FRH tweek to insure full activation

[FalconUruguay]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to add this quick note to the tips and tricks forum regarding the flameless ration heaters, if you look at my video that I did for menu number 3, I conducted an experiment where I added some salt to the flameless ration heater before pouring in the water, and I noticed that the flameless ration heater worked a lot better then it would have worked normally.

The experiment came about from noticing that a-pack MREs from ameriqual use a saltwater package to activate the flameless ration heater, and being that the military ones have salt as part of the active ingredients with the magnesium and iron filings, I hypothesized that the salt in the military ones either pick up moisture, or become "stale" while sitting in the pouch, and as salt is an oxidizer, I theorized that by adding salt to the water, it would jump-start the exothermic reaction more efficiently.

Hopefully my little experiment will help jump start some of those old flameless ration heaters you guys might have laying around, that you don't have much confidence in.

[housil]

I´ll give it a try next time! Once they are "older", they are much less effective in heating...

[[ex-Member1]]

Seems legit...Will try it, thanks!

[rabidwolf]

Thanks for the tip. I have some older A-Packs that use the salt water for their heaters. I think I'll try it two ways. One way, using salt to boost the military frh as you did. Second way, I'll try using the civilian salt water to activate the military frh.

[elandil]

I think I may have a 2011 left to try out, and I'm sure I definately have some old heaters laying about. I'll give this a try, see what I can find out.

[parafireboy]

Hmmm, it makes sense. Since they FRH's work by heat from oxidation. Salt water oxidizes metals at a greater rate than fresh water does, so it makes perfect sense. I'm looking forward to trying it out!

[gschultz9]

Wow, this makes a lot of sense, but I had never thought of it! Good job Falcon! I've always wondered (as I'm sure many others have) why FRHs go bad after a few years. It seems like they have a similar 3-5 year life span rating as the MREs themselves do. Of course, the food in MREs can last a LOT longer and still be pretty good, but the FRHs seem to drop off dramatically in performance. Maybe we finally have not only an answer as to why that happens, but also a potential solution to the problem! I've never gotten one of those FRHs that comes sealed in its own retort pouch, and have wondered why they do that. Maybe they were on to this same thought and they figured the pouch would protect the FRH and extend its life span just as it does for the food! Does anyone know when they started putting FRHs into pouches? It will be interesting when those start to reach 5 or 6 years of age to see if they work better than "unprotected" ones of the same age.

[rattattoo]

I've got only a couple of full/sealed '06 meals left. One of them is the #18 Roast Beef with the caramel-apple Ranger bar... I DO believe that it and I may take the hike up to the ledges over the pond with my day hammock one nice day soon and try this trick out.
I've got a stack of older FRH that I have been passing over because of the numerous fails... it's easier to take along a stove and spend the time than it is to eat cold ratz. Hope this is a work-around.

Who cares anyWho... I'll be up on the ledges in a hammock!

[RockyRaab]

That's a great tip. I wonder if adding a pinch of salt to an already activated but slow/moribund FRH might create a Lazarus effect?

I need to make a photo review (I don't do videos) of my FRH method. To summarize, I no longer insert food pouches into the FRH. It not only eliminates having wet food pouches contaminated with chemical gunk, but it absolutely insures getting the heating element uniformly wet. Then, I sandwich the FRH between the entree pouch and either the side or the hot bev bag. I slip the cardboard box down over the folded FRH top instead of having the folded top stick out. If I have a second box (as from a side) I slit it down the side and wrap that around the first box for double insulation. Or, lacking a second box, I wrap a towel around the whole thing.

With the fully activated FRH in the center of a food and then insulation package, I always get piping hot food.

[[ex-Member1]]

I no longer insert food pouches into the FRH. It not only eliminates having wet food pouches contaminated with chemical gunk, but it absolutely insures getting the heating element uniformly wet. Then, I sandwich the FRH between the entree pouch and either the side or the hot bev bag. I slip the cardboard box down over the folded FRH top instead of having the folded top stick out. If I have a second box (as from a side) I slit it down the side and wrap that around the first box for double insulation. Or, lacking a second box, I wrap a towel around the whole thing.

With the fully activated FRH in the center of a food and then insulation package, I always get piping hot food.

Do you think if you do like above but use mre plastic bag as insulator instead of towel could it work?

Did anyone tried to use mre plastic bag like this?