Smelting in winter?

[SilverOtter]

Because of the way I laid out my smithy, it doesn't count as a room.  Recently I was trying to smelt some nuggets (copper and zinc) in a crucible, but even when the crucible had reached max temp for charcoal, the green arrow never started filling, and even said "cold" near or in the arrow.  I tried to enclose the smithy somewhat (still didn't count as a room, checked with /debug rooms hi), and the arrow no longer had the word "cold" near it, but it still didn't fill with green and my ores still didn't heat up.  Is this a condition of subzero winter temps, or a bug?

[Vexxvididu]

What fuel are you using?  Not all fuels get hot enough to smelt metals.  The outside cold and whether or not it's a room shouldn't matter.  Also, are you using any mods?

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the forums!

4 hours ago, SilverOtter said:

Recently I was trying to smelt some nuggets (copper and zinc) in a crucible, but even when the crucible had reached max temp for charcoal, the green arrow never started filling, and even said "cold" near or in the arrow.  I tried to enclose the smithy somewhat (still didn't count as a room, checked with /debug rooms hi), and the arrow no longer had the word "cold" near it, but it still didn't fill with green and my ores still didn't heat up.  Is this a condition of subzero winter temps, or a bug?

Smelting doesn't require a room; you just need to make sure that nothing can put out the fire under the crucible. And as @Vexxvididu already noted, the fuel you're using needs to burn hot enough, for long enough, in order to smelt the ore. It is possible to "coast" on coals, but if the temperature of the ore drops you'll lose your smelt progress and have to start over. Another thing to keep in mind that in regards to alloys, you need the proper ratio of ores in order to achieve a smeltable product; if there's no viable output the ore won't smelt. Also, the more ore you try to smelt at once, the longer it will take to smelt, so the ore can be hot enough to start smelting but you may not see any progress on the meter for several seconds, as it takes a fair amount of time to smelt large quantities of ore.

In any case, charcoal is sufficient for smelting copper and zinc, so the first things to check are ore quantity and ore ratio. Given that you said the meter still reads as "cold" despite the fire burning at maximum charcoal temperature, I would suspect that you have the wrong ratio for the alloy you're attempting to smelt(brass).

[Maelstrom]

46 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

for smelting copper and zinc... check are ore quantity and ore ratio.

This is the problem.    Incorrect ratio for smelting brass.   Like the cookpot, the recipe needs to be right before cooking can start.

[hstone32]

Yeah, outside temp shouldn't affect smelting. I can think of 2 causes: either you aren't using a hot enough fuel as others here have guessed, or else your ui is glitched out, as has happened to me a few times. Sometimes the progress arrow just hangs, but it doesn't affect the smelting time overall, as far as I can tell.

[LadyWYT]

2 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

This is the problem.    Incorrect ratio for smelting brass.   Like the cookpot, the recipe needs to be right before cooking can start.

If I'm recalling correctly, brass is almost a 1:1 ratio of copper and zinc. There's a little wiggle room, but it's very easy to be off by one nugget.

[Professor Dragon]

2 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

This is the problem.    Incorrect ratio for smelting brass.   Like the cookpot, the recipe needs to be right before cooking can start.

Because of this, I now have my main "recipes" on signs in my smithing room, despite having done this countless times.
It just saves on the brain work - you can grab exactly what you need, and plonk down the right number of moulds.

The sign looks like this:

<Type and Number of INGOTS PRODUCED> 
<Nuggets of first ore> <Nuggets of second ore> etc.
<Amount of  warming fuel> 
<Amount of main fuel>

There's also mods for those who don't like to track this stuff, that does the mathy math.

[Maelstrom]

Alloy Calculator is an must QOL mod for me.

[Metalton]

Haven't had trouble smelting during winter in an unsealed room.. Now pouring molds.. cracked one or two when they cooled too fast

[SilverOtter]

13 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Welcome to the forums!

Smelting doesn't require a room; you just need to make sure that nothing can put out the fire under the crucible. And as @Vexxvididu already noted, the fuel you're using needs to burn hot enough, for long enough, in order to smelt the ore. It is possible to "coast" on coals, but if the temperature of the ore drops you'll lose your smelt progress and have to start over. Another thing to keep in mind that in regards to alloys, you need the proper ratio of ores in order to achieve a smeltable product; if there's no viable output the ore won't smelt. Also, the more ore you try to smelt at once, the longer it will take to smelt, so the ore can be hot enough to start smelting but you may not see any progress on the meter for several seconds, as it takes a fair amount of time to smelt large quantities of ore.

In any case, charcoal is sufficient for smelting copper and zinc, so the first things to check are ore quantity and ore ratio. Given that you said the meter still reads as "cold" despite the fire burning at maximum charcoal temperature, I would suspect that you have the wrong ratio for the alloy you're attempting to smelt(brass).

Thank you!  It was the wrong ratio, my bad.  Somehow got it in my head that a 50/50 ratio would work, silly me.