Carol bought a new water bottle the other day. She put some juice in it for our shopping wander this morning, and we set out, with the bottle in the cupholder in the front console. We spent some time at Best Buy, shopping for smartphones, all the while the August sun sweltered down upon the 4Runner. When we got back forty minutes later, the car was an oven. The juice was warm but it was still fluids, and necessary in our land of 20%-or-less humidity. She grabbed the bottle, flipped up the little straw thingie in the lid…
…and got a face full of juice.
On the surface, the design would seem like a good one: With the straw up there’s a vent port that lets air in while you draw fluids out. With the straw down the bottle is sealed, and won’t spill fluids if it’s not dead vertical. However, if you leave the bottle in a hot car, the air above the juice expands, and evidently the pivot mechanism in the lid opens the path to the straw just before it opens the vent port. Whooosh!
Science lesson learned. The bottle is going into the recycle bin, and we’re back to looking for something similar with a slightly better awareness of basic physics.
Drill a no. 55 hole in the lid – that’s small enough that only a few drips at most will spill should the bottle tip horizontally but is enough to equalize pressure.
Jack
This is definitely worth a try–bottle is hereby reprieved from the recycle bin! (Glad the recycling wasn’t picked up this morning–they come only every other week.)
Should have said “a few drops” not a few “drips”
Jack
In theory one could develop the habit of loosening the cap for a moment when it is hot. Or the problem might be mitigated by opening it quickly, so the delay between the two paths opening is insignificant. That could be tested using a carbonated beverage and shaking in place of heating.
Or it could be moved to the workshop where ambient temperatures are less variable but a small supply of water might have uses.