How to carry water in freezing temperatures?

For winter hiking, I prefer to wear a hydration bladder inside my coat and you can fill it with warm water if desired for an extra heat bonus when you start out.

When camping in the very cold, you can often find / treat water and just heat up enough for a day or half day and carry that water closer to your body. Also, a bottle inside a spare fleece, sweater or sleeping bag won't freeze after a long day unless the outside temperatures are really quite far below zero.

Also, inverting the bottle or bladder lets any ice that may form rise away from the hose or opening so that you can still open / drink if the water happens to succumb to the freezing temperatures despite your actions to insulate and warm it.

posted almost 13 years ago

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bmike‭

81 reputation 1 17 9 0

When winter camping I warm up the water on the stove and then keep in my coat--net effect is to warm the body and prevent freezing.

I also store some boiled water in a vacuum thermos to save the energy spent on boiling.

posted over 10 years ago

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Luc‭

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Another option is to keep your water bottle inside your jacket and use your body heat to prevent the water from freezing. Many mountaineering jackets have internal elasticated mesh pockets for this purpose. Alternatively, I find I can just put the water bottle inside my jacket and use the waist belt of my rucksack to prevent the bottle from falling down inside the jacket. The other advantage is easy access to water without having to go to your rucksack.

• If storing the bottle within your jacket, keep in mind that this will drain body heat.
• To keep the water bottle from freezing without sacrificing body heat keep the water bottle in a 'water bottle parka'. These can be purchased at many outdoor retailers.
• You can also make these out of old "ensolite" sleeping pads by making a tube with a top and bottom.

Nalgene bottles such as this one advertises it "withstands sub-freezing to boiling temperatures". Just be sure to not fill it completely as the cap will pop and potentially split the side of the bottle if a perfectly full nalgene bottle freezes completely through.

For a good practical review of different storage vessels and their performance in freezing conditions, see this excellent article

posted almost 13 years ago

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Graham‭

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If you burry your bottle in snow it should be less likely to freeze. The snow is a great insulator and burying the bottle completely should keep the heat from escaping. Essentially you are making a quinsy for you bottle (but much less effort!).

posted about 9 years ago

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Matt Murch‭

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Personally I'd recommend soft plastic type water bottles if they'll be frozen (though still check that this is ok with the manufacturer.) I've heard some people recommend Nalgene bottles for this, but have heard stories from more than one other source about them splitting when left to completely freeze. A softer plastic will allow for a bit of expansion when freezing - you could also squeeze it a bit when you add the water so it expands into its normal shape as it freezes.

As pointed out already, you can if you wish mix the water with a bit of alcohol to stop it freezing so easily, and you can also insulate the bottle with cloth / foil to try and keep as much heat in as possible.

posted almost 13 years ago

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berry120‭

626 reputation 52 134 77 0

In my experience, it generally works fine if I simply use cheap, lightweight water bottles (e.g., a 2-liter soda bottle), and put them inside my pack while I'm hiking. The surrounding material in the pack insulates the bottle from the cold air, and my body heats up the pack, so the water doesn't freeze. If the weather is very cold, I can use extra care in packing my pack so that the bottle is close to my body.

Some of the answers have suggested putting the bottle inside one's jacket or clothes. This seems like it would be extremely uncomfortable and impractical, especially with a large water bottle. In my experience (down to about 0 F or -20 C), this isn't necessary, and the water stays unfrozen inside the pack, if it's close to my body.

If I need water to stay unfrozen overnight in cold temps, I can put the bottle inside the tent or even inside the sleeping bag -- but in this situation I'm probably depending on melted snow for my drinking water anyway.

The most common problem I've seen during the day while hiking is that when people use platypus-style bladders with a mouth tube, the water inside the tube freezes. This is one of the many disadvantages of these systems, and it's one of the many reasons I don't use them.

posted over 10 years ago

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Ben Crowell‭

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British Army only has one type of water bottle (1958 Pattern). Used in all climates, from the equator to the poles. Cold weather instructions ; "INVERT THE BOTTLE" ! If in prolonged/extreme cold weather 'invert the bottle after filling to a 85/90 % capacity. Works in Norway, Canada and Afghanistan winters.

posted about 5 years ago

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Clive Dunning‭

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Why exactly do you need to carry frozen water?

