how can i save more coal using boilers?

[737382828299338]

So I have boilers and steam engines that are consttantly running through coal (like 50 coal in 5 mins) which shuts down my whole operation until I run to shore and refill it.


whats a way to save coal with the boilers?

[Owl]

yes.

[Owl]

build a conveyer belt and have a loader load the boilers.

[ShutEye_DK]

Originally posted by ETAWN:

...
whats a way to save coal with the boilers?

When first starting up, there is no steam in the system (boilers / engines) and coal get used up really fast until both are full.
After that, coal usage is tied directly to how much power your factory needs.

[AlexMBrennan]

whats a way to save coal with the boilers?

You can't. A boiler running at maximum power will consume one coal every 2s. Just like in the real world there are no fuel line magnets that improve your mileage or make coal burn for hours.

The only way to use less coal is to not use steam power - eventually you will be able to build solar panels.

[CalhounMKZ]

While you can't save on the coal, you can maximise the steam usage. A Single Boiler can run multiple Steam Engines. I generally have 5 or 6 Engines on each boiler before I set up the next boiler.
2 lines of 6 Engines will generate 10.8 MW of power. More than enough to run a sizeable starting foundry and factory.

[Jupiter3927]

One boiler can only continuously provide steam to 2 engines.
You would need some way to store the steam to power more than 2 and it would only ever be in short bursts.

You could switch over to solar power with accumulators set to turn your boilers off when so much power is accumulated.

Feeding your boilers with coal directly from the local coal patch should solve your problem until then.
Automating the coal delivery means you'll never have to do it yourself again.

[CalhounMKZ]

Steam Engines can connect to other Steam Engines. Laying pipe from the boiler to create more lanes also works. In these fashions it is possible to chain about 10 Steam Engines to one boiler before the pressure falls off. While this is not optimal, it does function for the early game.

[piccolo255]

Originally posted by CalhounMKZ:

Steam Engines can connect to other Steam Engines. Laying pipe from the boiler to create more lanes also works. In these fashions it is possible to chain about 10 Steam Engines to one boiler before the pressure falls off. While this is not optimal, it does function for the early game.

It's also completely useless and a waste of time and resources to build those extra engines, though.

One boiler produces enough steam for two engines. If you run 10 engines with that one boiler, they'll work at an average efficiency of 20%, for the exact same total output. It looks like it works fine only because you're not using much power, so not all steam is consumed and it builds up in the engines. As soon as your power requirements go up a bit, all that extra steam will be consumed in a few seconds, and you'll have a brownout.

[Jupiter3927]

Fluids don't lose any energy when they sit in pipes for a while so it's possible to store that steam for use later.
It won't stop brownouts but it will prolong the amount of time you can go over your normal power capacity.

1 fluid tank holding 25k steam can run 10 boilers at maximum power of a combined 300 steam/s for 83 and a third seconds.
This is assuming your steam can get to each engine to feed them 30 steam/s.
83 seconds is enough time for your laser turrets to fend off a group of angry biters.

[stevej018]

Originally posted by Jupiter3927:

1 fluid tank holding 25k steam can run 10 boilers at maximum power of a combined 300 steam/s for 83 and a third seconds.

how does that look like.

[Jupiter3927]

You could do it...
Boiler -> Fluid Tank -> Steam engine (x10)
or...
Boiler -> Steam engine (x10) -> Fluid tank

You could stick the tank anywhere in the line and it should work no problem.
The theory is your tank will fill up with excess steam to be used later when the engines actually need it.
This is the exact same concept as an accumulator.

[knighttemplar1960]

Very early game burner mining and burner inserter / boiler auotmated power set up

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1876590428

[BlueRock]

Just in case you might be a little new and didn't already know, you can also produce solid fuel from oil and use it to help fuel your steam power plants until you can get nuclear up and running. (if you have access to a good amount of oil and not so much coal nearby, which can sometimes be the case). Solid fuel has a higher energy density than coal so it doesn't take as much of it to keep your steam power plant running. You can also mix in any unwanted extra wood you would like to get rid of onto the belt and burn it as fuel as well.

[astrosha]

As said above, you cannot directly save on coal. Your boilers will burn what they can to fill the available space for the steam they generate. Steam Engines will consume just enough steam to meet the demand of everything, up to their maximum capacity.

Steam tanks do function as accumulators, but where exactly is this truly useful?

The one answer I can come up with is Nuclear. Reactors produce heat, which gets transmitted to heat exchangers to make a high temperature steam. Unlike Boilers, Reactors don't stop and start on a dime, one fuel burns for 200 seconds regardless of how much power is drawn from the power plant. To save on fuel, it is certainly viable to store excess high temperature steam, and only insert a new fuel cell when said steam gets low.

Storing steam from a boiler? What's the point? One boiler at max capacity can feed exactly two steam engines. If you need more steam engines, make and feed more boilers. One yellow belt of coal can feed somewhere around 35 boilers. I tend to make two 20/40 arrays fed from the same belt. Eventually, ideally before reaching the maximum capacity of that single yellow belt of coal, I transition to solid fuel. One yellow belt of solid fuel can feed 100 (I think) boilers. That's more than two such pairs of 1/20/40 pump/boiler/steam engine arrays.

Back on topic, you *can* indirectly save on coal in two ways. First, use Efficiency Modules. Efficiency is capped at an 80% reduction, so three level 1 modules, or two level 2, are sufficient and cheap. Second, instead of burning the coal directly, liquify it into Heavy, Light oils and Petroleum gas. Crack the Heavy into Light oil, turn both Light and Petroleum into solid fuel, and burn that solid fuel. Beacon and module that setup heavily.

See Https:/forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=71823 for more information on that subject.

[AlexMBrennan]

1 fluid tank holding 25k steam can run 10 boilers at maximum power of a combined 300 steam/s for 83 and a third seconds.

And one steel chest full of coal will run 10 boilers for 533.3s so good job reducing the size of your buffer by 85% by storing pre-burnt coal aka steam instead of actual coal.

Storing steam from a boiler? What's the point?

A lot of Factorio players absolutely love to minimize the number of boilers at literally any cost.