Minecraft Forums

I read you can use a bucket and lava for fuel in the furnace. So i go to the lava source, scoop up some lava, return to the furnace and the second i open the furnace menu, my bucket is empty. I tried changing to a different tool before opening the menu in thoughts that maybe it was being poured out, but even when the bucket is in my inventory and i open with nothing in my hands, the bucket is empty as soon as the furnace menu is open. I read that maybe it was because it was too close to my bed (spawn point) so i moved the furnace probably 50 blocks away and up to my second floor (5 blocks high) and still had the same issue. Is this something other are experiencing? I checked the bug list and it didn't look like this was on there. Any thoughts?

Hmm that's strange. I've never heard of that issue. I honestly have no idea.

Try making 6 furnaces as 2 rows of 3, stacked on top of each other, and then try to put the lava in one of those. It's a random idea, but hey, what else can you do?

I have the same problem, gave up after many try's.

It seems to me that lava is supposed to last for 100 blocks of whatever you are smelting. I smelt 5 blocks of iron, and the lava disappeared.

I can place lava in the furnace just fine, but I also have an issue with how many blocks it smelts. I posted it in the bug thread.

Basically, whatever I put in after I put the lava in will smelt but the lava bucket disappears. The furnace stays on. The moment the furnace runs out of blocks to smelt it no longer works.

One bucket of lava + 1 cobblestone = 1 stone and an empty furnace that needs a new fuel.
One bucket of lava + 64 cobblestone = 64 stone and an empty furnace that needs a new fuel.
etc

I'm sure that was working exactly as I described it the last 3 times I tried.

Did you switch ingredients and/or unload the stone? I may have done that. I think the order was something like: I remove the baked Stone first, then add a new stack and the furnace goes cold. I may have switched ingredients from cobblestone to Iron Ore, too.

I will definitely try this again when I get home today.

Quote from GirlGolemHeresy

Did you get the lava in the Nether? I have noticed that the lava from there disappears on re-entry to the Overworld.

Nope, the lava is just from a "pre-made" mine i ran into. I am very new to Minecraft, only have about 6 hours into it and have not been to teh Nether world yet.

Quote from 4JSteve

Just tested on a retail kit here and had no issues with it.

Placed 1 bucket of lava in with 5 cobblestone
Removed the smelted stone
Placed another 64 the furnace fine.

Man, i wish mine worked. I cannot add a bucket to the furnace with lava in it. As soon as i open the furnace menu the bucket appears empty. I try putting the bucket in the ingredient portion anyway but it does nothing. So if its not happening on a retail version you are using, is it a bug or just a bad download?

Quote from lilcheeks

Man, i wish mine worked. I cannot add a bucket to the furnace with lava in it. As soon as i open the furnace menu the bucket appears empty. I try putting the bucket in the ingredient portion anyway but it does nothing. So if its not happening on a retail version you are using, is it a bug or just a bad download?

Have you tried a different bucket? Empty that lava into a hole, put the current bucket into a chest, make a new bucket, then try using the lava in the furnace in the new bucket.

I didn't read every post in the thread. But I skimmed through and didn't see you say you tried this. So sorry if you did.
Not sure if that could fix the issue. But Minecraft has always had strange bugs in the PC version. 360 could as well..

Quote from 4JSteve

The issue with the bucket appearing empty sounds like a bug similar to the buckets of lava/water not placing correctly.

Obviously with a few people having trouble with furnaces not working correctly i'll need to look into it further.

Keep me posted if you have any sure way of reproducing this issue, I'll keep at it tomorrow.

Thanks for the fast responses!! I will play around tonight with it. Currently it happens every time, even after moving my furnace. I will try creating new furnace and bucket and see if I can make it work. Thanks again for your fast replys.

Quote from Jassie

Have you tried a different bucket? Empty that lava into a hole, put the current bucket into a chest, make a new bucket, then try using the lava in the furnace in the new bucket.

I didn't read every post in the thread. But I skimmed through and didn't see you say you tried this. So sorry if you did.
Not sure if that could fix the issue. But Minecraft has always had strange bugs in the PC version. 360 could as well..

I have not tried a new bucket yet. I will give it a try tonight, thanks for the input!

Quote from lilcheeks

I have not tried a new bucket yet. I will give it a try tonight, thanks for the input!

Hope it works :]

Quote from 4JSteve

No problem .

Trying to keep up with the forums while bug checking keeps me going!.

I just tried a few things with no luck. Here is what I did.

1. I created a new bucket, collected lava and tried opening original furnace menu. Instantly the lava disappears from the bucket.

2. I created a new furnace, placed it next to my original furnace, collected lava with original bucket and new bucket (so two lava buckets in my inventory). Again once i open the menu to the furnace both buckets are empty.

3. I crated 3 more furnaces, had one row of 3 and a second row on top of that with two. I collected the lava and had he same results as the first and second try.

4. Now i was starting to wonder if the lava was the problem, so i created a glass box to pour the lava into. I went to collect the lava and when i placed the lava into the glass structure i made, the lava disappeared.

So maybe the issue is more the lava disappearing then it is with the furnace? The only thing i haven't done yet is find another lava section to get lava from. Maybe i will keep playing and see if I can find more lava. I am really bummed about this and hope the next update fixes this. Lava is a vital part of the game in my mind. Anything i can try??

I had a problem similar to this. I was picking up lava from a small pool that was a pretty good distance from where I was placing it. When I got to where I was going and placed the first lava block, it disappeared from about half my buckets.(I had 10 buckets full when I left the lava pit) What I eventually discovered was that I was grabbing "ghost lava". The trip between points was just long enough that I could not remember exactly which lava blocks I had already picked up. The lava was reappearing after I had picked it up. Not only that, but it was letting me pick it up again! I thought that I was picking up another lava block that was one block deeper, but that was not the case.

Armed with this theory of "ghost lava" I tried an experiment. I picked up a block of lava that I was sure I had not already touched, and was only one block deep. Sure enough, it returned one frame later. I then picked up the same block with my other nine buckets until all ten were full. Then I opened up my inventory and moved one of the buckets from my hotbar into my inventory. Sure enough, nine of the buckets' lava disappeared, while the one bucket with a legitimate block of lava in it remained full.

Hope this helps.

I've used this but it isn't really that good. It has never given me my bucket back so you get 100 blocks for 3 iron ingots and lava. It will disappear but the flame lasts

The rule I' ve starting using is only get lava from blocks that don't show movement. Still standing blocks only, and that seems to work for me at least. I've come across the ghost lava too so just keep trying to use different blocks like the person mentioned before.