If you find yourself building in Snowy areas in Minecraft, you might find your water sources repeatedly freezing. This can cause a lot of problems. Crops won’t grow quickly, you won’t have access to an infinite water source or somewhere to fish. Thankfully, there is a way to prevent water from turning into ice.
This guide will be compatible with all Minecraft Versions (Bedrock and Java Edition), as well as all platforms including the Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Pocket Edition and PC. We’ve covered many more Minecraft Guides like this one, here at PwrDown!
What Causes Freezing?
If you are building in a snowy biome, then the cold temperatures will eventually cause your water to freeze and turn into ice, which can prove to be problematic. This won’t just happen in Snowy biomes either, it can happen in most cold biomes as long as you’re high enough for there to be snowfall.
According to the Official Minecraft Wikia, there are 3 different factors that will cause the water in Minecraft to freeze. Just one of these factors taking place will cause water in Minecraft to turn into ice:
- Water is exposed to the sky above.
- The light level adjacent to the water block is less than 13.
- There is at least one block adjacent which is not a water block.
However after doing some testing, this proved inaccurate for Minecraft Java Edition on version 1.16.
How to Prevent Water from Freezing in Minecraft
After doing some testing in my own Minecraft world, there are two ways to stop water from freezing in Minecraft:
- Place a block above the water source, such as a half slab. The height doesn’t matter, and only the area above the water needs to be covered.
- Surround the water block in a light source such as torches, which will prevent the water from becoming ice.
You can use any combination of these, or both if your water is still freezing. I did some testing regarding the adjacent water blocks, and it seemed to have no impact on whether water became ice.
If you want to prevent a stream of water from freezing, then each block will need to be covered at the top.
