Camelbacks, how long are they reliable?

Here's something I've always wondered about this wonderfully practical water carrying devices. How long can you actually store your water in there before you need to change it?
I've heard different things about the plastic in the bladder and their obviously not meant for long term storage, buy how long in days or weeks should you feel safe using this water?
I have a couple of this perticular model
Camelback

Thnxs

I would estimate a month or two as long as you purified it with drops before you drink it. Plastic leakage into the water could not be worse than eating at mcdonalds.

I'm an avid mountain biker and have several Camelbacks that I use. Count on a week or two at best before the algea starts to grow. Cooler / colder weather will get you closer to the two week mark. Another trick I've learned is once you've filled the bladder, flip it upside down and suck all the air out of the bag.

Originally posted by wiredamerican
I would estimate a month or two as long as you purified it with drops before you drink it. Plastic leakage into the water could not be worse than eating at mcdonalds.

Probably need a whole new thread for this one but, how dangerous is plastic leakage. I feel it's nothing more than a nusiance but is it?

@ Surfinguru
That's a good trick actually, it'll probably give less chance for some things to grow.

@Watchrider
I think thats actually part of this thread and I'm very interested in ti as I've never heard the short term vs long term effects.

I've had a few Hydrapacks and Camelbacks turn green on me.
They're a pain to keep clean.

The best I've had to date is the bladder from a Dakine pack I got for mountain biking. I've had it for 3 years now and the reservoir is still clean.

Also, the reservoir I got with my Deutor commuter bag is still clean. One of them is Nalgene, I forget which.

But the bladders from Camelback and Hydrapack suck. This was a few years ago though so maybe they've changed.

A green bladder is so gross.

Time for another one of Nirgal's stupid questions:

Why would you want to long-term store water in something that you would use in a day-to-day situation such as hiking?

Surely better off storing it in a solar shower, if at all?

Originally posted by Nirgal
Time for another one of Nirgal's stupid questions:

Why would you want to long-term store water in something that you would use in a day-to-day situation such as hiking?

Surely better off storing it in a solar shower, if at all?

Actually I never thought of it as long term storage. I realized you could get stuck in a situation when it's all you have to keep yourself alive.
I'll elaborate on my particular situation. I like to keep one of my camelbacks in the trunk of my car, sometimes (and I admit this is embarrassing) I forget to change the water. Last time the water was 2 weeks old and I realized that if I screw up like this again I could be traveling with bad quality water (or not).
That's why I raised the question.

I keep all my long term storage in glass bottles inside boxes so the light can't get to them.

EDIT by the way that's not a stupid question at all...

[edit on 27-2-2009 by TheDarkFlame]