Best Way to clean Waterbottles?

[TrekMad]

I seem to be on a losing battle with mine!

[Paulatic]

Dishwasher gives me best result

[pjclinch]

Dishwasher does for me too.

If that's not enough then sterilising tablets for baby milk bottles are generally held to be a good way to go about it.

Pete.

[Rich_Clements]

Another vote for dishwasher here

[reohn2]

It depends on what you put in them,I find very hot water from the tap good enough,with a little w/up liquid on a sponge for the top,but I rarely put anything in but water,so no sugars,etc for cultures and nasties to grow in.

[Vantage]

I use a baby bottle cleaning brush for regular cleaning and once in a while, I'll drop a sterilising tablet in.
The biggest problem I have is if I use glucose powder in my drinks and forget to rinse the bottle for a few days I get that horrible mould building up. In which case a sponge with a scouring pad and swish it around with a wooden spoon or something.
My oldest bottles are near 4 years old and still sparkly clean.

[Mick F]

It depends on what you put in them,I find very hot water from the tap good enough,with a little w/up liquid on a sponge for the top,but I rarely put anything in but water,so no sugars,etc for cultures and nasties to grow in.

+1

Dishwasher?
Never owned one, and don't expect to either.

If I were worried about nasties in my bottle and mouthpiece, I'd soak them in Milton or similar to sterilise them.

[beardy]

Use of a bottle brush and occasionally scraping off growths in the cracks gently with a long blunted ended knife.

I have bottles like these
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/scie ... lsrc=aw.ds
and the teat can be pulled out and given a clean with an old toothbrush (a new one if your not fussy ) and returned.

At home they get (hand)washed with the dishes after being used then left open to dry, on tour they get progressively dirtier especially if you use powders with funny compounds in them.

The outsides now have residues from the bottle cages and road grit that are too ingrained to ever be removed. I just scrub off the fresh stuff with a nylon scourer.

[Redvee]

I just pour hot water from a freshly boiled kettle into bottle and underside of cap then squirt the hot water out through the nozzle. Will add some washing up liquid 2-3 times a week and do same.

[colin54]

Denture tablet and warm water overnight , squeeze a bit through the nozzle once the tablet has dissolved to sanitise it.

[james01]

I gave up years ago using bike bottles because of cleaning/hygiene concerns . I now use discarded 1 litre cordial bottles, usually Robinsons Blackcurrant which my family seem to like. The standard cage fits perfectly. It takes a bit of rinsing to flush out the clinging taste of artificial sweetener, but I've then got a food-industry standard drinks container for nothing which I use for around a month. And unscrewing the lid while cycling isn't difficult

[Brucey]

dishwasher = perfect results every time

before I worked this out, I'd poisoned myself several times (mostly hidden crud in the valves, I think) and had almost given up using conventional bottles as per the post above.

cheers

[al_yrpal]

I dont think I have ever cleaned mine in years and I never use anything but water from the mains cold tap. I do swish clean water around the bottle every now and then. I did have a growth in one bottle once and that bottle had contained one of those electrolyte tablets in the water. For that reason I never use tablets because they are totally unecessery because all the salts you need are found in normal food. I never suffer from stomach upsets.

Al

[Tangled Metal]

I spent a bit more for an elite bottle. Found out the rubber bung comes out for cleaning. Makes it easier to keep clean. Also used water bottles with sports tops. Cheap enough to buy once then you can use until you get a taste taint or it goes mouldy. Just throw into recycling and buy another. Available in 500 and 750ml that fits my cage and probably yours too. Perhaps even 1l ones work but I just go with 750ml ones.

[TrekMad]

I've got an Elite bottle, how on earth do you get the bung out !*?