Heating issues, can't find answer!

[Kitiana Foxtail]

Ok I did a little bit of looking around. Watched some vids and read everything I could find but can't seem to solve this heating problem.

I am doing Ice Sheet Challenge on the coldest map I could find. Temps in the coldest part or the year get to -109c. As of this post. The temp was at -99c. I am in a room that is 16x5. Just how it got built right now. I have 3 Turbines and 3 batteries. I am getting plenty of power as long as I monitor use (and no power surges happen).

The room I am in is double walled all around. I have enterance. Main door is a Triple Air Lock (Door, space, Door, Space, Door). The second enterance leads into my freezer with a Double Air Lock. The freezer has a door at the top and bottom but those should not matter with my room temp.

In this 16x5 room. I have 4 heaters. I have them turned up to 191c on each one of them and yet I am having trouble just maintaining 20c. From what I read (if correct). The temp in this room should be around 100c. I tried resetting them at 21c each. Turned them up to 30, then 50. I waited for the temp to adjust as well but it never gets close.

So, what am I doing wrong or is this nomal and I need more heaters. Steel is limited in hopes of more pods and crashed reckage. I also don't want to add more heaters and have a harder time with power.

Thanks in advance for any tips or clues as to what I am doing. All am doing bare min to keep my hydroponics growing and from me freezing (though some nights it gets a little chilly even with those 4 heaters going at 191c).

[Astasia]

Heaters aren't that strong, that temperature sounds about right to me given the temperature of the map and the size of the room. I don't know why the heck you want to raise it to 100c though, that would kill everything. 20c is a perfect temperature for hydroponics and people.

[elipod]

Originally posted by Astasia:

I don't know why the heck you want to raise it to 100c though,

Maybe it was done under assumption that heaters will give out more heat with such setting?
They won't, they always work at full power and if they reach set temperature, they start flickering on and off.

[Kitiana Foxtail]

Originally posted by Astasia:

Heaters aren't that strong, that temperature sounds about right to me given the temperature of the map and the size of the room. I don't know why the heck you want to raise it to 100c though, that would kill everything. 20c is a perfect temperature for hydroponics and people.

I am not trying to get to 100c temp. I am trying to maintain 20-25c, but it takes turing the heaters up to 191c just to get it to reach 20c but it is not constant. As soon as I exit into my cooler (which is air locked). The temp drops to like 1-2c.

[Kitiana Foxtail]

Ok, this might make it easier. Not sure how to post a picture in this thread (if even possible). So here is the link to a picture of my base. It shows the temp of the room and the temp that the heaters are set at.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1595653012

Maybe that will help see what I am talking about.

--- Edited---

I posted the wrong link.

[elipod]

I'd say, need more heaters, or smaller hot room. I'd cut 16x5 room with single wall on left side, to make 4x5 and 11x5, and moved everything in 11x5 part. 4x5 will have something like -40C or -60C from heat leaking trough single wall.

Also, it won't do much here, but 9x9 would be slightly more insulated than 16x5, because of shorter perimeter. Leakage trough roof will be same though.

Once again, if heaters set to 25C can't keep up, cranking them to 191C won't change anything, they are already working at max capacity.

[Astasia]

Ya I don't see any issues. It's a decent size room on a very cold map, just build more heaters, and reset them all to 21c. Maps on extreme temps often require a crazy amount of heating/cooling. That room might have been an ok size for those heaters if it was under a mountain, but out in the open you are bleeding a lot of heat through the roof so you will need a lot of heating to keep it warm.

[M.K.]

Heaters are on, at full power, or off. There is no inbetween.
Setting them to 190C will not make them hotter than setting them to 21c, nor will it use more power unless your room actually reaches the target 21C.

Personally, in your situation I'd divide that room in two, and move 1 heater to the hydroponics side.
Let your colonist live in ~ -20C, the happiness and production hit will not be very bad if you have good coldweather clothing, which in that location you obviously have. And a smaller room with 3 heaters will keep your hydroponics toasty.

[Nito]

The only help i can give you is making the "combat" quests of outpost something refugee normally the have some kind of eletrical powered device just desconstruct for steel...

[Kitiana Foxtail]

Well I tried a few thing. I tried to devide the room. The heat did not fix itself. I reset the heaters as well and it just got colder. Not having enough steel to build more heaters I was a bit worried. I did have Slate though (gave myself some before I started just for kicks). So I tried building a floor and doing triple doors for my fridge enterance.

Now suddenly I have more then enough heat. I reset the heaters and raisted them up to around 50 during the colder part of the year. I was maintaining about 30. I had to turn them down cause it was to hot.

So have to conclude that the ice sheet floor was what was causing my heating issues. If not, then not sure what really changed it.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1595796610

[elipod]

No idea how floor would help. My guess would be: one of heaters, initially, wasn't set to maintain above 21C.
I'll try similar setup to compare.

[M.K.]

In rather exhaustive tests, I've confirmed that wall material and floor material have no impact on temperature, in your scenario. (very cold outside, seeking room temp inside)
Double walls help a LOT.
Airlock doors help a lot.
Perimeter of Outside wall, plus surface of inside surface, seem to determine heat loss.
Just about all this guy could do to improve it is making a more square building.
.
I suspect the apparent improvement he has seen has more to do with outside temperature fluctuations, or maybe better energy management preventing any intermittent power failures. (those batteries are under heavy use, seen from their discharge level)

[elipod]

I'd also guess it just got warmer.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1595923209
With this structure, if nobody is opening doors, stove is on and sun lamp is off, I got:

at -119C outside, inside temperature fluctuated between -1C -3C
at -102C outside, between 14C 17C
at -95C outside, between 20C 24C

btw, sunlamp does give a bit of heat when on, not contributing to chilly nights.

[Astasia]

Colonists also give off heat. Every time they breathe they pulse a bit of heat. I don't think it matters much in a room that size, but a couple extra colonists might change the temperature by a degree or two.