Anyone have experience with the insulating sleeves they sell for hydration tubes to keep them from freezing up in the winter? Once it gets below 10F the usual tricks like using hot water, energy drink instead of water, drink every five minutes to keep the ice from forming still fail after 2+ hours in the elements and tube is frozen solid. Blow back doesn't work with my bite valve either...
I usually blow back or squeeze the valve and hold the tube up in the air to let the fluid drain back into the bladder. The insulating thingy helps but the the valve itself can get iced up. Very frustrating -- usuallly have to take the valve off and fiddle with it.
Yeah, its a problem below 10 degrees and on long runs. Another thing I do that works (on those long cold runs) is tuck the tube inside whatever I'm wearing; or actually wear the whole camelback under my outer layer.
It gets below 10 degrees? Ick.
~Sara It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great. ~ Jimmy Dugan
It's all mental. Sometimes after a real cold snap for a few weeks, 10 degrees feels balmy.
A friend of mine went to a hardware store and bought something like:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_24433-1410-P11XB/6_0__?productId=3133245&Ntt=frost+king&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dfrost%2Bking&facetInfo=
...and made his own. It seemed to work well for him and was very inexpensive.
Live the Adventure. Enjoy the Journey. Be Kind. Have Faith!
Kalsarikännit
I've seen people use aluminum foil. I have no idea if this works. I have tried the blow back method and it doesn't work at all.
If I was to buy any accessory for my hydration bladder it would be a cleaner for the tube. Eek, it gets nasty. (Of course I am wildly irresponsible about cleaning it as soon as I am done with it).
I want to do it because I want to do it. -Amelia Earhart
A friend of mine went to a hardware store and bought something like: http://www.lowes.com/pd_24433-1410-P11XB/6_0__?productId=3133245&Ntt=frost+king&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dfrost%2Bking&facetInfo= ...and made his own. It seemed to work well for him and was very inexpensive.
I went to home depot looking for something like this. Smallest they had was 3/4". Looks like this one is the same. I really want 1/4"-1/2" to avoid the extra bulk. Just a goofy preference of mine but I don't like a lot of extra bulges/bulk...