Title says it all. Can you boil water in the aluminum water bottles(the ones that look like MSR fuel bottles)? Will they stand the heat? Seems like an easy backup for water purification if all else fails.

I don't see why not. Why wouldn't you think so? Aluminum has a much higher melting point than the boiling point of water. Just make sure you take the cap off first.

Isn't the Kelly Kettle made of aluminium?

In any event, you can boil water in a paper cup as long as the water is deep enough to cover the area being heated and you don't use an open flame, so I doubt that you would have a problem with AL.

Just make sure it isn't a double wall. If it is and you try to boil water, bad things will hapen. Of the boom variety.

Leo

I figured you could. It seems obvious (too obvious), but I have never heard anyone mention it. Seems like at least one of your bottles should be aluminum for just such use in a pinch.

Many a GI in WW II boild water or melted a block of ice that his canteen had becoome with no ill effects. In fact one of the advantages of a metal canteen is you cn heat it on a fire. After all it is a metal pot just with a very narow opening.

Duckear

I believe it's possible, but I would have to ask the question, how would you handle it. The base is relatively narrow compared to a kettle and there is no handle. So sitting one on a camp stove maybe doable, put taking it off, definitely calls for those work gloves everyone's being talking about. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Sigg coats the inside of their bottles that are intended for acidic liquids (other than water) and other drinks. You would want to make sure that the liner could take the heat and remain food grade. I believe the bottles meant for wine are coated with a ceramic compound that might just take the heat. It would be worth looking into.

I use a pliers-based multi-tool as a pauir of tongs for handling hot objects.

I would just lean it up against a rock next to my campfire. I am not wanting to do this routinely, only as a back-up if all else fails. I would move it away from the fire with a multitool or a bandana as a pot holder.

If I am going to hike with two nalgene bottles, why not replace one with an aluminum one and gain an additional method of purification at the cost of only an ounce or three?

I think the Sigg bottles are lighter than PC Nalgene bottles. The aluminum fuel bottles are not coated on the inside but the water bottles are. I think they use a flexible glass coating on the water bottles which may or may not take the heat. Sigg recommended against cooking in their anodized food boxes but I can see no reason not to....except for cosmetic reasons and possible warpage. The water bottles on the other hand do present a reasonable issue with the coating...who knows what happens to it if heated.

You could elect to use the bare aluminum fuel bottles for water however...no acidic liquids though

I looked last night and I can’t find the glass coated ones anymore. They seem to have changed to a baked-on enamel coating while I wasn’t watching. I am intrigued by this idea and would try it if it were that our nothing.

To make an effective bail on a SIGG bottle remove your paracord shoelaces. A timber hitch with each lace pushed together will provide sufficient friction to lift the bottle. Now you stand up with potable water, turn and twist your ankle. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

I was looking at some cheap ones at Sports Authority the other day. They appear uncoated on the inside. May have to do a little field testing!

Yes, you can, but the taste of the plastic liner is nasty! If you must I recommend burning the snot out of the liner and just leaving the aluminum behind.

After that nasty incident I've switched to titanium fuel/water bottles. I swear by them now!

-NIM

I normally carry two water bottles. One is a always a 40 oz stainless steel Kleen Kanteen. You can thaw frozen water easliy next to a fire or boil water in it. It slips into a stainless steal or titanium cup for transport in my Maxpidetion DevilDog's canteen pouches.

Just curious... what's wrong with a surplus G.I. canteen??? Cheap, tough, and you can wrap a stove and cup around it in a belt/pack pouch.

Troy

I that's all you want, just get one of the stailess mugs with folding handles that is designed to fit over the bottom of a 1 l. nalgene.

Besides, you can get nesty sruprises boiling anythin in any narrow mouth vessel.

Not a thing wrong with a GI canteen. I was AD Army for 9 1/2 years, and still have 3 or 4 1 qt and one 2 qt.

Just looking for other ways to do things.

Options and back-up plans are good things.

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

If that face was a question, the anwer is that a big bubble released by boiling from the bottom of the vessel can blow the liquid quite forcfully out of the narrow mouth.

Green branches also bend in to a nice pair of tongs ... not much on the BBQ grill but just fine for pulling things out of the fire. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Gotcha. It was a "question/confused" face.
Has this happened to you before?

Sure. In a florence flask.