I'm trying to find information on this. So far their website has no useful information besides sanitizing with a bleach water mixture.
Several reddit threads have people arguing everything from buying a new one every year, to storing it dirty and never having a problem, to completely drying it out.
I currently use a life straw bottle, I drink out of it while hiking, and just turn it over and squeeze the bottle into some larger bottles to use for cooking and stuff. It's not ideal and I'm looking to change it up. Currently I store my life straw bottle in between trips by following their instructions, sanitize with bleach water, rinse, then fill with salt water mixture to prevent growth and keep it wet. Drying the filter ruins its ability to get wet again, and therefore it doesn't filter well.
What I'd like to do is store the Sawyer squeeze the same way, sanitize, rinse, store in salt water, maybe in a mason jar? But would that damage it? Does drying it ruin it too? Some people complained it's hard to actually get it dry.
How in the world is it that there is nothing in the manual or the FAQs about storage?
That's good to know that drying it out works. Same filter? 7 years? Awesome! Maybe I just need to do that. I'm surprised it can dry at all, honestly.
I wonder how the filter material differs to that of the life straw. The life straw has instructions that if you let it dry out and it stops working, you can fix it by soaking it in coconut milk. Something about the milk helps reduce surface tension or something, it's crazy.