Boiler

Boiler

Edit

• Base game
 
• Space Age mod

Recipe
0.5 + 4 + 1 → 1
Total raw
3 + 4 + 5
Map color
Fluid storage volume	Input: 200 Output: 200
Health	200 260 320 380 500
Resistances	Explosion: 0/30% Fire: 0/90% Impact: 0/30%
Stack size	50
Rocket capacity	50 (1 stack)
Dimensions	2×3
Energy consumption	1.8 MW 2.34 MW 2.88 MW 3.42 MW 4.5 MW (burner)
Heat output	60/s 78/s 96/s 114/s 150/s steam
Fluid consumption	6/s 7.8/s 9.6/s 11.4/s 15/s
Mining time	0.2
Pollution	30/m 39/m 48/m 57/m 75/m
Prototype type	boiler
Internal name	boiler
Required technologies
Produced by
Valid fuel

Recipe
0.5 + 4 + 1 → 1
Total raw
3 + 4 + 5
Map color
Fluid storage volume	Input: 200 Output: 200
Health	200 260 320 380 500
Resistances	Explosion: 0/30% Fire: 0/90% Impact: 0/30%
Stack size	50
Rocket capacity	50 (1 stack)
Dimensions	2×3
Energy consumption	1.8 MW 2.34 MW 2.88 MW 3.42 MW 4.5 MW (burner)
Heat output	60/s 78/s 96/s 114/s 150/s steam
Fluid consumption	6/s 7.8/s 9.6/s 11.4/s 15/s
Mining time	0.2
Pollution	30/m 39/m 48/m 57/m 75/m
Prototype type	boiler
Internal name	boiler
Required technologies
Produced by
Consumed by
Valid fuel

Object description

The boiler uses fuel to convert water into steam at 165°C suitable for use in a steam engine. It has two water connectors on opposite ends and passes water through to adjacent equipment such as other boilers. The boiler features a single output for the steam it produces. It only consumes fuel as it creates steam. Boilers used in conjunction with offshore pumps and steam engines are a vital part of early power generation.

For each unit of water, 10 units of steam are produced. Inserting one coal (4 MJ) into a boiler then using the resulting steam in a steam engine will supply 4 MJ of energy to an electrical system. It costs 300 kJ to heat 1 unit of water to into 10 steam at 165°C, so one boiler will produce 60 steam per second.

Inserters can insert fuel into boilers. However, using powered inserters to move fuel into a boiler can be problematic should fuel become unavailable: if no power is being produced, then powered inserters fueling a boiler cannot operate. Inserters can also remove fuel from boilers, allowing inserters to move fuel down a chain of boilers.

Using at least one burner inserter, which uses fuel and not electricity, ensures that at least one inserter is available to restart a single boiler. On larger power grids a single burner may not be satisfactory to restart the grid since Inserters will spin very slowly due to lack of electrical satisfaction, and won't be able to input coal to one section fast enough before the previous section runs out again, thus never achieving proper uptime or a successful restart. Other good restart solutions: keeping an emergency chest of coal nearby for easy manual restart (recommended), or for an automated option you can utilized the circuit network. The circuit network can't be connected to boilers or steam engines directly, so to read the necessary information will require a storage tank of steam, or an accumulator. Once you detect a failure state, you can either enable a fleet of backup burner inserters which are otherwise disabled (leaving these enabled is inefficient and not recommended), or you could use a power switch to temporarily isolate the local power grid to avoid the throughput problems mentioned above. These solutions can also be combined.

Calculations

A single boiler requires a piece of coal roughly every ~2.2... seconds (4/1.8), or 0.45 coal/second. Higher density fuels adjust consumption accordingly (wood is consumed twice as fast, solid fuel 3 times slower, etc)

A single full yellow belt of coal (15 coal/second) can supply 60MW of power, feeding ~33.3... boilers.

A single stack of coal stores 200MJ, while a full steam storage tank stores 750MJ, making chests the highest density energy buffer solution

History

• 2.0.7:
  • 1 Water will now produce 10 Steam in boilers/heat exchangers.

• 0.15.10:
  • Steam became a separate resource, boilers now produce steam rather than high temperature water that is displayed as steam
    • This distinction is meaningful for circuit network accounting of steam and the coal liquefaction recipe

• 0.15.0:
  • New graphics.
  • Changed boiler dimensions to 3×2.
  • 'Steam' is produced on a separate connector rather than heating water passed through.
    • At this time, steam is actually water that is renamed when over 100 degrees.
  • Significantly increased energy consumption/production.

• 0.13.0:
  • New fire graphics for boilers.

• 0.9.2:
  • Enabled the inserter to take fuel out of boilers.

• 0.8.0:
  • Flickering light added to furnaces and boilers.

• 0.6.1:
  • Boilers show their fuel inventory in the entity info.

• 0.5.1:
  • Boilers are now fast-replaceable with pipes.
  • New boiler graphics.

• 0.1.0:
  • Introduced

See also

• Electric system
• Fluid system