Vargo fuel bottle

[Whiteburn]

My favourite fuel bottle has been the Vargo 8oz bottle fitted with a turret style spout cap....until today. Filling another smaller bottle from the contents I heard a 'crack', after emptying the bottle I gave it another squeeze & the bottle disintegrated.



This mirrors my experience with a ~10yrs old 250ml HDPE Nalgene which I had used for toting the other form of alcohol but with only intermittent filling. The Vargo bottle is of similar age (~10 yrs) & had been routinely stored full of alcohol, I've other LDPE/ MDPE/ HPDE bottles that are 20+ yrs old but haven't had any alcohol in them that are fine. The LDPE material is reportedly OK for ethanol (& the other common fuel contaminants) but it would appear NOT for the long term.
Consequently I'll be replacing my other Vargo bottle (with the same) so as not to risk a failure in the field & subsequently replacing my LDPE/ MDPE/ HPDE fuel bottles every 5 years or so.

 

[Baldy]

i've got one that i'll probably never use if you'd like it?

 

[dovidola]

Useful report thanks. The Vargo is my favourite fuel container, so as I've been using mine about 5 years I'll keep a close eye and maybe renew it. Mine is stored empty, so perhaps that helps?

tbh I'd not expect a plastic bottle of this type to last forever - although I imagined something in the lid assembly would be first to fail. Sure beats gas canisters though...

 

[Whiteburn]

i've got one that i'll probably never use if you'd like it?

I'm OK thanks......I found at least half a dozen ~250ml bottles in the shed that I've stashed....just in case.

 

[Whiteburn]

....tbh I'd not expect a plastic bottle of this type to last forever - although I imagined something in the lid assembly would be first to fail. Sure beats gas canisters though...

It maybe my imagination but the bottle that broke seemed to feel a bit stiffer that a new bottle, perhaps age & ethanol exposure is 'changing' the plastic .....the turret caps are still 100% leak tight though.

 

[tom]

Thanks for the alert - this vargo is also my preferred fuel bottle and I'll better check mine. I've had other older plastic containers crack on me similarly but not thought of essentials like a fuel bottle. It seems even quality plastic hardens and gets brittle with aging....

 

[Robert P]

My favourite fuel bottle has been the Vargo 8oz bottle fitted with a turret style spout cap....until today. Filling another smaller bottle from the contents I heard a 'crack', after emptying the bottle I gave it another squeeze & the bottle disintegrated.

View attachment 36555

This mirrors my experience with a ~10yrs old 250ml HDPE Nalgene which I had used for toting the other form of alcohol but with only intermittent filling. The Vargo bottle is of similar age (~10 yrs) & had been routinely stored full of alcohol, I've other LDPE/ MDPE/ HPDE bottles that are 20+ yrs old but haven't had any alcohol in them that are fine. The LDPE material is reportedly OK for ethanol (& the other common fuel contaminants) but it would appear NOT for the long term.
Consequently I'll be replacing my other Vargo bottle (with the same) so as not to risk a failure in the field & subsequently replacing my LDPE/ MDPE/ HPDE fuel bottles every 5 years or so.

My Speedster 250ml bottle (only lightly used) split on the first day of my Skye Trail walk (just under the screw thread). Fortunately I had not lost too much fuel and had a spare water bottle into which I decanted the alcohol, otherwise I'd have been in a tricky situation.



I suspect that it was damaged in transit rather than on trail, but nevertheless it does make me wonder if more flexible (LDPE?) bottles would be a more reliable option. I have the the small Coghlans bottles, which are good and reliable, but it is less easy to find larger sizes in the material