Table of Contents

Can You Put a Hydration Bladder In Any Backpack?

So, Can You Put a Hydration Bladder In Any Backpack? In most cases it’s quite a simple job to put an hydration bladder into any backpack , to turn your old backpack into a water hydration pack.

The water bladder is used to hold the drink of your choice, it could be water, juice, energy drinks whatever you want. Because the liquid is contained in the bladder, everything else stored in your backpack, clothes etc. will remain perfectly dry.

Most water hydration bladders are made out of some form of plastic or polythene with a sealed screw cap at the top to fill the bladder with your preferred drink and a rubber tube or hose attached to the bottom of the bladder so the fluid can be easily drawn up into your mouth through a bite valve.

Hydration bladders are available in a wide range of sizes from 1 litre up to 5 litre and can be found in a large number of sports and outdoor camping outlets. When buying a new hydration bladder, make sure that you buy a bladder that can hold sufficient fluid for your needs, it’s probably better to go for a larger capacity bladder rather than ones that are too small so that you don’t run out of your drink. But it’s also worth remembering that, the bigger the bladder capacity the heavier it will be to carry if filled to full capacity.

Once you have your new bladder, simply insert the hydration bladder into a suitable sized pocket, either on the inside or the outside of your backpack that can accommodate the new hydration bladder, ensuring the outlet tube is at the bottom and the filler cap at the top, then attach the drinking tube and bite valve to the shoulder strap of your backpack with the clip provided.

Keeping your Hydration Bladder Clean

It’s extremely important to remember to always keep your hydration bladder and drinking tube and bite valve clean. This will prevent any kind of bacteria growing inside them, that could cause you to become unwell. Bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli very easily. Norovirus, a pathogen that causes particularly nasty cases of food poisoning The most common cause of mold in a hydration reservoir is residual sugar from sugary drinks, if you stick to just plain water, there will be less mold growth.

Mold also thrives in warm conditions, so, always ensure they have been washed and dried out and try not to leave your hydration kit in a warm car or warm room overnight, with drink left inside it. The best thing to do, is empty the bladder as soon as possible after use and thoroughly clean and dry it out.

To clean the bladder

To clean the bladder, rinse the bladder and tube out after every use, using soapy water or other cleaning products such as baking soda, and lemon juice or Milton cleaning fluid. Remember to store the bladder away with no liquid still inside it, were bacteria can grow and that the inside of the bladder is fully dried out. This can be done easily by turning the bladder inside out and hanging it upside down to dry out. You can also buy drying racks that will also do an excellent job, if you will not be using your hydration pack for a while you could store it inside the freezer, this will prevent any bacteria growth.

There are many cleaning kits and tablets that will assist you in cleaning your hydration kit.

Hydration Bladder Cleaning Kit

There are a variety of hydration cleaning kits and cleaning tablets available. You can buy Hydration Bladder Cleaning Kits quite inexpensively, that Include a reservoir cleaning brush, drinking tube cleaning brush and drying rack such as the, TAGVO Hydration Bladder Cleaning Kit for Universal Water Reservoir and are well worth investing in.

Hydration Bladder Cleaning Tablets

There are also Hydration Bladder Cleaning Tablets these will ensure your drinking bladder is perfectly safe and clean. The tablets can also be used to sterilize your drinking bottles and again are relatively inexpensive.

Conclusion

Yes, you can quite easily and cheaply retro fit an hydration pack to your backpack, but there are many backpacks available on the market that come complete with hydration kits already installed and ready to go. You can also buy replacement hydration packs if your old one has either perished or started leaking or is even moldy or has mold marks that can’t be removed.