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Reviving Sawyer Squeeze

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    • Reviving Sawyer Squeeze

      Recently a clogged/low-flow Sawyer Squeeze was passed down to me by someone who simply bought a new one. Having restored my Sawyer Mini before with a vinegar soak and backflush with distilled water, I did that with the Squeeze and it seems to flow adequately well now. Should I do a backflush with bleach water before putting away for longer term? I don't typically do that with the Mini. What I do is shake it out as best I can after backflushing with distilled water, then let it dry out. (I soak in distilled water before leaving on a hike where I think I'll need it. Sounds like a hassle, but I'm rarely in a situation where water treatment is necessary ... I can usually just carry extra water between reliable sources).

      Reviewing what I can find online, I see that the YT-er "Backcountry Banter" recommended a bleach water backflush before long-term storage. I wonder if I should be doing that.

    • The vinegar soak removes the build up of minerals and calcium and such. Improves flow.
      The bleach kills the buggy stuff. So yes, I would run some distilled H2O with bleach in it thru the filter. Then shake out, dry out and store.
      Pirating – Corporate Takeover without the paperwork

    • Tap and trail water will have ions that form insoluble carbonates when it dries (hard water). This is what clogs the filter. Vinegar is acetic acid. This reacts with the carbonates (a base) to form carbonic acid, which is soluble amd washes away, or decomposes to form carbon dioxide (gas bubbles) and water. The remaining ions are now acetate salts which are soluble, so they too can be flushed out. This process can take some time, so prolonged soaking in several changes of vinegar are in order. Even if my filter is not clogged, I always do a vinegar soak/flush after a hike.

      The bleach flush will sanitize the filter to prevent mold from growing. But bleach contains sodium salts (hypochlorite, hydroxide, and chloride). Some of these are pretty corrosive and toxic and when it dries, these salts will be left behind as residues in your filter. They are more soluble than the carbonate residues from hard water, but I would not want these left in my filter for long term storage.

      So while a dilute bleach flush is OK for sanitation, I flush that out with lots of clean water to get out all the vinegar and bleach. The problem is you are flushing with tap water that reintroduces hard water ions that caused the problem in the first place.

      The solution is after several vinegar soaks and flushes and a dilute bleach rinse and thourough tap water flush, do a final flush with distilled water. Distilled water has no ions so it will completely evaporate. You have to buy a gallon of distilled water for this.

    • odd man out wrote:

      Tap and trail water will have ions that form insoluble carbonates when it dries (hard water). This is what clogs the filter. Vinegar is acetic acid. This reacts with the carbonates (a base) to form carbonic acid, which is soluble amd washes away, or decomposes to form carbon dioxide (gas bubbles) and water. The remaining ions are now acetate salts which are soluble, so they too can be flushed out. This process can take some time, so prolonged soaking in several changes of vinegar are in order. Even if my filter is not clogged, I always do a vinegar soak/flush after a hike.

      The bleach flush will sanitize the filter to prevent mold from growing. But bleach contains sodium salts (hypochlorite, hydroxide, and chloride). Some of these are pretty corrosive and toxic and when it dries, these salts will be left behind as residues in your filter. They are more soluble than the carbonate residues from hard water, but I would not want these left in my filter for long term storage.

      So while a dilute bleach flush is OK for sanitation, I flush that out with lots of clean water to get out all the vinegar and bleach. The problem is you are flushing with tap water that reintroduces hard water ions that caused the problem in the first place.

      The solution is after several vinegar soaks and flushes and a dilute bleach rinse and thourough tap water flush, do a final flush with distilled water. Distilled water has no ions so it will completely evaporate. You have to buy a gallon of distilled water for this.
      Most excellent information.

      I buy distilled water when I flush radiators on our cars. Our buy the pre-mix as it is also distilled water with the fluid at 50/50.
      And my diesel, the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) if bought in the 2.5 gallon containers at a parts store, is 2 gallons......distilled H2O and half a gallon of the uric (SP?) acid.
      Pirating – Corporate Takeover without the paperwork

    • rhjanes wrote:

      Most excellent information.
      I buy distilled water when I flush radiators on our cars. Our buy the pre-mix as it is also distilled water with the fluid at 50/50.
      And my diesel, the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) if bought in the 2.5 gallon containers at a parts store, is 2 gallons......distilled H2O and half a gallon of the uric (SP?) acid.
      Yes. In all these applications you don't want non volatile inorganic ions clogging things up.

    • I was not familiar with DEF so I Google it. It's actually just a Urea solution. Urea is a simple molecule, made by animals as a nitrogen waste product. Our metabolism produces nitrogen waste that must be excreted. Initially it is made as ammonia, but that is quite toxic, so we attach two ammonia molecules to a carbon dioxide to make Urea. This is not toxic amd water soluble so we can safely transport it in the blood to our kidneys which can eliminate it in urine. It is colorless and odorless.

      The Urea in DEF is converted back to ammonia in the catalytic converter. The ammonia reacts with nitrogen oxides (a exhaust pollutant) to make nitrogen gas amd water (natural components of air).

    • odd man out wrote:

      I was not familiar with DEF so I Google it. It's actually just a Urea solution. Urea is a simple molecule, made by animals as a nitrogen waste product. Our metabolism produces nitrogen waste that must be excreted. Initially it is made as ammonia, but that is quite toxic, so we attach two ammonia molecules to a carbon dioxide to make Urea. This is not toxic amd water soluble so we can safely transport it in the blood to our kidneys which can eliminate it in urine. It is colorless and odorless.

      The Urea in DEF is converted back to ammonia in the catalytic converter. The ammonia reacts with nitrogen oxides (a exhaust pollutant) to make nitrogen gas amd water (natural components of air).
      You found out a lot about it! I drive one and don't know this stuff. Knew it was something close to urine.....
      I do know when the truck cycles to burn off the soot, my chrome tailpipe gets a blueish tinge to it. Just wipes right off. I know my DEF tank is 7.5 gallons and if the truck gets to something like only the half gallon left, it de-powers until you fill it. I also know that filling up at our Buc-ee's the solution is HALF price compared to the 2.5 gallon containers at the parts stores. And at Buc-ee's, it pumps bulk so you can fill, buy a gallon, or 3.2 gallons. The stuff at the parts houses is all 2.5 gallons. I never know when the cycle is running, I just notice the blue tinge. And if you do a lot of idling and such, the exhaust doesn't get hot enough to do the cycle. There is a documented process to force the cycle, but sounds like a PIA. "Get in the truck, Start it, set this, rev it to 2000 RPM and leave it like that for 30 minutes....". There are tricks to let it run, but not driveable so I guess you can go into Waffle House while the truck is reving along burning the soot.
      Pirating – Corporate Takeover without the paperwork