Factorio 15.X Chemical plant power on/off

[Solanumtinkr]

Is there any way to control chemical plants as I want to maintain a minimium level of heavey oil and turn off oil cracking plants when it rops below that?

[DCYW]

Originally posted by Solanumtinkr:

Is there any way to control chemical plants as I want to maintain a minimium level of heavey oil and turn off oil cracking plants when it rops below that?

storage tanks

[IamNic]

You can either use a power switch or use pumps with network conditions to control the flow of either liquid.

[ShutEye_DK]

Originally posted by davidtsuiyw:

Originally posted by Solanumtinkr:

Is there any way to control chemical plants as I want to maintain a minimium level of heavey oil and turn off oil cracking plants when it rops below that?

storage tanks

I think I'm going to regret this, but...
Do you care to explain how a storage tank would solve Solanumtinkr's problem?

[QuackerJack]

I guess you need a controlled circuit flow of heavy oil for coal cracking (self feeding, but not overflow stuck)

You need Coal Liquification Heavy Oil output -> Storage Tank -> Pump -> Chem Plant
You now need 1 wire (red or green) and connect the Storage Tank to the Pump and set "Heavy oil > 5000" So you have a healthy buffer and everything over 5k will be split (in light oil or lubricant - your choice)

[Medgineer]

i have 2 pumps on output to cracking of storage tanks. All storage tanks are inluded in this one network ( I'm not good with OR/AND circuit conditions etc)
heavy goes to cracking(pump condition) if network reading storage tank levels- light is less than heavy(first pump) and heavy is > [value](2nd pump)
then pumps from light go to cracking if petroleum is less than light oil(first pump) and light oil is greater than [value](2nd pump) inline
this always keeps amounts of all 3 liquids equal provided you have sufficient cracking chem plants and enough oil input - else all tanks will just empty evenly.

[whiter2501]

You put the chemical plant with a power pole, remove any power lines going to it. You then put a power switch between the main power pole and your chemical power pole. With copper wire connect the main pole to one side of the power switch, while connecting the other to the chemical pole. Then with a logit wire from a storage tank to the power switch with the setting "liquid"<=X. This will make the power switch turn off when the tanks get to a certain level or greater.

[AlexMBrennan]

this always keeps amounts of all 3 liquids equal provided you have sufficient cracking chem plants and enough oil input - else all tanks will just empty evenly.

Is there a particular reason for that? Doesn't it seem odd that you should stockpile the exact same amount regardless of how much you are actually using?
For example, using the 1h stats from my last factory I was using 25k petroleum/minute, 13k light oil/minute and 2.5k heavy oil/minute.

[GMC]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

this always keeps amounts of all 3 liquids equal provided you have sufficient cracking chem plants and enough oil input - else all tanks will just empty evenly.

Is there a particular reason for that? Doesn't it seem odd that you should stockpile the exact same amount regardless of how much you are actually using?

I do the same. The rationale is that:
a) No tank will fill up (causing refining to stop) unless all tanks are full (meaning that supply exceeds demand). Nothing can be done about this, nor is it a problem.
b) No tank will run dry unless all tanks run dry (meaning that demand exceeds supply). Nothing can be done about this except to pump and refine more oil (or consume less).
c) when neither a) nor b) occurs, all three products (heavy oil, light oil and petroleum gas) are being produced at the rate they're being consumed, at least in the long term. In the short term, production and consumption can at most be mismatched by the storage volume.

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

For example, using the 1h stats from my last factory I was using 25k petroleum/minute, 13k light oil/minute and 2.5k heavy oil/minute.

The levels in the tank don't depend upon the absolute rates of production or consumption, but upon the disparity between the two accumlated over time. Over a sufficiently long interval, a tank which is neither full nor empty indicates that total production and consumption of that resource are almost identical.

It's the same principle as measuring the charge on an accumlator to determine whether electricity supply is meeting demand. A sustained disparity will push the value to one extreme or the other; the only way to maintain an intermediate value is for supply to equal demand.

[GMC]

Actually, I do have one slight tweak to that setup: I also disable cracking of heavy oil if the level drops below 5k. The reason is to ensure that coal liquefaction doesn't stop due to a lack of heavy oil (this is a potential "latch-up" condition, similar to how not feeding enough coal to power generation kills the power to the mining drills which mine the coal).

[Kiloton]

storage tank + pump + wire
I'll never have to micromanage my oil industry again.

[Kitchen Gun (TM)]

Originally posted by Peekachorp:

storage tank + pump + wire
I'll never have to micromanage my oil industry again.

Yes, but the pump will strobe like crazy. Not a big deal, but a latch function stops that.

[Fel]

Then put 2 extra lamps, one on when it's pumping and one off when it's pumping, and you'll get seizures every time you go to that area for an extended amount of time.

[Kitsunerune]

for my factories i always use a storage tank for all my oils from my refineries and cracking then have a pump leading into the light and heavy cracking array that has a wire connection reading the tank of oil to be cracked and only turning on if the tank reads over 20k. if heavy gets too high from not enough lube production it gets turned to light, if it gets low it wont get cracked. for lights it balances with making solid fuel. if petro backs up im fine for awhile. i dont really see a reason to do coal liquifaction ever once i get enough pumpjacks going.

[Ryan]

Originally posted by Peekachorp:

storage tank + pump + wire
I'll never have to micromanage my oil industry again.

This is what I do, and it is the most simple solution. Just click on the Pump and select the type of oil and the condition to <20000. The Pump will only Enable itself when the storage tank exceeds 20000.

[Killcreek2]

Originally posted by Kang of Canada:

Originally posted by Peekachorp:

storage tank + pump + wire
I'll never have to micromanage my oil industry again.

Yes, but the pump will strobe like crazy. Not a big deal, but a latch function stops that.

I find that it does not strobe much under actual use. But ymmv...

The pump pushes a large chunk of fluid through per activation [it has an internal capacity of 200 units], depending on your control network it may take more than a few ticks for the control signal to update & switch the pump off again.

It operates in pulse mode, so it really doesn't matter if it is activating 5 times per sec, or once per 30sec, so long as the liquids keep flowing.