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Stoves and water

Tritan

Also called Tritan copolyester, Tritan Renew

What is Tritan plastic?

Tritan is a clear, tough copolyester plastic made by Eastman without BPA. It is what most modern hard plastic water bottles, including the Nalgene and the CamelBak Chute, are made from, because it resists cracking and staining and survives the dishwasher.

Tritan at a glance

Made by
Eastman
BPA
Made without it
Found in
Most hard plastic bottles

Why are water bottles made of Tritan?

Tritan replaced polycarbonate in most reusable bottles in the late 2000s, when buyers started avoiding BPA, a chemical used to make polycarbonate. Eastman makes Tritan without BPA, and it kept what people liked about the old bottles: it is glass-clear, hard to crack and light.

It also resists staining and holding smells better than softer plastics, which matters in a bottle that sees sports drink one day and water the next.

Can Tritan bottles take hot water?

Yes, within limits. Nalgene rates its Tritan bottles from -40 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, which is why backpackers fill one with boiling water and tuck it in a sleeping bag on a cold night.

Soft bottles made of thinner plastics are not built for that, so do not assume every plastic bottle will take it.

What is Tritan Renew?

Tritan Renew is Eastman's version made partly from recycled plastic waste. It is chemically the same material, so a bottle made from it looks and behaves like the original. Nalgene's Sustain bottles use it.

What this means when you're choosing

  • The maker's rated temperature range if you want to carry hot water
  • Whether the lid is Tritan too, or a softer plastic
  • Dishwasher guidance, usually top rack only

The common mistake

Treating all BPA-free plastic as the same

BPA-free describes one chemical that is absent, not what the plastic is. A thin soft bottle and a Tritan bottle are both BPA-free and behave very differently with boiling water, drops and long-term smells.

Common questions

Is Tritan plastic safe for water bottles?

Tritan is made without BPA, and it is used in food containers and bottles sold in the US. If you want to avoid plastic entirely, a stainless steel bottle is the alternative.

Is a Nalgene made of Tritan?

Yes, for the wide-mouth bottles this site covers. The Nalgene Sustain line is Tritan Renew, which is made partly from recycled plastic waste.

Where this is defined

Where this comes up

Guides on Tom's Hiking where tritan changes which product is right for you.

More in stoves and water

Canister stove

A canister stove screws directly onto a sealed cartridge of pressurised isobutane-propane. It lights instantly, simmers well and needs no priming, which is why it's the default backpacking stove almost everywhere fuel canisters are sold.

Integrated stove system

An integrated stove system pairs a burner with a matched pot that locks on, usually with a heat exchanger ring on the base. It boils water faster and uses less fuel than a separate stove and pot, at the cost of versatility.

Regulated valve

A regulated valve holds a stove's fuel pressure steady as the canister empties or cools. Without one, output drops off through the canister's life and falls sharply in the cold; with one, the flame stays consistent much further down.

Isobutane-propane blend

Isobutane-propane is the fuel blend inside standard threaded backpacking canisters, usually around 80 percent isobutane and 20 percent propane. Propane provides cold-weather pressure, isobutane provides most of the burn time.

Hollow fiber filter

A hollow fiber filter passes water through a bundle of tiny straw-like tubes whose walls are perforated with pores around 0.1 to 0.2 microns. It's the technology in almost every modern backpacking filter, and a single freeze can destroy it invisibly.

Micron rating

A micron rating states the largest particle a filter lets through, in microns. Backpacking filters are typically rated 0.1 or 0.2 microns, which stops bacteria and protozoa. Viruses are around 0.02 microns and pass straight through.

Flow rate

Flow rate is how fast a filter delivers clean water, usually quoted in liters per minute. The advertised figure is measured on a brand-new filter with clean water, and real flow drops as the element clogs with sediment.

Backflushing

Backflushing pushes clean water backwards through a filter to dislodge the sediment clogging its pores. It's routine maintenance on a hollow fiber filter, and it's the difference between one that lasts a season and one that lasts years.

Purifier vs filter

A filter physically strains out bacteria and protozoa. A purifier also deals with viruses, which are too small to strain, using chemistry, UV light or a much finer element. Most backcountry hiking needs a filter; international travel often needs a purifier.

Soft flask

A soft flask is a collapsible bottle, usually 250 to 750 ml, carried in the front pockets of a hydration vest. It shrinks as you drink so it doesn't slosh, and you can see exactly how much water you have left.

Hydration bladder

A hydration bladder is a flat water reservoir carried inside a pack with a drinking hose routed over the shoulder. It holds 1.5 to 3 liters, packs flat against your back and lets you drink without stopping or taking the pack off.

Bite valve

A bite valve is the silicone mouthpiece on the end of a hydration reservoir's drink tube. It stays shut until your teeth compress a slit in it, then self-seals when you let go, so water only flows while you are drinking.

Quick disconnect

A quick disconnect is the two-part coupling in a hydration hose that lets you unclip the tube from the reservoir without threading it back through your pack. Both halves usually self-seal, so you can pull the bag out to refill and neither end drips.

Hard-anodized aluminum

Hard-anodized aluminum is aluminum whose surface has been grown into a thick, very hard oxide layer by an electrochemical bath. In cookware it gives a pot that spreads heat far more evenly than titanium and resists scratching far better than bare aluminum.

Vacuum insulation

Vacuum insulation is two stainless steel walls with the air pumped out of the gap between them. With no air to carry heat, cold water stays cold and hot water stays hot for most of a day, and the outside of the bottle never sweats.

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