storing gear

[RangerZ]

My spare third floor bathroom is my gear closet. Down sleeping bag loose in mesh bag, tent loose in stuff sack after drying for couple if days. Clothes on hangers on clothes hooks. Sawyer bags and filter bleached and drying in sink. Hiker box in plastic bin in bathtub with pack. Faithful companion Stick in basement because he gets well oiled after hikes. Boots on porch because that's where they come off after (sometime) daily walks.

[Mtsman]

I use wall hangers (the 3m no stick kind that can hold up to 3lbs) and have them all over my walls in my storage room. Almost all of my gear gets stored on each of those hooks after being cleaned and dried. All of my down stuff goes in big sacks to fluff out, my hammock is stored the same way, and anything that doesnt go on the hooks goes in a hiker box right below the hooks.

[Odd Man Out]

Bleach is a sodium salt so it would leave salt residue behind when it dries which will clog a filter. Same with tap water. I do a final rinse with distilled water.

[egilbe]

Shouldnt backflushing get rid of anything left in the filter on the dirty side? Regular use would get rid of anything on the clean side. I cant imagine bleach residue would damage the filter or sawyer wouldnt reccomend using it.

[squeezebox]

The membrane in a dialysis filter is delicate. I'll call Sawyer and see what they say about pre-storage treatment.

[Bronk]

8 ounces of bleach will treat 1000 gallons of water to give you an idea of how little is needed...more than a few drops to flush out a filter is overkill and may cause damage to the filter...but cholorine will evaporate over time...if the filter is put away wet and left for a long period I still think you'd probably have mold.

[Mtsman]

8 ounces of bleach will treat 1000 gallons of water to give you an idea of how little is needed...more than a few drops to flush out a filter is overkill and may cause damage to the filter...but cholorine will evaporate over time...if the filter is put away wet and left for a long period I still think you'd probably have mold.

I would agree with the mold statement here if you have a completely sealed container to keep it in OR you are in a very humid environment (the type of environment mold is a problem in everyday life). I keep my sawyer in a cuben fiber sack with one end open without any sign or worry of mold. Then again, I use my water filter more in a month than most of the population (not counting the WB folks, they are kind of addicts) does in a year so my opinion might not matter here.

The membrane in a dialysis filter is delicate. I'll call Sawyer and see what they say about pre-storage treatment.

I would love to hear about the findings on this squeezebox. Thank you!

[Five Tango]

So once a Sawyer is used,how do you dry out the inside before storing it?How do you know it it's dry?Wouldn't re-treating before putting it back in service kill any mold that may be in it?Not trying to drift the thread,I keep all my permethrin treated clothing in a garbage bag in my closet so I will know for SURE which socks and shirts are the treated ones.Untreated wool socks etc are in my regular drawers.

[nsherry61]

It is not realistic or necessary to dry out a Sawyer filter after use. You can shake out what water you can shake out, but the hollow fiber filter will pretty much never dry out unless you leave it heated and/or in a desiccator for an extended period of time. That is probably why Sawyer suggests treading the filter with dilute bleach. Since the filter will probably never dry out, bleach residue from dilute bleach is also probably not an issue, although, I always backflush my filter with clean water after bleaching.