1. If the temperature is about 0 C, the water will not freeze for a long time anyway.
2. If it is way below 0 C, than you are probably having snow nearby, which you can perfectly use for cooking. You can melt snow during your breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you want to avoid spending time on boiling at lunch, take a thermos with some hot tea from breakfast. In a good thermos it will remain quite warm for a half of a day.
3. If temperature in the evening is above 0 C and in the morning all the running water gets frozen (typical in mountain trips), fill some plastic bottles with the running water in the evening and put them inside your tent. Depending on the temperature you may need to put some of them inside your sleeping bag (well, that's life).

posted over 10 years ago

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Steed‭

91 reputation 1 39 10 0

Interesting topic. For what it's worth (lots of interesting comments above already):

• If I am winter camping, I'll usually boil all or most of my water for the next day in the evening (so I don't have to take out my stove in the morning, hence I can unpack faster, though that means cold breakfast). I usually keep it in my sleeping back (something like 3-4 liters). If it's really cold out, I wrap the bottle inside light clothes. If it's relatively warm, I wrap it in lots of cloths. This way it helps be keep warm thrue the night without making me sweat. Or you can wrap it in cloths, & then in you backpack. It'll be luckwarm in the morning/slightly warm still. If it's likely to be super cold the next morning, then I don't prepare all the water so that I have boiling water when I leave. user proper Nalgene bottles for that though - you don't want to roll over a PET bottle and have it explode in your bag in the middle of the night...

• I don't think it necessary at all the get insulated anything just for the purpose of keeping water warm. Insulation is bulky and it's yet more stuff to carry. You can achieve the same by wrapping it in clothes & putting it in your backpack close to your back (e.g. not at the end, and not at the very bottom either - ideally mid-way). I usually keep one/two bottles closer to the middle of my back (warmer). Their goal is to stay unfroze all day. Then I have one closer to the top for easier access (but not at the very top of the bag, it'll freeze fast there). It's a bit of a hassle to wrap/unwrap the bottle every time but you save weight & space.

• I'm skeptical about the alcool addition trick. It's a diuretic, meaning you'll retain less body fluid, and it's a vaso dilatator, so you're loosing more heat. If the amount needed is really, really small, I guess it doesn't have much of an effect, but not that loss of fluid & loss of heat will start way before you're drunk, so you may not need a big amount for it to be an overall bad idea. I think you can achieve much the same with sugar/salt/powdered juices. A little bit will slow down freezing, and it will also help for energy/electrolytes (and it tastes good).

• Also not necessarily a fan of the in-the-coat trick. Not so comfortable, likely to make you sweat which is bad....

posted almost 8 years ago

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Francky_V‭

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500 ml and 20 oz water bottles from a convenience store will freeze without breaking. You can carry them inside your clothes, in your pack next to your body, and keep them inside your sleeping bag to help keep them from freezing.

posted almost 13 years ago

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xpda‭

271 reputation 1 73 27 0

Go to your nearest military surplus store and ask if they have any arctic water bottles.

These water bottles are made out of aluminum, they are generally round. They are fairly good to hold a lot of water for their size, the water should last about a day or two before we need to be filled (Depending on how much water you drink).

They will never freeze. I've tried these things out at 40 below zero and still haven't been able to get one to freeze solid. I have one in my winter gear and one in My pickup truck (for if I get stranded in the winter) and also one extra.

These water bottles are the same water bottles used by the US military for down in Antarctica

posted over 10 years ago

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Emile Ingleesis‭

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It's also a good idea when camping in freezing weather to pour some water into your cooking pot before going to sleep so that if it freezes overnight it will freeze in the pot rather than the container. It's a lot easier then to melt the ice in the pot rather than the container when you wake up in the morning and want the water for breakfast or a hot drink!

posted over 10 years ago

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Paul Lydon‭

201 reputation 2 64 20 0

We've been using flexible Platypus reservoirs and have had no trouble thus far. I have knitted an insulation tube (six-stitch I-cord in a sport weight wool) that runs the entire length of the drinking tube-- that's where we've seen the most issues with freezing because of the enormous surface area of the tube. When the reservoir isn't in my pack, it's near me staying as warm as I can keep it.

posted almost 13 years ago

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Clare Steen‭

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