pm - Hasn't voted

Try this, it works for me.

My solution to water freezing at night, or for any time is I usually take a couple hand warmers get them activated and tape 2 around my nalgene and have been good to go. I have done this at night before i go to bed and in the morning its still good. Not the cheapest way, but it works.

HedUp - Feb 16, 2007 4:01 pm - Voted 10/10

Harsh!

Haha..."Buttface"?

Deb - Feb 16, 2007 5:02 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Harsh!

The person I was responding to (who is now deleted) had a butt smoking a cigar for profile shot. So it wasn't REALLY an insult. HAHA!

evolution_star - Feb 16, 2007 8:08 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Harsh!

No worries, i took no offense to your post as i saw the individual you are referring to.

timfoltz - Feb 15, 2007 1:01 am - Hasn't voted

Hand Warmers

I was on Aconcagua this winter, and on summit day we duct taped hand warmers to the bottles, and camelbacks. This worked very well in below 0 fairenheit conditions. Also as a side note, I also had a OR insulator attached to my waist belt, and while it never completley froze, ice did start to form.

gobriango - Feb 15, 2007 4:20 am - Hasn't voted

Problem solved

Why not just solve all issues of freezing and weight and get a .5L titanium thermos ??? 8.6 ounces compared to 10.6 for a Nalgene and an OR insulator !!! How the hell do yo beat that ? You just have to cough up a quick $130.

MoapaPk - Feb 15, 2007 6:30 am - Hasn't voted

freezing point depression?

A very quick calc suggests that the freezing point depression from the _electrolytes_ in gatorade would be only about 0.1 degrees C. The sugars would add some more.

lalpinist - Feb 16, 2007 10:15 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: freezing point depression?

Thanks for the calculation. I imagine the freezing point would be decreased further if more electrolyte mix and/or sugar is added. In fact, I mix mine and usually make strong batches. But, I never knew how much it would make a difference.

dmiki - Feb 16, 2007 9:23 am - Voted 9/10

Handy article and comments

Some nice ideas I wouldn't have thought about - thank you!

William Marler - Feb 17, 2007 8:23 pm - Voted 10/10

Thanks

Good tips. One I use is to heat the water up as you say and use the bottles as hot water bottles to keep me warm in my sleeping bag. They are cool by morning and never frozen. (If they were I would be in trouble). I just have to be sure they don't leak. (•: Thanks for the article. Cheers William

michaelyoblonski - Feb 22, 2007 2:00 am - Hasn't voted

Bladder Management

Another helpful tip is to not only blow the water out of your draw tube, but also blow a good amount of your own hot air into the bladder... This not only adds some small amount of heat to the mix, but adds some space for the water to agitate within. I have used this method for years and rarely experience any issues with freezing. (save for a little ice buildup in the bite valve, but stick that in your mouth for a minute and problem solved)

Kerstin - Feb 26, 2007 3:21 am - Hasn't voted

Socks

Now I know what to do with my old, itchy wool socks!

lalpinist - Feb 26, 2007 3:08 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Socks

:)

TorstenW - May 28, 2007 1:12 pm - Voted 10/10

Sock It Up...

Very nice article! Great input with all the comments too. I'm liking the sock idea, but the least weight route using a hot drink wrapped in the spare layers you already have in your pack seems smart. Unless you can't afford to take off your pack, of course...

vanman798 - Jan 16, 2012 5:58 pm - Voted 10/10

Bury the Bottle in the Snow

You can also bury your full water bottle in the snow, the deeper the better. Snow is an excellent insulator, and it will prevent your water from freezing overnight. On colder nights, you must go deeper in the snow. Place them upside down, just incase it gets colder than you think, and then as mentioned in the article any ice will then be at the "bottom" of the bottle.

vanman798 - Jan 16, 2012 6:37 pm - Voted 10/10

Polyethylene Semi-Split Pipe Wrap Insulation

I love the old wool sock idea.

Another easy, quick, and cheap cozy can be made from Polyethylene Semi-Split Pipe Wrap Insulation. A 6 ft piece of 1 inch Polyethylene Semi-Split Pipe Wrap Insulation costs only about $1.25, and one can make a very good bottle cozy out of it. In fact one can make multiple cozys out of one 6 foot length.


I cut three pieces each the same length as the height of a 1-liter Nalgene bottle. The insulation has a slit up one side that is sticky once you remove the plastic covering. So using the sticky edges I stuck two pieces together. Then I put a piece of duct tape over the connection (both inside and outside). Next I wrapped the two joined pieces around a Nalgene bottle and took a measurement for the width for the third piece. Cut the third piece, stuck and taped it to the other two pieces, and I had a cozy!!! Then I realized the circumference of the pipe wrap was enough to cover the bottom, so I cut out a bottom and taped that to the cozy. As good and as cheap as it gets!!! Took ten minutes to make, and its monetary value is maybe $0.50 (compare that to the approximate $18 for an OR Bottle Parka, and you just got a 97% discount).

See some pictures here.

evanchristensen - May 19, 2012 10:47 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Polyethylene Semi-Split Pipe Wrap Insulation

Great idea. But I think the value is much more than the 50 cent cost when you are out in the cold.

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