Let me help with the blood clotting. I have been an icu rn for several years. You have maybe up to 2 hours before the blood is separating on it’s own, I would say closer to an hour. When we are giving blood there are things the blood bank adds to the blood to stop it from clotting. That’s why it’s given with normal saline. But if I use lactated ringers instead of normal saline, there is a thing in the lactated ringers called citrate that will undo what the blood bank has added. With the citrate undoing what the blood bank did, the blood can clot just in the space from the blood bag through the in tubing to the patient. So if there is nothing to stop it from clotting, the blood will clot quickly.