Power Generation: Difference between revisions
→Steam
(→Steam) |
|||
Line 5:
NOTE: Late-game power sources are lacking, someone more experienced adding info on fusion and naquadah would be appreciated.
== Steam ==
Steam is the first power source you have access to, and
Production: Steam is produced in many boilers, of various types. All boilers require 1L of water per 150L of steam produced. If a boiler runs out of water, and is then fed more water while it is still hot, it will explode, so make sure you've got enough water production for your boilers! 2L of steam makes 1 EU, multiplied by the efficiency loss of the steam turbine.
The first set of boilers available are the Small Boilers. All of these are available in the Bronze age, and are the backbone of your first machines. Included in this lineup are the Small Coal Boiler, the High Pressure Coal Boiler, the Simple Solar Boiler and the High Pressure Lava Boiler.
* The Small Coal Boiler is the first boiler available, consuming coal or charcoal, and is not really viable for power production, giving a measly 120 L/s of steam, or 3 EU/t of power, or even less with efficiency losses from turbines.
* The High Pressure Coal Boiler produces 300 L/s of steam, a much better number, but still only equivalent to 7.5 EU/t. Like the Small Coal Boilers, these run off coal or charcoal.
* The Simple Solar Boiler produces the same amount of steam, but runs off sunlight, and slowly calcifies, requiring it to be broken and replaced to be restored to its full 120 L/s production.
* The High Pressure Lava Boiler produces 600 L/s of steam, or 15 EU/t, and run off lava. These require a constant source of lava, which is generally not something available at LV, so these are not recommended for use in constant power generation. They have a multiblock upgrade in EV tier, the Large Heat Exchanger, which proves a lot more useful.
Next are the Railcraft boilers, available at the start of LV. These are multiblock boilers, and can be 1x1, 2x2, or 3x3, and up to 5 blocks tall. These consist of a single base layer of boiler fireboxes, over which between 1 and 4 layers of boiler tanks are placed, depending on the size (look on the tooltip for a list of viable sizes). The boiler fireboxes determine what fuel is used- solid fueled fireboxes can run on anything that is capable of burning in a furnace(mostly coal or charcoal are the viable options, BoP ash from the nether could also be used if you don't mind digging) while liquid fueled fireboxes run off certain flammable liquids (creosote oil, lava, diesel, and oil, though of these the only one you'll want to use is probably creosote). The boiler tanks determine steam production, warm up time, and fuel consumption- low pressure boilers warm up faster (although still very slow relative to other boilers) and make 10 L/t of steam per boiler tank present(Note that this is per tick, not per second unlike the GT boilers- multiply this by 20 to get per second), while high pressure boilers are more expensive, use twice the fuel, warm up much slower, but make 20L/t of steam per boiler tank. Since high pressure tanks aren't any more fuel efficient, warm up much slower, and need steel instead of iron, it's better to use low pressure tanks in nearly all circumstances. Both types of fireboxes are viable, and it's generally best to run a combination of both to fully utilize a coke oven. These can produce anywhere from a tiny 10L/t of steam, or 5 EU/t, up to 360L/t for a max size low pressure or 720L/t for a max size high pressure (180 or 360 EU/t, respectively). The fuel consumption uses a complicated formula; more details [[Railcraft Boilers Math|here]].
| |||