Can't Get it Open to Clean Inside

[ZOIL]

This bottle was given to me when helping a neighbor to clean up after his basement flooded. After the water went down it had parked itself on the bottom basement step.

For years it had 1/2" of flood water trapped inside, with no way to remove the top and clean it out. I wired the valve in open position and sat it on top of my water heater to eventually evaporate the flood water out . That leaves me with a dried flood / muddy water stain I cant access without removing the top.

The top is crimped on and has a glass tube to the bottom of the bottle, but will not come off without destroying something.

Any ideas how to clean this out when it's never meant to be opened?

Ray

 

[baltbottles]

The top is actually 3 pieces that come apart. The lower collar of the top is made up of two half circles that are split these are threaded and screw up into the spigot portion. This locks all three pieces together around the lip of the seltzer bottle. If you grip the bottom collar with a large pair of pliers (this collar is made of soft metal and can get damaged easily so put something soft around it to protect it from the jaws of the pliers) After doing this grip the spigot part with your hand and rotate the pliers clockwise to begin unscrewing the collar.

Hope this helps
Chris

 

[ZOIL]

Chris:
Could not have done it without you. Thanks so much for your response.

That split collar fit together so precisely and just so happened to line up perfectly with the mold casting line on the upper portion that I was seeing it as one cast piece.

After two attempts with the pliers and it wouldn't budge, I taped lightly with the heal of my Channel Locks on the thinner part of the bell, and I was able to unthread it by hand.

Heck I mite even become a bottle collector someday

Once again, Thanks so much.

Ray