We bought one of those 5 gallon plastic water cubes last year to use on car-campers and paddle-ins (the collapsible heavy plastic clear ones).
At first, the water we put in it from home tasted fine when we re-poured it and drank it. Now, in the 2nd season of use, the water from it tastes, well, plastic-y.
Am I supposed to clean the cube in any certain way? Been rinsing and air drying it as best as possible. The nozzle area isn’t very big so getting a brush in it would not be easy, and I’m afraid if I put any soap in it, I’ll never get all the suds out.
Should I just get a new one, or use something else?
We don’t have a water filter (yet), so right now, that’s not the issue.
Can or should this plastic water cube be saved for more use?
Never had that problem. After paying
for them, we have been using a poly container that originally held saline for hospital use. It also has not started tasting bad.
My surmise is that the water you have been using has something in it that goes “off.”
Hmmm, it’s the tap water from home
Yup, Lake Erie water.
I had similar problems…
…with a new water filter and it turns out that it is my treated tap water causing a bad taste. I was tasting the chemicals put in the water, not plastic.
Tom
What I do
I rinse them out periodically with a small amount of chlorine bleach mixed into a full container of water. Drain them thru the spigot. Then run a couple of plain water fills thru it. Then another rinse w/o the spigot on. If you are still concerned about a bit of bleach in the spigot after that, just run it under a faucet.
Like noted above, the only time I’ve had a chemical taste is when it was in the tap water itself.
That’s just those peskys BPAs
Someone commented on my
Reliant 2.5 gal cube too.
I plan on giving it a good soaking with baking soda to see if it reduces the taste. I will check, but I believe it is made of low-density polyethylene, which is BPA-free and has been for the 30 or more years that Reliant has been making these.
Jim
Try Listerine / Baking Soda mixture
It’ll kill the germs AND odors and its safe to ingest (In SMALL doses)…
Try a sphere
Great for weighting the bow of a tandem
paddled solo.
I was thinking the same thing (nm)
Try this
Polident or similar denture cleanser. This also works well with Camelbak bladders, dromedary bags such as MSR and Nalgines and is also a disinfectant that will kill 99.9% of bacteria. Warm water and drop a tablet in. Do not seal or you will have a small explosion on your hands.
UV rays eventually will break down the thin clear poly plastic so keep them in the shade when possible
Ditto on the denture cleansers.
I was recently informed of the fact that it works on camelbacks and similar devices. Never tried it though.
Tom
Minty, Fresh Taste!
Jim