I am just uploading a few photos on flickr to show you what I've come up with to insulate my bladder for long winter runs. I got the idea a while ago thinking about those Tim's boxes of coffee-to-go. I figured I needed an insulated bag of some kind for the bladder and some pipe wrap to insulate the hose, then some duct tape to cover the insulation and keep it neatly stuck.
This is a first prototype. I would like to find a better bag for the bladder and a better valve insulation, but for the time being it works and I'm not sure I'll have time to do a second prototype before my upcoming race in less than 3 weeks. Anyway, here's the skinny...
I started with 1 thermal bag from Tim Horton's 10cup box of coffee to go (I grabbed 2 empties from a recent event where they had Tim`s coffee, so it cost me $0.00)
I went out to browse the hardware store for pipe insulation or insulated tape of some sort. This was the best I could find: EPDM Pipe Insulation Wrap 3mm x 5cm x 3.66m roll for $7.xx. I looked at foil tape, but it is essentially aluminum foil on a sticky tape and the foil is not pliable, flexible, so I didn't even consider it. I did look up the manufacturer of the pipe wrap I bought and I saw they also make it with the shiny aluminum finish (as opposed to black). That might be a bit better, but it would have to be equally flexible and pliable as the black foamy wrap.
For the rest of the job I used stuff around my house: duct tape, a plastic thingie from a waterbottle cover (1.8cm diameter), string and a carabiner.
I carefully cut off the spout from the thermal bag and made sure the ring that's left is not sharp. I filed it down, then put some pipe wrap foam insulation on the inside and the outside, leaving a 2cm diameter hole for the insulated hose. As you can see, the hole is not in the middle of the bag, which is a bit of a pain to work with, because when you put the bladder inside, you kind of have to put it on an angle, not straight, so the hose can come through the hole well. When you fill it, you have to neatly fold it, because the bag is bigger than the Camelbak reservoir.
Next, I wrapped the hose with the pipe wrap. The pipe wrap is 5cm wide, but I cut a long 2.8-3cm strip and used that to wrap. The 5cm width is too wide and it will overlap, but the narrower 2.8-3cm strip worked well. I wrapped it slowly and tightly so there is no space between the wrapping. To finish it, I used duct tape. Again, the 5cm wide tape is too wide and overlaps a lot. You do want a bit of overlap when you put the duct tape on, but not too much.
For the valve, which is the trickiest part, because it can leak if it's too tight or the wrong shape, I used a plastic cover I got from a waterbottle. I looked around the house for something like a lid or a small cap, something that is round, about 2cm in diameter and about 2 cm long. I made a hole in the middle, insulated it with a bit of pipe wrap and made sure there is enough room for the Camelbak valve to slide on the hose when I reassemble the pack.
I built a valve cover to slide onto the plastic thingie. This was a pain, because the Camelbak valve is really sensitive and leaks if under pressure. The valve cap is built from pipe wrap, kinda brutal way, but worked ok. I put a string through it so it can hang from my shoulder strap.
I had the string hooked on the carabiner and the valve cover stayed on well. When drinking I just flicked off the cap, lifted the hose a bit and drank. I didn't even have to unhook it or anything, which was good.
TestingYesterday morning I went for a 7 hr and 5 min run and covered about 55km. I filled the bladder with about 2l of really warm lime gatorade, not a strong mix, just average. At 9:40AM when I left it was -20C (-33C with the wind chill), warmed to about -12C around early afternoon and by the time I got home just before 5:00PM it was -17C (-25C with the wind chill). I ran on the waterfront from one end of the city to the other. I had a 15 min break once
to join CinC and maniacs at the Tim's for a cup of hot chocolate and a muffin and then had another 10 min break for a cup of chicken gumbo soup at Subway.
The system worked like a charm!!! I wore the pack under my jacket. I had warm gatorade for about 4 hrs straight and then it was slowly cooling as the level went down. After each drink I would remember to blow air back into the bladder to make sure there was no liquid in the hose (thanks for the tip folks!!) and it never froze on me. I went through about 4/5 of the gatorade I started with and even at the very end, it was not ice cold. After 7 hrs in everything from -20C to -12C to -17C, I'm happy with the results.
Yes, this insulation is a pain to build and kinda finicky to fill, but if you make it, you can handle it ok.