What dark magic is preventing my water bottle from thawing?
June 20, 2022 1:17 AM Subscribe
I have 2 Kleen Kanteen water bottles". On Saturday, I filled them with water and stuck them in the freezer. Even after spending a few hours in the sun, and then the whole night on my kitchen counter with the cap off, there is still an ice plug that's preventing water from flowing out. How?
It's been very hot here this last week. I was planning a long bike ride for Sunday, and in anticipation of 34C/94F heat, I put my 2 water bottles in the freezer the day before. I've done this before, and usually the ice slowly melts, providing me with some lovely cold water on hot rides.
About an hour in to my ride, in the blazing heat, I finished the first bottle (which stayed nice and cold). I broke open the second bottle (which had been in a pannier). The surface of the water was completely frozen dome of ice, but turning the bottle, I heard water sloshing inside. And no water would pour, other than a few drops form the surface. Fine. I stuck it in the water bottle holder, and continued my ride, expecting it would melt. Nope.
30 minutes later, I stopped for a drink, and it was still a solid plug. I tried chipping away at it, but it was totally solid. I could hear the delicious sloshing, but couldn't get to the water. I was out in the middle of nowhere, but luckily I found a place to hydrate.
I got home, and it was still frozen, but a bit melted. Still a solid ice dome, however. So I left it on the kitchen counter overnight. It never dropped below 24C/75F in my apartment last night. This morning - still frozen! But much lower in the bottle. Right now, about 19 hours after taking it out of the freezer, 3 hours of which were spent in the hot, hot sun, and then another 16 sitting out in a hot apartment, WITHOUT A CAP, and it sill has a solid plug of ice.
Can anyone give me the science behind what's happening? My expectation is that, given the hot temperatures, it would have melted by now.
Some extra data points (don't know how relevant they are):
- It's plain old tapwater. But the tapwater here in Munich is very hard.
- I could hear the water sloshing when I took it out of the freezer, and thought it odd that after 24 hours, it still wasn't frozen.
- When putting it in the freezer, I used the kleen kanteen cafe cap. When I took it out and opened it, the inner pieces of the cap were frozen in place, and I had to pry them out.
It's been very hot here this last week. I was planning a long bike ride for Sunday, and in anticipation of 34C/94F heat, I put my 2 water bottles in the freezer the day before. I've done this before, and usually the ice slowly melts, providing me with some lovely cold water on hot rides.
About an hour in to my ride, in the blazing heat, I finished the first bottle (which stayed nice and cold). I broke open the second bottle (which had been in a pannier). The surface of the water was completely frozen dome of ice, but turning the bottle, I heard water sloshing inside. And no water would pour, other than a few drops form the surface. Fine. I stuck it in the water bottle holder, and continued my ride, expecting it would melt. Nope.
30 minutes later, I stopped for a drink, and it was still a solid plug. I tried chipping away at it, but it was totally solid. I could hear the delicious sloshing, but couldn't get to the water. I was out in the middle of nowhere, but luckily I found a place to hydrate.
I got home, and it was still frozen, but a bit melted. Still a solid ice dome, however. So I left it on the kitchen counter overnight. It never dropped below 24C/75F in my apartment last night. This morning - still frozen! But much lower in the bottle. Right now, about 19 hours after taking it out of the freezer, 3 hours of which were spent in the hot, hot sun, and then another 16 sitting out in a hot apartment, WITHOUT A CAP, and it sill has a solid plug of ice.
Can anyone give me the science behind what's happening? My expectation is that, given the hot temperatures, it would have melted by now.
Some extra data points (don't know how relevant they are):
- It's plain old tapwater. But the tapwater here in Munich is very hard.
- I could hear the water sloshing when I took it out of the freezer, and thought it odd that after 24 hours, it still wasn't frozen.
- When putting it in the freezer, I used the kleen kanteen cafe cap. When I took it out and opened it, the inner pieces of the cap were frozen in place, and I had to pry them out.
My guess is that the vacuum has failed on one bottle but not the other, so one is much more effective at insulating.
posted by rockindata at 5:06 AM on June 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by rockindata at 5:06 AM on June 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
My suggestion is that you try storing it upside down, so that the melted water is in contact with the ice. (If you were on your ride, I would have suggested risking storing it upside down in your pannier. Since you couldn't use it anyway, you would mostly have been risking flooding your pannier.)
posted by bluedaisy at 2:48 PM on June 20, 2022
posted by bluedaisy at 2:48 PM on June 20, 2022
FYI, freezing metal water bottles can cause them to deform or leak.
posted by metasarah at 4:56 PM on June 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by metasarah at 4:56 PM on June 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for the responses, but the question isn’t why is one bottle frozen and the other not frozen. It’s how it stayed frozen or icy for so long, even without the cap on, even on a very hot day. The bottle was sealed (on and off) for 3 hours, then left uncapped. Even after another 29 hours, there was still ice in the bottle.
I’ve used this bottle for years. My norm in a hot ride is to fill it with ice and water, and the Ice usually melts during the ride.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 11:29 PM on June 20, 2022
I’ve used this bottle for years. My norm in a hot ride is to fill it with ice and water, and the Ice usually melts during the ride.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 11:29 PM on June 20, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
In future I suspect you'd be better off putting a non-insulated jug of water in your fridge, and an ice cube tray in your freezer, then filling your insulated bottles with ice cubes and topping them up with cold water before you set off on your ride.
The ice cubes will come out of the freezer at maybe -18°C and the water will come out of the fridge at maybe 4°C, so depending on how efficiently the ice cubes pack into the bottle the average temperature inside might well end up below freezing point for some time. Just in case it does that, stow the insulated bottles in your panniers upside down so that any new ice that forms inside will float up into the bottom of the bottle instead of plugging the neck.
posted by flabdablet at 2:09 AM on June 20, 2022 [5 favorites]