Why is my power maxed out when only about half is being drawn from?

[DiamondDuty]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2221005529

[Nailfoot]

Unless I miss what I am seeing, it looks like you are out of steam. Do you have more than two steam engines hooked to your boilers?

A screen shot of your power plant would help.

[DiamondDuty]

Originally posted by Nailfoot:

Unless I miss what I am seeing, it looks like you are out of steam. Do you have more than two steam engines hooked to your boilers?

A screen shot of your power plant would help.

Here is my main source of power:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2221008615
All engines have steam.

[Dunhill]

I think it's because you've hooked up steam turbines to regular boilers, which is a huge performance loss for them.

Edit: Yeah, I just tested it

[DiamondDuty]

Originally posted by DiamondDuty:

Originally posted by Nailfoot:

Unless I miss what I am seeing, it looks like you are out of steam. Do you have more than two steam engines hooked to your boilers?

A screen shot of your power plant would help.

Here is my main source of power:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2221008615
All engines have steam.

Also, this happens when I a decent amount of bots at the same time.
My max power output will fall out of nowhere and begin the process of blacking out. Not sure what's going on.

[Dunhill]

Originally posted by DiamondDuty:

Originally posted by DiamondDuty:

Here is my main source of power:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2221008615
All engines have steam.

Also, this happens when I a decent amount of bots at the same time.
My max power output will fall out of nowhere and begin the process of blacking out. Not sure what's going on.

It will display your potential max performance, until it reaches the actual limit. I'm getting 1.8 MW out of 5.8 MW from a single turbine that's hooked up to a single boiler with solid fuel.

[Nailfoot]

Yeah, you are getting a false reading for your max available power due to those turbines. Replace them with steam engines, and add 80 more steam engines


Turbines are for nuclear power plants.

[PunCrathod]

A boiler makes 60 steam per second and steam engine uses 30 per second so you need two steam engines per boiler. However steam turbine uses 60 per second so a boiler can only support one turbine.

You get the exact same amount of power from one turbine as you would from two steam engines if you are using steam from a boiler. One unit of steam gives the same amount of power on both machines. So the only reason to use turbines over engines with boilers is when you are running out of space.

However you don't lose anything by using turbines. Other than turbines being more expensive to make than two engines.

[Nailfoot]

Originally posted by PunCrathod:

...

However you don't lose anything by using turbines. Other than turbines being more expensive to make than two engines.

You don't lose anything, you just get a false reading for your max available power when they are arranged as the OP has them.

I agree, there is no real reason to hook turbines to boilers... maybe in a death world where you simply cannot expand? Then again, by the time you have turbines, you can probably fight for more space.

[PunCrathod]

Oh you might also want to use turbines with boilers if you are planning on going nuclear later and need to make more steam power now. You can re-use the turbines on your nuclear reactor when you actually build it.

EDIT:

Originally posted by Nailfoot:

You don't lose anything, you just get a false reading for your max available power when they are arranged as the OP has them.

Yeah the game does not explain that it's the steam temperature and amount that decides the amount of power you get and not the machine you use to extract that power. And it shows the max power the machine is capable of making with best fuel. Not the amount of power the steam the machine currently has can make.

[DiamondDuty]

Originally posted by Nailfoot:

Yeah, you are getting a false reading for your max available power due to those turbines. Replace them with steam engines, and add 80 more steam engines


Turbines are for nuclear power plants.

Ooooooh, didn't realize that! Thank you!

[GMC]

Originally posted by Nailfoot:

You don't lose anything, you just get a false reading for your max available power when they are arranged as the OP has them.

To elaborate: the maximum power for turbines is calculated based upon the assumption that you're feeding them 500°C steam, which you can only get from heat exchangers (which require nuclear reactors to run). Boilers only produce 165°C steam, so you only get (165-15)*0.2*60 = 1800 kW per turbine rather than (500-15)*0.2*60 = 5820 kW.

Regardless of temperature, steam turbines consume steam at twice the rate of steam engines (60 units/sec vs 30 units/sec), so one steam turbine is equivalent to two steam engines. So there is the advantage that they take up less space; and you can re-use them once you get nuclear reactors whereas steam engines become redundant.

[brian_va]

Originally posted by DiamondDuty:

Also, this happens when I a decent amount of bots at the same time.
My max power output will fall out of nowhere and begin the process of blacking out. Not sure what's going on.

alot of bots all needing to charge will take a ton of power.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Originally posted by GMC:

So there is the advantage that they take up less space; and you can re-use them once you get nuclear reactors whereas steam engines become redundant.

It'd be nice if you could "recycle" steam engines and boilers into train engines, hehe. It always irks me to have arbitrarily outdated hardware lying around. :)

[DCYW]

Make a better fuel type for those boilers which doesn't run out easily, or power plant that produces heat for steam (heat exchanger).