6 ms·

The shower page was interesting, you get 4 minutes of shower time a week https://brr.fyi/posts/showering-at-the-south-pole https://brr.fyi/posts/showering-at-t

by ta1243 4y ago

The shower page was interesting, you get 4 minutes of shower time a week https://brr.fyi/posts/showering-at-the-south-pole https://brr.fyi/posts/showering-at-the-south-pole I'm surprised they can't just melt snow water to run things like showers. Oddly no suggestions on the page about doubling up your shower with someone else to have longer or more frequent showers.

n1b0m 4y ago
I’m game if you are
biesnecker 4y ago
There's only a few centimeters of snow per year at the pole, it's a high desert, and digging the ice out is probably not worth the energy?
- InitialLastName 4y ago
  The same blog has a post referring to snow accumulation (evidently wind-blown, not precipitated) requiring enormous operations and infrastructural efforts to keep the station from being buried [0]. There seems to be plenty of snow available, if you want to melt it. Energy is the issue. [0] https://brr.fyi/posts/south-pole-topography https://brr.fyi/posts/south-pole-topography
eigenhombre 4y ago
Previous discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34658286 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34658286
hibbelig 4y ago
Doesn't that post explain that this is just what they do, and that melting the snow is pretty involved?
- seanw444 4y ago
  There's also limited fuel that they have to conserve, so infinite snow does not mean infinite water.
  - ratg13 4y ago
    Seems like a decent opportunity to use a nuclear reactor .. something like what you would find on a submarine.
    - fragmede 4y ago
      It was tried! http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph241/reid2/ http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph241/reid2/
      - throwanem 4y ago
        I wonder what it'd take to adapt NuScale's SMR design. Probably a lot, given the unusual rigors of the Antarctic environment, but for basically the same reasons it seems like something that'd be worth funding.
    - quickthrowman 4y ago
      We already tried that 60 years ago in Greenland, it didn’t end well. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm
      - sponaugle 4y ago
        There is a fascinating film about that reactor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlmOQJW5Xis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlmOQJW5Xis
      - kortilla 4y ago
        That didn’t fail because of the nuclear reactor, it failed because the ice sheet movement deformed the tunnels over time and collapsed ceilings. Nothing to do with the feasibility of sitting a portable nuclear reactor on top of the ice like the settlements in Antarctica.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
stickfigure 4y ago
I'm more curious about what they do with the greywater. If you just dumped it you'd end up with a giant, evergrowing pile of dirty ice.
- frosted-flakes 4y ago
  There's another post on his blog about visiting the sewage treatment plant at McMurdo (not Pole, I don't know what they do there). At McMurdo it's like any other sewage treatment plant: they release the cleaned water into the sea.
  - ta1243 4y ago
    Which can't be done at the pole. The options are either drive it (and all waste) out to McMurdo, or leave it there.
- bizzyb 4y ago
  the rodwell where they melt the ice for their water makes a big cavern in the ice. the previous rodwell is used for all greywater/human waste, indeed making a giant shitcicle. when the current freshwater rodwell is done, they start a new one and that one becomes the new dumping one.
hgsgm 4y ago
2 people in a shower doesn't effectively decrease water usage per person, and the logistics overhead would eat into the 4 minutes.
- fragmede 4y ago
  If done with someone you find attractive, that also finds you attractive, 2 people to a shower, that want to participate in this shared activity of showering together, increases this thing called "fun". (Both parties wanting to participate is requisite for this "fun" to happen. If one or both parties does not want to, this "fun" does not happen. Even if both parties want to, that is not a guarantee that "fun" will happen.) Note that this "fun" is unable to spontaneously generate water, unfortunately. However, every rules lawyer will note that the limit is 4 minutes of water, and not a limit of spending 4 minutes in the shower. (8 minutes of water for two people.) Thus, two people may choose to spend additional time in the shower with the water off. If it is not clear to you what two consenting, attracted, naked, soapy adults could possibly do for "fun", please find and ask an adult that you know and trust.
  - wkat4242 4y ago
    > Note that this "fun" is unable to spontaneously generate water, unfortunately. Ummm about that XD
- raldi 4y ago
  It sure does. It's a lot easier (and thus, conserves more water) to get suds off someone else's body than your own. You spray and they sweep, or you aim it at their hair and they help get the shampoo out with their hands.
jrochkind1 4y ago
> Everyone is free to stand in the physical shower stall as long as they want! As long as they keep water flow within the allocated quota. I'm going to be turning on the water to get wet, soaping up, turning on the water to rinse. If I have some extra maybe I'll let the water just run for some seconds to enjoy it. More people in the shower isn't going to help, they're just going to get in the way. Also, at least 10 years ago when I heard from someone who was there, the over-winter population at the base was super-majority men, rather homophobic, and flaunting any hetereosexual couplings you had was... fraught, due to issues of jealosy and competition.
- bartvk 4y ago
  I wonder if there are libido-inhibiting drugs you can take, and whether that would help.
  - KineticLensman 4y ago
    The British Army allegedly used Bromide in tea for this purpose in WW2 [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromide#Folk_and_passé_medicine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromide#Folk_and_passé_medicin...
    - ReptileMan 4y ago
      Old joke from where I live Two old vets (in their 90s) are sitting in a bench The first says - Mate, do you remember the bromide they gave us in the military? The second - yeah? The first guy - Well it started to work.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  > I'm going to be turning on the water to get wet, soaping up, turning on the water to rinse. Commonly called a military shower[0], and exactly what I do in my RV when boondocking. [0] In the military, ironically, even in boot camp we didn't shower this way, we just went very quickly. just the pits...
  - 4y ago
Aeolun 4y ago
Strangely enough the South Pole Mega Shower is still shorter than my average shower time. Maybe you can catch and reuse your own water. Then you’d just need to bring a jerrycan and water heater every time.
hollerith 4y ago
>I'm surprised they can't just melt snow They do get their water by melting snow and they use waste heat from the generation of electricity to do some or all of the melting. Apparently, it takes a lot of energy to melt snow.

by ta1243 4y ago

n1b0m 4y ago

I’m game if you are

biesnecker 4y ago

There's only a few centimeters of snow per year at the pole, it's a high desert, and digging the ice out is probably not worth the energy?

