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How to Fix a Leaky Hydration Reservoir

Does your hydration reservoir leak in your backpack and make your gear wet?

When I started using a hydration system, I periodically had leaks where water would seep out of the system and get the contents of my pack wet. The source of these leaks was the connection between the hose adapter and the threads of the bladder spout. This continued until I remembered an old trick I first learned in Organic Chemistry Lab and that is also used by plumbers: plumbers tape. Plumbers tape is wrapped around the threads of pipes to form a tighter bond between the male and female connections.

Wrap plumbers tape around hydration reservoir threads to get a tight connection
Wrap plumbers tape around hydration reservoir threads to get a tight connection

Once I started wrapping the threads of my water reservoir with plumbers tape, all the leaks stopped and I’ve never had a problem since in hot or cold weather when the connection shrinks a bit. You simply screw the hose connector to the bladder and tighten it up so it won’t come loose and you are good to go. Plus plumbers tape is dirt cheap and you can get it at any home improvement or hardware store.

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3 comments

  1. I knew I had a roll of that for a good reason…

    Great idea! And being just made of Teflon, there should be no residues or anything unpleasant in the water (it's used on domestic pipes after all).

  2. A guy formerly from BPL

    The most helpful tips are sometimes the easiest, simplest and most obvious… of course so obvious… duh… why didn’t I think of that. Ha ha.

    Good tip. Thanks for sharing.

  3. Free sole shoe repair cement works very well patching punctures and cracks in leaky bladders too. Just used it on a couple of my older plattys. Not a drip

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