Steam engine

2024-11-01T20:20:09Z

Pike: As per FF#430, 1 water now expands into 10 steam. So number of boilers/steam engines per pump is now 10 times higher.

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{{:Infobox:Steam engine}}

'''Steam engines''' are the most basic [[Electric system|electricity]] generator, available to the player at the start of the game. They produce electricity by consuming [[steam]], using [[water]] pumped from an [[offshore pump]] that was heated to 165°C steam with [[Boiler|boilers]] or to 500°C steam with [[heat exchanger]]s. Steam that has a higher temperature than the maximum temperature of the steam engine (165°C) is consumed at the normal rate (30 units/s), and does not yield more electricity. This means the energy that was put into the steam to heat it to a higher temperature is wasted.

Steam engines will automatically adjust their power production and steam usage based on the current demands of the electricity network. Hovering the mouse over a steam engine will display their current power production ('''Performance''') and their possible power production ('''Available Performance'''), in a display on the right.

Steam engines have two ports, allowing excess steam to flow through. This allows steam engines to be chained together. The current optimal ratio is 1 [[offshore pump]] to 200 [[boiler]]s to 400 steam engines. For more information, see [[power production]].

Using steam engines for power does not produce [[pollution]], however using [[Boiler|boilers]] to heat up the water does.

When producing power, the steam engine will display a working animation:

[[File:steam engine animation.gif]]

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== History ==
{{history|0.18.18|
* Adjusted steam engine and [[Steam_turbine|turbine]] collision boxes so player can walk between two steam engines.}}

{{history|0.15.0|
* [[Steam]] is now internally a separate fluid from hot [[water]].
* Added high graphics quality option for the steam engine.
* Increased the maximum [[power production]] of the steam engine from 510kW to 900kW.
* Doubled the heat capacity of water from 0.1kJ per degree per liter to 0.2kJ.
* Change fluidbox height and base level of boiler, steam engine and pump to improve fluid flow.
}}

{{history|0.10.7|
* Made bounding box smaller.}}

{{history|0.10.0|
* New graphics.
* New sounds.}}

{{history|0.5.1|
* New graphics}}

{{history|0.1.0|
* Introduced}}

== See also ==
* [[Electric system]]
** [[Power production]]
* [[Steam]]
* [[Pipe]]

{{ProductionNav}}
{{C|Energy}}

Official Factorio Wiki - User contributions [en]

Steam engine