I thought i dried out my platypus cartridge pretty good last fall, but i went to check it out yesterday for a trip on Monday and i had left the black cap on one end and the tube connected to the other. So when i screwed the caps off there was moisture in the cap, if i disinfect with a few drops of bleach in a liter of water and run it through will this kill mold if it has any, or is it safer to just pitch it. I could try ruining water through and taste it, just not sure i will know what im looking for.

Personally, I would replace. A more affordable option to the Platypus filter is the sawyer filters which are higher rated for both filtering ability and longevity, but may be a tad slower.

If you don't see or smell anything I would add 4 drops of bleach for a half gallon, filter it through, and let it dry completely this time. Only concern to me would be if it ever froze, if not I would certainly continue to use it.

MidwestFirecraft: "If you don't see or smell anything I would add 4 drops of bleach for a half gallon, filter it through, and let it dry completely this time. Only concern to me would be if it ever froze, if not I would certainly continue to use it. "

I agree completely with MidwestFirecraft on this. Go ahead and use it after running some bleach solution through it.

It's nearly impossible to get these filters completely dry. I've left one hanging for months over a sink w/o the cap on & could still get moisture out of it if I shook it right.

How did you store it? Run bleach water through it? If yes, then you're probably ok. Run some more bleach water through it if it makes you feel better.

The cartridges are also fairly inexpensive, but you're probably fine if you prepped it for storage properly.

Did you run a bleach solution through the filter at the end of the season, per the instructions? If you did, that would prevent the growth of mold etc. No need to dry the filter, and it's probably impossible to dry those tubes anyway. I would think if you ran bleach through it now, and it still functions, it would be fine.