InitialLastName 4y ago
The same blog has a post referring to snow accumulation (evidently wind-blown, not precipitated) requiring enormous operations and infrastructural efforts to keep the station from being buried [0]. There seems to be plenty of snow available, if you want to melt it. Energy is the issue. [0] https://brr.fyi/posts/south-pole-topography https://brr.fyi/posts/south-pole-topography

eigenhombre 4y ago

Previous discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34658286 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34658286

hibbelig 4y ago

Doesn't that post explain that this is just what they do, and that melting the snow is pretty involved?

seanw444 4y ago
There's also limited fuel that they have to conserve, so infinite snow does not mean infinite water.
- ratg13 4y ago
  Seems like a decent opportunity to use a nuclear reactor .. something like what you would find on a submarine.
  - fragmede 4y ago
    It was tried! http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph241/reid2/ http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph241/reid2/
    - throwanem 4y ago
      I wonder what it'd take to adapt NuScale's SMR design. Probably a lot, given the unusual rigors of the Antarctic environment, but for basically the same reasons it seems like something that'd be worth funding.
  - quickthrowman 4y ago
    We already tried that 60 years ago in Greenland, it didn’t end well. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm
    - sponaugle 4y ago
      There is a fascinating film about that reactor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlmOQJW5Xis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlmOQJW5Xis
    - kortilla 4y ago
      That didn’t fail because of the nuclear reactor, it failed because the ice sheet movement deformed the tunnels over time and collapsed ceilings. Nothing to do with the feasibility of sitting a portable nuclear reactor on top of the ice like the settlements in Antarctica.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

stickfigure 4y ago

I'm more curious about what they do with the greywater. If you just dumped it you'd end up with a giant, evergrowing pile of dirty ice.

frosted-flakes 4y ago
There's another post on his blog about visiting the sewage treatment plant at McMurdo (not Pole, I don't know what they do there). At McMurdo it's like any other sewage treatment plant: they release the cleaned water into the sea.
- ta1243 4y ago
  Which can't be done at the pole. The options are either drive it (and all waste) out to McMurdo, or leave it there.
bizzyb 4y ago
the rodwell where they melt the ice for their water makes a big cavern in the ice. the previous rodwell is used for all greywater/human waste, indeed making a giant shitcicle. when the current freshwater rodwell is done, they start a new one and that one becomes the new dumping one.

hgsgm 4y ago

2 people in a shower doesn't effectively decrease water usage per person, and the logistics overhead would eat into the 4 minutes.

fragmede 4y ago
If done with someone you find attractive, that also finds you attractive, 2 people to a shower, that want to participate in this shared activity of showering together, increases this thing called "fun". (Both parties wanting to participate is requisite for this "fun" to happen. If one or both parties does not want to, this "fun" does not happen. Even if both parties want to, that is not a guarantee that "fun" will happen.) Note that this "fun" is unable to spontaneously generate water, unfortunately. However, every rules lawyer will note that the limit is 4 minutes of water, and not a limit of spending 4 minutes in the shower. (8 minutes of water for two people.) Thus, two people may choose to spend additional time in the shower with the water off. If it is not clear to you what two consenting, attracted, naked, soapy adults could possibly do for "fun", please find and ask an adult that you know and trust.
- wkat4242 4y ago
  > Note that this "fun" is unable to spontaneously generate water, unfortunately. Ummm about that XD
raldi 4y ago
It sure does. It's a lot easier (and thus, conserves more water) to get suds off someone else's body than your own. You spray and they sweep, or you aim it at their hair and they help get the shampoo out with their hands.

jrochkind1 4y ago

> Everyone is free to stand in the physical shower stall as long as they want! As long as they keep water flow within the allocated quota. I'm going to be turning on the water to get wet, soaping up, turning on the water to rinse. If I have some extra maybe I'll let the water just run for some seconds to enjoy it. More people in the shower isn't going to help, they're just going to get in the way. Also, at least 10 years ago when I heard from someone who was there, the over-winter population at the base was super-majority men, rather homophobic, and flaunting any hetereosexual couplings you had was... fraught, due to issues of jealosy and competition.

bartvk 4y ago
I wonder if there are libido-inhibiting drugs you can take, and whether that would help.
- KineticLensman 4y ago
  The British Army allegedly used Bromide in tea for this purpose in WW2 [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromide#Folk_and_passé_medicine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromide#Folk_and_passé_medicin...
  - ReptileMan 4y ago
    Old joke from where I live Two old vets (in their 90s) are sitting in a bench The first says - Mate, do you remember the bromide they gave us in the military? The second - yeah? The first guy - Well it started to work.
rootusrootus 4y ago
> I'm going to be turning on the water to get wet, soaping up, turning on the water to rinse. Commonly called a military shower[0], and exactly what I do in my RV when boondocking. [0] In the military, ironically, even in boot camp we didn't shower this way, we just went very quickly. just the pits...
- 4y ago

Aeolun 4y ago

Strangely enough the South Pole Mega Shower is still shorter than my average shower time. Maybe you can catch and reuse your own water. Then you’d just need to bring a jerrycan and water heater every time.

hollerith 4y ago

>I'm surprised they can't just melt snow They do get their water by melting snow and they use waste heat from the generation of electricity to do some or all of the melting. Apparently, it takes a lot of energy to melt snow.