Re: [Paddlewise] Heating Bottles

From: Michael Daly <mikedaly_at_magma.ca>
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:04:05 -0500
Robert Livingston wrote:
> I wonder if someone could confirm this experience about the Nalgene  
> bottles and clarify the issues with the various bottle plastics.

My only experience with the PE Nalgene bottles is that they become brittle over 
time regardless of what goes in them.  Whether hot water accelerates this is 
moot for me, since I gave up on these in favour of the polycarbonate (Lexan) 
versions.  Aside from embrittlement, the PE bottles make water taste yucky.

> The data that  
> Nalgene supplies implies that these bottles can deal with these  
> temperatures.

The only issue with the polycarbonate bottles and hot water is the leaching of 
(I forget the name) chemicals into the water.  Whether or not this represents an 
appreciable health risk was discussed a while back on this forum with several 
posters offering the opinion that it is a small risk.

Polycarbonate certainly can handle autoclave conditions without significant 
reductions in apparent material properties.  They can also handle freezing well 
- I know a lot of folks who put a Nalgene bottle nearly full of water in the 
freezer to provide cold water on a long hot day.  I haven't heard of one 
breaking due to ice expansion yet, but those I know make sure there's an air 
space in the bottle to take up some expansion.

Mike
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Received on Tue Dec 05 2006 - 12:04:16 PST

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