Susan and I rode together on Sunday for 20 miles. We used our insulated water bottles for the first time. We each used one 21oz. Camelback Podium Chill bottle and one 24oz. regular water bottle. We rode for almost 2 hours through our neighborhood in the heat of the day and quickly noticed that the insulated bottles really did the trick. The water was much cooler in the insulated bottles, but how much? After we finished out ride I thought I'd do a test. I took the same water bottles, ice cubes, cold tap water, a wrist watch, fan, and Bonjour laser thermometer.
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| Ice, water bottles, thermometer, and water |
I put 16 ice cubes in each water bottle then topped off each to the rim with cold water. The Camelback bottle actually holds 22oz of fluid and the regular bottle actually holds 25oz to the rim. I placed both bottles outside in the shade on the deck in front of a fan. I turned the fan on low.
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| Fan, watch, thermometer, and water bottles |
The temperature of the deck was 89 degrees when I started my test. After 30 minutes I shook the contents of each bottle and measured the temperature of the water. All the ice cubes in the uninsulated bottle had melted and the water temperature was 59 degrees. The insulated bottle still has ice present and the water temperature was 42 degrees. I went for a run. When I came back 1 hour and 52 minutes had passed. The deck temperature was now 83 degrees. The water in the uninsulated bottle was 84 degrees. I don't know how it measured higher than the deck. The water in the insulated bottle measured 62 degrees.
There you have it, after almost 2 hours the water in the insulated bottle was still 20 degrees cooler than the air temperature. These results would probably vary if the bottles were placed in the sun and if they were subject to constant shaking as they would when placed on a bike.
We'll be buying a few more insulated bottles soon.
