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Posted: 7/30/2025 2:52:39 PM EDT
| Without freezing? Im guessing no so what do you guys do for water in a vehicle during the winter. |
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Originally Posted By WantGrape: Without freezing? Im guessing no so what do you guys do for water in a vehicle during the winter. 1) how long are you keeping the water in the vehicle? 2) what are the coldest temps it gets down to? How cold does it stay throughout the day? If you use an insulated container (thermos/flask/whatever), it takes a much longer time in cold temps for the water to freeze. What’s the issue with freezing? Not able to drink it anytime you want to? |
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Just leave flexible containers of water ~10% under-filled and they should freeze fine. Keep a couple extra small heat sources like tea lights if you're worried about thawing them out. GD answer would be to store 50 proof vodka - it's 3/4 water and stays liquid down to -25f  ha - beat while typing |
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Originally Posted By cmw: Just leave flexible containers of water ~10% under-filled and they should freeze fine. Keep a couple extra small heat sources like tea lights if you're worried about thawing them out. GD answer would be to store 50 proof vodka - it's 3/4 water and stays liquid down to -25f ha - beat while typing Very easy to try different water bottle brands and just stick them in the freezer. MOST of them with a decent cap freeze just fine (especially if the base of the bottle has a good sized indent. At the worst, that innie becomes an outie when the bottle freezes). |
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Yep, this. Plastic water bottles freeze and thaw just fine. Come to think of it, I haven't tried it with the gallon jugs or bigger. Just the small ones and quart size, but those survive fine. Nalgene and similar might take a beating if filled to the brim, and larger capacity. Maybe I'll test that this winter. |
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Originally Posted By klutz347: I keep bottled water in a small (5 Qt ) Igloo cooler. 3-4 bottles of water along with some snacks keep unfrozen 3-4 days then I will take it in for the night. It works for me. I like this, keep a few of the Hot Hand packages in there if yo need to thaw in an emergency. |
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Originally Posted By bluemax_1: 1) how long are you keeping the water in the vehicle? 2) what are the coldest temps it gets down to? How cold does it stay throughout the day? If you use an insulated container (thermos/flask/whatever), it takes a much longer time in cold temps for the water to freeze. What’s the issue with freezing? Not able to drink it anytime you want to? Originally Posted By bluemax_1: Originally Posted By WantGrape: Without freezing? Im guessing no so what do you guys do for water in a vehicle during the winter. 1) how long are you keeping the water in the vehicle? 2) what are the coldest temps it gets down to? How cold does it stay throughout the day? If you use an insulated container (thermos/flask/whatever), it takes a much longer time in cold temps for the water to freeze. What’s the issue with freezing? Not able to drink it anytime you want to? MI. I dont know what temps are, cold, freezing. 0 some nights. I was mostly thinking about the story of people getting stuck stranded on some expressway in a blizzard for a couple hours. Would be nice to have water on hand if that happened. Im thinking I could just carry it in and out each time I leave and carry it in an insulated cooler. |
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Originally Posted By klutz347: I keep bottled water in a small (5 Qt ) Igloo cooler. 3-4 bottles of water along with some snacks keep unfrozen 3-4 days then I will take it in for the night. It works for me. ETA: Something like this. https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/a5e9ca18-6469-430b-9d77-3f2d99d7e422.240383c1468d3d1e494bf4093e95a48c.jpeg?odnHeight=768&odnWidth=768&odnBg=FFFFFF Yes thanks. I have some plug in food wamer now Im wondering if I could put that in the cooler and it would warm when I drive, then hold the heat and maybe never have to carry it back in. hmmm thanks for the inspiration. |
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Remember insulation works both ways. Slower to freeze slower to thaw. If my dumb ass gets stranded somewhere in freezing temperatures that hydration becomes a concern the least of my worries are hydration. Not freezing to death would be the biggest concern. Wanting and needing water are two different things. Same as food. |
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Originally Posted By WantGrape: MI. I dont know what temps are, cold, freezing. 0 some nights. I was mostly thinking about the story of people getting stuck stranded on some expressway in a blizzard for a couple hours. Would be nice to have water on hand if that happened. Im thinking I could just carry it in and out each time I leave and carry it in an insulated cooler. Originally Posted By WantGrape: Originally Posted By bluemax_1: Originally Posted By WantGrape: Without freezing? Im guessing no so what do you guys do for water in a vehicle during the winter. 1) how long are you keeping the water in the vehicle? 2) what are the coldest temps it gets down to? How cold does it stay throughout the day? If you use an insulated container (thermos/flask/whatever), it takes a much longer time in cold temps for the water to freeze. What’s the issue with freezing? Not able to drink it anytime you want to? MI. I dont know what temps are, cold, freezing. 0 some nights. I was mostly thinking about the story of people getting stuck stranded on some expressway in a blizzard for a couple hours. Would be nice to have water on hand if that happened. Im thinking I could just carry it in and out each time I leave and carry it in an insulated cooler. You can also do a multi-stage solution. In the SUV, I usually leave a box of bottled water. Tested in the freezer, so I know they freeze fine without rupturing/leaking. I also kept a nesting alcohol stove and pot set and bottle of Yellow HEET ( and bouillon cubes, instant hot chocolate and coffee packets etc). But I would also carry an insulated flask (nowadays, I have an insulated 1-gallon that I take to work). If the bottles were frozen (and I was stuck somewhere in the boonies, for some reason), I could use the water from the flask, to warm and melt the frozen bottles. P.S. leaving water bottles in the MI cold, allowed me to see ‘flash freezing’ in real time more than once. It’s where the water is cooled below freezing temp, but hasn’t frozen yet. Some small disturbance initiates the freezing, and you get to watch the whole bottle turn from pure water with no ice, to a solid block of ice in about 3 seconds. In my case, when I grabbed the bottle, it was water. When I unscrewed the cap, my grip on the bottle made the plastic bend with a pop, that initiated the freezing, and I just watched in fascination as the ice spread until the whole bottle froze within seconds. I was able to grab a second bottle and veeerrryyy carefully open and drink it without it freezing. It was really cold. Then for heck of it, I grabbed a third bottle, held it up and flicked the side hard, and yep. Watched the third bottle freeze in 2-3 seconds, too. 
