Heaters can we use snow?

[kman]

I think housil was talking about the situation where you might use a pot of boiling water to heat up the entree pouches. I was suggesting using that water for hot beverages but he said we shouldn't do that because they put rat repellant (??) on the pouches.

You're definitely right about not drinking the FRH water (yuck!) but I'm still scratching my head that they would put chemicals on the outside of the pouches...I mean, I hold those pouches with my hands and then eat food with those hands.

[housil]

Do not use the water from inside the FRH.

Treesuit, it´s not the water from INSIDE the FRH, it´s the water from the e.g. canteen cup that had been heated up on a tommy coocker to warm up an entree.
Do not use THIS water after heating up a pounch inside!


You are welcome

[housil]

...I mean, I hold those pouches with my hands and then eat food with those hands.

I guess thats not the problem, but hot water may solute them
Have you never seen this "particels" swimming on surface of the water after heating up an entree in a pot?!

Hmmmm, thats a good reason to have a MRE tonight to make a pic from that...

[norge]

man im in trouble
i have always used the water afther boiling mres in a pan when hiking
or in field training.
didnt want to waste al that warm water i have never been sick afther drinking
that water but maybe in a long term its not so good?
maybe thats why i dont have any hair more....

when it comes to using snow in frhs :no go,tryed it a long time ago
only real wet snow started the heather afther some time.
i have also use my personal water to save drinking water in arctic
hikes,just wipe the pouch good with snow and paper afther heating.
And dont smell on the frh while heating
and dont keep it in the tent or leanto eather....

cheers from norge

[Imon]

Well, last friday I invested about two hours for a FRH field test because of the different experiences of some forum members.
First of all, it was very cold and its not funny to stay outside at the moment over here in Germany without the right clothing.
The thermometer says –10°C / 14°F at 3pm in Upper Palatinate/Bavaria.
I tested FRH with different Date Codes (DC) because of the effect of the age.

I tested 3 FRH with the DC 7247 and 4271 and one very old FRH from1992 (the FRH has been weld in original package all the years, not opened) with snow (no wetly snow, the snow was very dry).I filled up the FRH with snow until the line “Do not overfill”.
result :
No action (no melting, no heating, no bubbling, no smoke) with all 3 FRH after 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes I added MRE-Iodized salt in every FRH.
After 3 minutes the snow melted and the FRH with DC 7247 and 4271 started with bubbling and warming up. The FRH of 1992 also melted but no heating.
After further 5 minutes the FRH with DC 7247 and 4271 heated up all little bit more but they were not hot enough to warm up a MRE entrée. After 8 minutes the FRH cooled off.
I guess the FRH of 1992 also wouldn’t work with liquid after so many years.

Then I tested 3 FRH with the DC 7243 and 5005 and another very old FRH from 1992(this FRH has also been weld in original package all the years, not opened) with frozen mains water. I crushed the frozen mains water with a knife to very small wetly pieces and filled up the FRH until the line “Do not overfill”.
result:
The FRH with DC 7243 started to melt the ice and began to bubbling after 5 minutes and then it started to smoke and heat up the FRH in the next 8-10 minutes. The FRH was hot enough for heating up an MRE entrée. See the pic with the melted snow under the FRH.
No action with the DC 5005. After 30 minutes I added MRE Iodized salt and the FRH started with melting the ice and began with bubbling. The FRH was warm after 5 minutes but cooled off after further 5-7 minutes. Not hot enough for heating up a MRE entrée.
No action with the FRH of 1992 all the time even not with salt. Just the ice was melted.Same as the test with snow.

My final test result for heating up a MRE entrée:

The FRH doesn’t work with (dried) snow also not with added salt.
The FRH works with small crushed pieces of mains water ice but it depends of the age of the FRH.
Newer production date works, older production date didn’t.

Sorry, I had to split the pics because it was not possible to attach more than 3 pics with every message


Best regards
Imon

[Imon]

Pics part 2 : FRH with snow

[Imon]

pics part 3 FRH with ice

[Imon]

pics part 4 FRH with ice

[Imon]

pics part 4 FRH with ice

[mreheater72]

Well, last friday I invested about two hours for a FRH field test because of the different experiences of some forum members.

Imon, very interesting field test with surprising results ! Thanks for your efforts (meanwhile it is really cold in Bavaria) and the pics !

So long mreheater72