smelly reusable water bottles! Ew!

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EuroReady
EuroReady Posts: 199 Member
in Food and Nutrition
This might sound silly but I need some tips: I like to buy reusable water bottles, since I like to carry and drink water constantly. Usually I only fill them with filtered water and rarely, if ever, add any flavors. I wash them out constantly and give them time to dry too. But after about a week or two they start to smell! And I can't get rid of it! What am I doing wrong?

And in my mind, repeatedly buying and throwing out reusable bottles defeats the purpose anyway. There has to be a solution to the smell!

Replies

  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    are you using plastic? i used to have that problem with the plastic ones. for some reason the water would end up tasting like onions even though i never put onion in the bottles!

    now i switched to the stainless steel ones you can get just about anywhere. BIG difference. i've been using this same water bottle since november and no stink
  • jillyjelly
    jillyjelly Posts: 148 Member
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    well I heard to use only reusable for 2-4 days top but I use a water bottle and I rinse out every day but for Now I wash i out every week
  • mhotch
    mhotch Posts: 901 Member
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    are you using plastic? i used to have that problem with the plastic ones. for some reason the water would end up tasting like onions even though i never put onion in the bottles!

    now i switched to the stainless steel ones you can get just about anywhere. BIG difference. i've been using this same water bottle since november and no stink

    I agree, I never have a problem with the stainless steel ones.
  • Trail_Addict
    Trail_Addict Posts: 1,350 Member
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    fill with water and a TBsp of baking soda.
  • Barrett18
    Barrett18 Posts: 16
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    Fill the water bottle with water and about a fourth a cup of baking soda and let it sit overnight. This usually takes care of the smell in my water bottles. Make sure to shake it up so the baking soda sort of dissolves in the water.
  • hazelnut861
    hazelnut861 Posts: 390 Member
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    I prefer the metal ones and I think they stay cold longer. Use a baby bottle brush to wash it.
  • EuroReady
    EuroReady Posts: 199 Member
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    Yeah, they are plastic. I had a metal years ago, but it would make the water taste metallic. It's been a while though, maybe I should get one and try again! Thanks for the suggestion.
  • JeepBaja
    JeepBaja Posts: 1,824 Member
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    I had the same issue with plastic... I would buy a bottle of water then re-fill at the water cooler at work. After a few days it would get funky... So I bought a nice aluminum bottle and no problems, plus the water stays cool a lot longer.
  • kiminikimkim
    kiminikimkim Posts: 746 Member
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    It's the backwash from taking a swig of water for a drink that transfers your mouth bacteria to the inner lining of the plastic bottle. I don't recommend drinking out of translucent plastic because sunlight helps the bacteria multiply. Get a stainless steel bottle instead.

    Clean your bottle thoroughly.
  • Chevex117
    Chevex117 Posts: 1
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    I've had this issue with every single plastic water bottle I've ever owned. I don't know if you have similar issues to me, but I'm bad about using mouth wash on a regular basis. Simply brushing my teeth isn't enough. If you have bad breath or don't clean your mouth out thoroughly on a regular basis then it makes plastic water bottles smell so much worse so much more quickly.

    For some reason the bacteria-laiden saliva that you end up coating the mouthpiece with gets inside the porous plastic well enough that it becomes EXTREMELY difficult to wash out. I can scrub and scrub and scrub my plastic water bottles with soap and scorching hot water, but nothing gets rid of it completely except baking soda or heavy duty cleaning solutions; even then you HAVE to soak it for a period of time in order for the cleaning solution to penetrate the porous plastic. Even dishwasher safe plastic still smells funky after coming out of a load.

    I had more success when I started paying super close attention to the cleanliness of my mouth. I started taking mouthwash to work and that helped a lot. However, I've definitely had the greatest success with stainless steel. It's simply not porous and does not let saliva filled with bacteria stick to it the way plastic does. You can wash a stainless steel water bottle in soap and hot water and pretty much be guaranteed to always remove the funk.
  • FireOpalCO
    FireOpalCO Posts: 641 Member
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    Are you using a model with a straw? How well are you disassembling them? If you are using something like a Camelbak you need to really clean the straw and take apart the mouthpiece to clean it. Make sure you are removing any inner rings and getting them clean.

    I found that style to be such a pain to keep clean I changed to a Tervis water bottle.
  • rljohnsufl
    rljohnsufl Posts: 48
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    I switched to a Klean Kanteen stainless steel water bottle. The plastic ones always seemed to taste funny. I'm an environmental scientist, and through my work I've been learning more about how much plastics leach into our food and water.

    Regardless of what bottle you use, I do think it needs to be washed with soap and hot water from time to time. Bottle brushes can help you scrub the gunk away. I even have a brush for straws, because I use metal straws now.
  • AllOutof_Bubblegum
    AllOutof_Bubblegum Posts: 3,646 Member
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    Spritz them with white vinegar and let air dry overnight. It got rid of the perma-rot stench coming from my shaker protein bottles.

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