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| Those little 4 oz. sachets of water..'lifeboat ration'-type product....are about the size of a poptart. They can freeze/thaw with no ill effects. They are small enough that you can easily and quickly thaw them by holding them between your warm hands, sitting on them, or tucking one in an inside coat pocket for a few minutes. They're only 4 oz. each, so youd want to have a bunch of them on hand, but they are small enough to thaw quickly from even body heat. |
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Originally Posted By Cmdr_Zero: Those little 4 oz. sachets of water..'lifeboat ration'-type product....are about the size of a poptart. They can freeze/thaw with no ill effects. They are small enough that you can easily and quickly thaw them by holding them between your warm hands, sitting on them, or tucking one in an inside coat pocket for a few minutes. They're only 4 oz. each, so youd want to have a bunch of them on hand, but they are small enough to thaw quickly from even body heat. I've used these for quite a while. A benefit to having several of he small packets is that if one breaks, you haven't lost all of the water you had and the mess is a lot more contained. |
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The purer the water, [less minerals] the lower the temps can go without the water freezing. Flash freezing is still a thing. |
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Originally Posted By fxntime: The purer the water, [less minerals] the lower the temps can go without the water freezing. Flash freezing is still a thing. It certainly is. I leave any containers left in the truck underfilled to allow room for freezing. A bottle comes with me to and from the house. I'm going to get an electric travel mug to thaw frozen water. |
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If you drive the car enough you could hook up a bee hive heating pad and put it in a cooler with the water. This would heat the inside up when you drive, but if you drive for long periods you might want to rig up a thermostat to limit the temp. If the cooler was big enough you could use a RV tank heating pad, some have thermostats already LIKE THIS ONE. Heck a 5w pad with a thermostat over night would only suck 4 amp hr out a battery even if on all night. You could rig up a 12 volt ups style battery ( aim for 8-12 amp hour battery ) to power it with the engine off and charge it thru the lighter plug when running. |
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I have never had a leakage issue with plastic water bottles freezing. Canned products (in my case Monster) make a hell of a mess though. Aside from a heat source, insulation is your best bet. A cooler, or even keeping them in the case will help. I keep a case or two (I think 36 bottles in a case from BJs) in the truck year round. Bottles on the edges freeze, bottles in the middle tend to stay liquid. It is fun when you get a liquid bottle that is on the edge of freezing, you take a glug, and it turns into slush in your mouth. |
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Water stored in the vehicle is allowed to freeze. It wont hurt anything If I expect to need to drink sooner rather than later I'm carrying my camelbak or mug out of the house |
*post contains personal opinion only and should not be considered information released in an official capacity*
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| I keep drinks in an Rtic 20 quart cooler year round in the back seat. Never had a freeze-plosion. |
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Originally Posted By WantGrape: MI. I dont know what temps are, cold, freezing. 0 some nights. I was mostly thinking about the story of people getting stuck stranded on some expressway in a blizzard for a couple hours. Would be nice to have water on hand if that happened. Im thinking I could just carry it in and out each time I leave and carry it in an insulated cooler. In a pinch, you can always melt the blizzard snow for a quick sip. |
ProTip: Never pick a fight with a tree planter. He swings a hoedad for 9 hours a day, carries 30-40 pounds of seedlings on his back, and has 12-14 friends just like him hiding out on the other side of the junk butt pile. They will fuck your shit up.
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Originally Posted By czechsix: Yep, this. Plastic water bottles freeze and thaw just fine. Come to think of it, I haven't tried it with the gallon jugs or bigger. Just the small ones and quart size, but those survive fine. Nalgene and similar might take a beating if filled to the brim, and larger capacity. Maybe I'll test that this winter. Nalgene, if filled all the way will split when frozen. |
| Survival kit in the trunk includes a coffee can, TP, and fire starters (among other things). As mentioned, bottled water will usually freeze without rupturing. Open the bottle, dump in coffee can, start small fire underneath. Some folks keep candles or a small single burner for that specific reason (I used to keep an alcohol stove in every vehicle when I lived in ND). |