Melting Snow for Water

[Mig_zvm]

I think it should be easy enough to integrate a system where you place cans or a pot of fresh snow by the fire for melting only, even if it takes a little longer then it does in the main cooking spot.

This way we could set up a system where we can melt snow and have both burners free to cook at the same time.

I think this would also make the water purification tablets more useful, as people would be more likely to have half finished water laying around.

Bonus points if water would freeze and thaw with the temperature.

[Dancewithknives]

With all the waterfalls in the game, you’d think you could bottle some of it up as nonpotable and purify it with tabs or boiling it.

[odizzido]

1 hour ago, Dancewithknives said:

With all the waterfalls in the game, you’d think you could bottle some of it up as nonpotable and purify it with tabs or boiling it.

That might make those tabs useful

[Old Hermit]

It would give some utility for those metal buckets ^^

[Razum]

I like the idea, I would add, that it can also melt in rooms above 0C.

The idea with the waterfall is quite complicated, in my opinion, as it would be difficult in reality to get a bucket of water without freezing your hand as water falls on it.

[ManicManiac]

16 hours ago, odizzido said:

That might make those tabs useful

Tablets were already useful... by being able to skip the boiling portion it means that the player can effectively make twice as much water in the same amount of time (or the same amount of water in half of the time). 

I'd say it's useful that we can purify 4 liters of water in approximately 1 hour of burn time, rather than 2 hours...
or that we could conceivably purify 8 liters in approximately 2 hours.

Edited March 22, 2021 by ManicManiac

[Mig_zvm]

2 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

Tablets were already useful... by being able to skip the boiling portion it means that the player can effectively make twice as much water in the same amount of time (or the same amount of water in half of the time). 

I'd say it's useful that we can purify 4 liters of water in approximately 1 hour of burn time, rather than 2 hours...
or that we could conceivably purify 8 liters in approximately 2 hours.

I think it might just seem easier to bring water to a boil instead of taking it off early and using the tablets. 

More often then not I end up leaving the tablets for some time when I get cut off by a wind blown fire or something.

My theory is that if we could melt water by the fire, we would end up accumulating more non-potable water and hence end up using the tablets sooner rather than storing them away and forgetting they are there.

[ManicManiac]

@Mig_zvm

I didn't disagree with your idea... I didn't say anything negative about your idea at all (these days I give new threads a few days to breathe before I weigh in).  I was just speaking to odizzido's comment.
 

45 minutes ago, Mig_zvm said:

I think it might just seem easier to bring water to a boil instead of taking it off early and using the tablets

I was just pointing out that it's objectively more efficient to use the tablets (effectively being able to double water production).

Edited March 22, 2021 by ManicManiac

[odizzido]

I guess I should say maybe it would give me a reason to use them. The other option would be to not have the tabs be so heavy. I personally don't find them worth picking up.

[Dancewithknives]

22 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

Tablets were already useful...

I’m not saying you’re wrong, but that the only time i’ve used the tabs is when I go out of my way to use them. To me, if ive already got a fire going, i’m just going to add a stick to purify the water. Otherwise, i don’t see big need to purify a ton of water at once, but then again ive never played the timed challenges. 

[UpUpAway95]

I'm not in favor of this as long as other liquids don't freeze when left away from a fire.  Freezing liquids would render it impossible to obtain water from toilets and any bottles of water we would find in the world would then be frozen.  Teas vary between hot and cold currently... they don't ever freeze even if left sitting outdoors beside a long extinguished fire.

As for water thawing when the temperature is above 0C (indoors), I also don't think this should be "a given" either since the temperature indoors seldom rises much above 0C and the tempterature each and every night falls below 0C.  IRL, very little water would be found in a previously fully frozen bottle after only a two or three hours at 1C   It seems to me that it would be a very complex bit of programming to decide how much water could conceivably thaw based on how long during the day the temperature rose above 0C vs. how many hours it fell below 0C.  IRL, this would also mean we should never find an intact soda can or any full water bottles (since they would burst if ever frozen)... anyone who has ever tried to chill a can of pop in their freezer and left if there too long would know this.

 

[odizzido]

Actually the cans of pop I've left in the freezer have never burst. I wonder if it's a brand difference?

[Mrcpu]

You can pasteurize water to purify it by bringing it up to a particular temp for a longer period of time.  The lower the temp the longer the time and the closer to boiling the shorter the time. 
 

So to that end I’d say if you leave a can of snow near the fire it should eventually be pure water.