How to Boil Water in Project Zomboid Build 41 – Campfires and Stoves

This guide will help players with all of their thirst needs. In Project Zomboid you will need to keep your character in good health. This is done by managing their hunger, thirst and general health. One of the most important resources in the game is water, just as in real life. Unfortunately, sometimes the water gets contaminated and can’t be drunk. Luckily, you can boil the water to make it clean and drinkable again.

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How to Boil Tainted Water on a Campfire in Project Zomboid

In order to boil some tainted water that can been recovered follow the following steps. I will go into detail on all steps under this short set of instructions:

  1. Put the tainted water into a cooking pot
  2. Build a campfire and fuel it up
  3. Light the campfire using a lighter or matches
  4. Place the cooking pot with water over the lit fire
  5. Wait until the ‘tainted’ attribute is gone from the item and take it back into your inventory

After following these 6 short steps you will be able to turn any amount of tainted water into clean drinkable water. I will go further into each step below.


How to Boil Water in the Oven

Boiling water isn’t just reserved to those savages living out in the woods with their campfires. You can also boil water at home in the kitchen. To boil water using an electric or antique oven, follow these steps.

  1. Put the tainted water in a cooking pot
  2. Open up the oven’s inventory and drag the water inside
  3. Turn the oven on using the oven control menu. (Right click the oven and select controls)
  4. Wait for the water to turn into boiling water
  5. Enjoy fresh clean water that won’t get you sick!

1. How to Get Tainted Water

This will be your starting point. If you are at the stage in your game where the water taps no longer work, or even started with them not working there is still a way that your character can easily access water in Project Zomboid. On the north end of the map there is a large river which runs almost the full way across. You can collect water from this river and the other water sources in the game such as wells and lakes. Although the water won’t be drinkable straight away you can then boil it to purify it.

To collect tainted water from rivers or lakes, get a container of some sort in your inventory. A cooking pot will work great as then you will already have the tainted water in the pot ready to boil. You could also use a liquid bottle such as a water bottle or empty alcohol bottle. With the empty container in your inventory, walk up to the water source and right-click on it to bring up the interaction menu. Then, you should see an option to Fill and select a container to fill.

Filling up a water bottle in Project Zomboid
You can collect water from rivers and lakes in Project Zomboid

Select one of these options to fill up a container with water. You will notice if you view the item in the inventory, it will now be filled with tainted water. As aforementioned, you can also use other water sources to collect free water such as wells which are randomly dotted through towns and forests on the map. Now that we have water we have passed the first step of finding something drinkable. You can drink this tainted water but there is a good chance that your character will begin to get sick. Once you are sick in Project Zomboid it can take a long time before you get better. Best to avoid it by just boiling the water.


2. How to Build and Fuel a Campfire

In order to boil you water you are going to need a heat source. The best way of boiling water in Project Zomboid is to use a campfire. Campfires are very easy to craft and burn very hot as well. To craft your own campfire head to the crafting menu. There you will see that you will need either 2 Logs and a source of fuel, or 3 planks and a source of fuel.

Creating a campfire in Project Zomboid to boil tainted water with
Use the crafting menu to create a campfire kit

There is no difference between either of these craftable campfires. They both function the same way. As you can see there are a lot of different items that can be used as fuel for the campfire. The easiest one to obtain is either books which are available in every residential house on the map, or ripped sheets. You can get ripped sheets by ripping up any piece of clothing, including old zombie apparel.

Getting logs is going to be slightly harder. To get logs in Project Zomboid, you’ll need to cut down trees with an axe. Finding an axe will be the hardest part of this mission. You can read this guide on finding axes in Project Zomboid to give yourself a fighting chance. Now, with 2 logs in your inventory and one of the items underneath it, you can craft yourself up a campfire kit. To deploy the campfire kit on the ground, right-click to bring up the interaction menu and select Build a fire. You can now select where you want to place it.

Adding fuel to a campfire in Project Zomboid to boil water
The fire is going to need fuel to burn

Adding Fuel to the Fire

As you can see in the image above, adding fuel to the fire is quite easy. There are many different items that can be used to burn in the campfire. The easiest item to burn as fuel is old clothing. Select the Add Fuel option and add as many space clothing items or books that you want. Keep in mind you won’t get these back. They will be burnt. Now with fuel in the fire, you can light it up using matches or a lighter by using the Light Fire option which is also seen in the image above. Voila! You’ve created your first fire.


3. Boiling Water Over a Campfire in Project Zomboid

So, we have a pot of water which needs to be boiled and a heat source. We just have to figure out how to put these two together and we can now start boiling water. There are two options to putting a container full of water onto a burning campfire. As you can see at the top of the UI there is your inventory bar and the bar on the right which has the containers that your character is near. You can simply drag the cooking pot full of water over onto the campfire loot container to transfer it onto the fire.

Putting tainted water in a campfire to boil it
Throw it on the fire

The other option for putting a container full of water on to the campfire is to select the option from within your character’s inventory. Find the pot with tainted water and right-click on it. As you can see from the image above, if you are close enough tot he campfire there will be an option to ‘Put in Container(Campfire)”. Select this option to have your character transfer the item to the campfire inventory. For now, this is all you actively have to do to start boiling water in Project Zomboid.

Waiting For the Water to Boil

Now, open up the inventory for the campfire by moving your cursor to the top of the screen (where you can see the Loot All bar). The menu will drop down and if you are close enough to the campfire you should be able to switch to the campfire’s inventory by pressing the symbol on the left of this little drop-down menu. Now, you should see your little pot of water in the campfire boiling away. You can see the item slowly start to turn red. This is a good thing! This means that the item is getting heat and the water is starting to boil. Simply sit on this screen and wait until the tainted symbol is no longer present on the water.

The water has been boiled and it ready to drink
When the tainted status is removed the water becomes drinkable

That’s all there is to it. You can take the item of the campfire and move it back into your inventory whenever you want. This water is now safe to drink, cook with, or clean your wounds. That officially covers everything from A to B on boiling water in Project Zomboid. Now, get out there and survive!


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