- That's dirt.
Maybe mold.
It's not fully dry from the last time that I used it.
Covered in sand.
(beep)
While manufacturers recommend cleaning reservoirs in
and water bottles after every use,
I don't do that and you probably don't either.
(laughs)
(lively music)
(car honks)
This is my show, gosh darn.
So if you're like me, you probably don't think
about cleaning your reservoir or your hydration bladder
after every use, let alone after a month or so.
But it turns out that if you clean your reservoir
and take care of it, it will last a lot longer.
And your water won't taste like...
(beep)
So in this video, I will cover the supplies
that you'll need to clean your reservoir,
how you're gonna clean your reservoir and
then some tips for storing it for next time.
Right oh! (chimes)
So here's what I'll be using to clean my reservoir.
I have this special brush cleaning kit that I got at REI
but you can also just use a kitchen brush, (click)
anything that you'd use to scrub up a water bottle.
Some soap which I will dilute with water.
Carabiner to hang up my reservoir,
my dirty reservoir and tube and a cleaning cloth.
Let's clean some stuff.
(click)
(light pop music)
So I'm going to fill my reservoir with my tube attached
with water and then I'll add some of that soap.
And then if you have a lot of funky smells
or mold in your reservoir, you can use bleach,
baking soda or special cleaning tabs.
If you noticed a significant amount
of mold in your reservoir, I would definitely say go
to the cleaning tab route as that is going
to do the best job of killing that and
then also neutralizing any odors or smells.
But for me, I'm actually just gonna use a diluted soap.
(pop music)
Okay.
Heavy.
Now that I have water in my reservoir, that soapy water.
I need to get that water into the tube of my reservoir.
The easiest way to do this is to make sure it's open.
Squeeze a little bit out.
And now the tube of the reservoir is full
of soapy water as well.
We're gonna give this a shake and then we'll let
it soak for about 20 minutes.
(water splashing)
(clock ticking)
I'm now gonna rinse as much of the soap out
of my reservoir as I can and then get
to scrubbing out the nooks and crannies.
(pop music)
So to do this, I have my handy reservoir cleaning kit.
This is the first time I'm using this.
Very excited.
Aw man, it's working.
And the tube.
This looks crazy.
(clanking)
So many noodles.
A mind of its own.
Oh my god.
This thing is insane.
(beep)
If you have a mouthpiece like mine does,
I would recommend taking this off and soaking it separately.
This is the thing that gets the nastiest for me
because it just like drags through the dirt
when I take my pack off or I forget about it
and step on it or just my mouth is on it, so yeah.
If you don't have a special brush for cleaning the tube
of your reservoir, I've heard of people like tying a knot
and a piece of paracord and then trying to pull
that through to clean, so yeah,
use what you got.
Cool.
Alright!
So now I've cleaned the tube of my reservoir,
I cleaned the body of my reservoir.
I am going to use the small cloth to clean the mouthpiece
and the connector bit.
And there's sand in here that is never coming out, ever.
Yeah, cool.
That's good enough.
The final step is to give them a really good rinse
and then leave all the parts out to dry completely.
This is a really important step because
if you don't let your reservoir dry completely
then you're just basically created
the perfect breeding ground for more bacteria.
So if there's nothing else you take away from this video,
it should be that you let it dry.
(click)
(violin music)
And I'm never going to get all the soap out of this now.
Do it in the van they said, it'll be cool.
(laughs)
Note to self: get a van with a sink.
If after you cleaned your reservoir it tastes like soap,
keep rinsing.
We're almost there, we're getting there.
(beep)
So I finished cleaning my reservoir.
I've rinsed it out.
I'm gonna leave it out to dry, I'll hang up my tube as well.
If you're coming back from a long hike, or even just
from a day hike, you can always leave your reservoir
to dry overnight but I just say be really careful
before you put it away to make sure that all
of the water is gone.
So if you clean your reservoir properly
and your water bottle, they're likely
to last you a lot longer and save you money
as well as keep it out of a landfill.
That's it for how to clean your reservoir.
If you have any other questions about
how to clean or care for your gear,
let me know in the comments below
or if you have any other suggestions for videos
that you'd like to see, I'd love to hear those.
If you haven't already go ahead and subscribe to our channel
for more Miranda in the wild videos
as well as other awesome content.
That's all and I will see you all in the wild.
(lively music)
Stay hydrated.
(clap)
There's a person over there doing parkour.
Oh my gosh.
Cut this video.
Go and record that person.