How to read boiler temperature into network?

[Defektiv]

I have a reactor set up to provide heat to the boilers on Gleba in case the factory goes idle enough that the burners cannot provide the necessary heat. I want to do this by reading the temperature from the furthest boiler and only insert fuel cells into the reactor if it goes below a certain temperature. How can this be done considering boilers and heat pipes cannot be connected to the network?

[malogoss]

A heating tower that never burns fuel, next to that last boiler, will be mighty close to the temperature of the heat pipe connected to the boiler.

And heating towers' temperature can be read.

[Defektiv]

That might work, if I can find a place to squeeze it in. It's too bad there isn't a temperature sensor or something, or the ability to hook the boiler up to the network. That seems like an oversight unless there is an intentional purpose I'm overlooking.

[malogoss]

"oversight" and "bonus challenge" can be synonyms.

It's like the thrusters that can't be connected to a logic circuit. Great or annoying, depending on how you look at it.

[Defektiv]

It definitely challenges traditional builds for boilers considering you cannot path heat pipes under normal pipes and in traditional boiler builds the furthest boilers do not typically leave space for much else near the furthest heat pipe and boiler.

[Defektiv]

It ain't pretty but it works.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3368884559
The hardest part was trying to figure out how to turn the reactors off afterwards, most solutions involve filling the reactors with empty cells and only removing one while reading multiple signals to trick the inputs to only put in one cell. So instead I just put inserters on the output filtered to full fuel cells. The input inserters put cells in when the temp on the furthest boiler drops below a certain temperature and then the output pulls whats left of them back out when the temp goes a few degrees above that and puts them in passive provider chests so they can be put back in the requester chests on the input when needed.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3368907851

[Alora]

Originally posted by Defektiv:

I have a reactor set up to provide heat to the boilers on Gleba in case the factory goes idle enough that the burners cannot provide the necessary heat. I want to do this by reading the temperature from the furthest boiler and only insert fuel cells into the reactor if it goes below a certain temperature. How can this be done considering boilers and heat pipes cannot be connected to the network?

Radars carry circuit signals from any wire that's wired into it, so you can do the heating tower thing, and then instead of a string of wires, you could just put a radar down nearby.

You could also use this potentially to pick what kind of fuel goes in based on the amount of each kind of fuel there is in a stockpile

[Defektiv]

Radars transmit network signals wirelessly?

[malogoss]

There are more sophisticated ways to control the fuel cells input, but you made it work and that's what matters the most.

[Defektiv]

I'm about as sophisticated as a hillbilly on a ranch, most likely because that is exactly what I am.

[malogoss]

Your ranch... ehm, your base, your rules!

[Pr0wn]

My typical approach is to create a huge buffer of steam and load fuel cells only when the stocks dip under a certain amount. It is very simple as well, it just requires to scale your power plant appropriately (basically more heat exchangers and turbines than your reactors can output)

[Defektiv]

Originally posted by Pr0wn:

My typical approach is to create a huge buffer of steam and load fuel cells only when the stocks dip under a certain amount. It is very simple as well, it just requires to scale your power plant appropriately (basically more heat exchangers and turbines than your reactors can output)

That does work under normal conditions, but on Gleba with 150 turbines running, by the time steam starts dropping its already too late. I need to be able to get the reactor starting to heat up when the furthest boiler starts dipping below around 600-700 degrees otherwise power will dip so low inserters will start moving too slow to pick things off the belts and entire operation grinds to a halt. Even storage tank buffers are useless in this configuration.

[Vyndicu]

Originally posted by Defektiv:

That does work under normal conditions, but on Gleba with 150 turbines running, by the time steam starts dropping its already too late. I need to be able to get the reactor starting to heat up when the furthest boiler starts dipping below around 600-700 degrees otherwise power will dip so low inserters will start moving too slow to pick things off the belts and entire operation grinds to a halt. Even storage tank buffers are useless in this configuration.

Two tweaks to your design to consider.


Using burner inserters that work without electricity.


A separate power grid that uses solar panels and accumulators (for night on Gleba) to run inserters.

Hold shift and click on a power pole to disconnect it. Then use the copper wire button on your toolbar (if not there, click on vertical three dots icon and click on make copper wire's checkbox) to make a connection between power pole.

[Pr0wn]

Originally posted by Defektiv:

Originally posted by Pr0wn:

My typical approach is to create a huge buffer of steam and load fuel cells only when the stocks dip under a certain amount. It is very simple as well, it just requires to scale your power plant appropriately (basically more heat exchangers and turbines than your reactors can output)

That does work under normal conditions, but on Gleba with 150 turbines running, by the time steam starts dropping its already too late. I need to be able to get the reactor starting to heat up when the furthest boiler starts dipping below around 600-700 degrees otherwise power will dip so low inserters will start moving too slow to pick things off the belts and entire operation grinds to a halt. Even storage tank buffers are useless in this configuration.

As I said it works but your plant needs to be scaled accordingly, if you use 4 tanks for 150 turbines of course this will not work.