Nalgene botles

I always have one with me in my Maxpedition Jumbo. Last weekend I left bag & bottle in the car overnight (by mistake) along with a bottle of a name brand bottled water in the cup holder. We have had numerous night of below freezing weather(usually around 15-18 degrees).To my suprise the water in the Nalgene bottle,while cold,did not freeze and as expected the bottled water did. This weekend I had two Nalgene bottles-and left one unattended on the back seat.This morning my girlfriend thought the water would be frozen when I opened the door (she had no idea it was there-I was leaving and putting my pack in the back seat) and was suprised when it wasn't. From my perspective it's good to know that even at 18 degrees the water is still drinkable (although I do know that the car temp inside is higher than outside-I figured it was probably only about a ten degree increase than outside. Does anyone know at what temp (outside of a car) water in a Nalgene bottle will freeze?

My best guess is the car was at above freezing for long enough to keep the water liquid. Many mornings I have woken up with frozen nalgene water.

If you are camping overnight in snow shove the bottle upside down into a pile of snow. The snow gives a little insulation and the freezing will start at the bottom. In the morning turn the bottle right side up and hopefully you will have a of liquid water on "top" of the ice.

Cameron

32 degrees



<img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I can guarantee that water in a Nalgene will freeze at 32F (0C). This is basic physics.

What you are seeing is that it takes time for the water in the bottle to lose its heat and reach 32F. The Nalgene (white PVC I expect) has less thermal conductivity due to its thickness than the very thin plastic of the bottled water container.

There are other solutions for freezing ranging from thermos bottles to insulated bottle holders to tucking your water bottle into your shirt to keep it from freezing. I prefer to put hot water into my bottle before tucking it into my shirt and then going to bed while winter camping :-)

unimogbert

My bedroom growing up was in the least insulated corner of the house, and had the oldest windows. I woke up many mornings to reach up for my nalgene and find it had some ice in it just from sitting on the window still with outside air temps below -20F. (My old room is affectionatly known as the "meat locker" for a reason.)

Unless you are supercooling your liquids (pretty hard to do actually), nalgenes fill with ice when thier contents drop below the freezing point. But lexan actually isn't very conductive from a thermal perspective.

Actually, supercooling (in the freezing point depression sense) isn't hard at all. Just pour in some salt (bleck!), sugar (yumm!), Kool-Aid, etc. Any water solution like this will have a freezing point that is lower than 32° F (0° C).

I mean without additions. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> The trick of cooling water to about 25 degrees, which can be done if it is utterly pure and has absolutlely no jiggling. As soon as you tap it, it turns into a solid block of ice.

I know it CAN be done, but I've never succeeded. I'm still trying though- it would be as impressive a "stupid water trick" as tossing a coffee mug's worth of boiling water in the air at 20 below with no wind- it turns into snow instantly.

I put a bottle of coke in the freezer for an hour or two (actually, I don't remember for how long). I was monitoring it to make sure it didn't freeze. When I saw ice crystals in there, I took it out to drink. When I was a kid, I used to go to the little mom & pop store after school and sometimes, I would buy a coke. Ok, I am dating myself here (at least not carbon dating)...I think they had only bottled drinks and no cans. Anyway, the drinks when in the top opening refridgerators that were really cold and the drinks always had ice crystals in them. That was the best temperature to me.

So I thought I would try and duplicate that with some bottled coke. Anyway, fast foward. I took the soda out of the freezer when I started to see a few ice crystals. When I opened it, the soda froze. Not one solid piece of ice bit thousands of little ice chunks with some liquid.

The same thing happened with some of my wife's lychee flavored sake.

Iced drinks without watered down flavor!

I don't think I will try that any more as there is a risk of the bottle exploding in the freezer. (my safety disclaimer)

Does that mean I should change my user name to "cold blast?" No offense to the one and only original Blast.

Funny, My room was like that growing up... so was the bathroom come to think of it! When I remember things like this I don't miss vermont quite as much as I normally do... even if there is an image of Camel's Hump on my desktop

Bah! It puts hair on your chest.

*tugs down shirt collar to prove it*

It is a time issue on how quickly the water will freeze. You had moved the car, so the inside temp of the air was not 32° F, so all that air/interior materials had to cool to 32° F before the water started to freeze, and the whole engine/exhaust system would also have to cool for the whole car to become cold enough to let the water inside cool. So it will take a lot longer to freeze. But if you had not driven the car in days and it was 32° F it would take the same amount of time as if you set it outside to freeze.

I'm Italian... don't need any help in that area!

Did I mention it was 70F+ today :P