Cannot get SPOM working.

[Kaisha]

I've tried about a dozen different ways to get a SPOM working. And no matter what I do I end up generating too little hydrogen.

Electrolyzer produces 112g/s H2 and 888g/s O2. Hydrogen generator produces 800W for 100g of H2 which nets 896W of power - 120W for power the electrolyzer = 776W/s net power.

The H2 pump feeding the generator requires 240W for 500g or 48W for 100g.
The O2 pumps each require 240W for 500g which is (rounded) 427W for 888g.

This give me an excess of around 200W/s and 18g/s of H2 each second. And yet I'm always running out of H2.

I'm not sure what's going wrong...

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198023800203/screenshot/790866574897017688

[Hedning]

You may experience this until your gas pressure builds up. Make sure the door at the bottom isn't actually left open and make sure the atmo sensors are set correctly.

Also you can put your h2 pump in such a way that you don't need 25W for the sensor.

[Kaisha]

That was just 1 of about 10 different attempts, the sensor was put in later because I was running out of H2 and the H2 pump was pulling O2. Clearly if I had an excess of H2 it wouldn't be necessary.

I tried it with the bottom door open and closed, with no difference. In the end you'd want it closed so that all the hot air gets cooled, but to get it up and running letting some hot O2 vent would mean less pump action and less H2 being used for power.

Atmo sensors are set to signal on at 1000g or greater pressure.

There's a hamster wheel just off screen which I was using to 'prime' the system, but even when I get a good amount of H2 built up, as soon as I turn on the H2 generator within 10 or so cycles its empty and pulling O2.

[Battleseed]

I see a balance issue as far as the distance the gases have to travel. The gas traveling up can't keep up with the 3 pumps directly below. Systems like that with pumps up top and far away, let the O2 freely flow down and around. Not directly sucked with a pump, let alone 3. It's like your doing 1/2 of one kind of SPOM and 1/2 of another.

[Hedning]

Problem is the door is on the other side of the pumps so you may fool the atmo sensors and pull gas in rather than letting it out.

If you block the h2 pump from below you can detect h2 with an atmo sensor on the top layer, saving those 25W.

Best is to just set it up and stop worrying about it. If it draws some power for a while then so be it. As long as the room is sealed and the pumps aren't pumping less than 500g it will net power.

[Kaisha]

Originally posted by Hedning:

Problem is the door is on the other side of the pumps so you may fool the atmo sensors and pull gas in rather than letting it out.

I mentioned above that I tried it for a number of cycles with both.

If you block the h2 pump from below you can detect h2 with an atmo sensor on the top layer, saving those 25W.

Again I mentioned above that the sensor was added latter to prevent endless repairs. The systems runs for a bit then needs hamster power for a bit. What is puzzling is that I should have (over time) an excess of H2 not a lack of it.

Best is to just set it up and stop worrying about it. If it draws some power for a while then so be it. As long as the room is sealed and the pumps aren't pumping less than 500g it will net power.

I have... it doesn't work.

[Hedning]

Look, it probably just runs less than you think. Those electrolyzers are likely going to overpressure. It doesn't matter because the pumps if controlled by atmo sensors should adjust and draw less power, but it means things happen more slowly than you might expect. I don't know what "a number of cycles" is, I just know that it is power positive and that you should not have a door open because you are very likely to draw in o2, making the pumps work more than they should. If you want it to be free flowing you should remove the o2 pumps.

Edit: oh, I see, you only have 1 h2 gen.
Maybe you are simply burning the h2 and waste that power, then at some point you run out of power and need the hamster wheel.

Edit: oh, I see, you only have 1 h2 gen.

I know why you added the sensor. I am telling you about a way which lets you remove it.

[Strygald]

I think the main issue is the hydrogen rises too slowly in that wide area above the electrolyzers.

Here is my suggestion to modify your SPOM and make it run 100% of the time with a bit of surplus energy:

- make narrow paths directly above the electrolyzers, like in the pic... this forces the hydrogen up the narrow gap faster as the oxygen forces it up
- use an atmo sensor with the hydrogen pump, set to say above 700g
- ditch one of the gas pumps

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1849708299

[Kaisha]

I'll have to give that a try. I thought that maybe I needed a larger area, I never thought it wasn't small enough. The gas simulation in this game is weird.

[Grek]

https://youtu.be/L450Y7x8r8M
https://youtu.be/-f47ZKLcxG4

[Kaisha]

A Russian youtube video from 14 patches ago doesn't help...

[Rogue]

Your room is too big, gas takes too long to disperse and making the atmos sensor unreliable. Batteries do leak/waste power during lull/idle times when sensor detects nothing. You have a lot of pumps, think reducing one or even two of the oxygen pumps might save you a bit of power since everytime they starts up, 240w per pump is drained even if it only has a whiff of oxygen...

Try designing a compact version with 1 tile opening for air flow. E.g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2J3mdElQSo

[Hedning]

Originally posted by Rogue:

You have a lot of pumps, think reducing one or even two of the oxygen pumps might save you a bit of power since everytime they starts up, 240w per pump is drained even if it only has a whiff of oxygen...

That does not make sense. Draining 240W is perfectlly fine. If it's a whiff they'll just be on a very short time. Do you mean they drain a minimum of 240J even if on less than a second?

[RIKI]

The trick for it to run forever is to throw one gas reservoir that catch the excess hydrogen and then circulating through the hydrogen generator so the hydrogen will be there running around. And second trick that works for me is to build up the hydrogen in the reservoir first, when i see a green line in there i cut the power and then they'll run forever by itself.

And don't forget one smart battery, even better if you already have high pressure vent.
My setup is one elctrolyzer, two pump, one filter, one reservoir, generator, and smart battery.

[Hedning]

Why would you cut it off your main power? That's sounds like a waste of perfectly fine hydrogen power for absolutely no reason.

[Rogue]

Originally posted by Hedning:

Originally posted by Rogue:

You have a lot of pumps, think reducing one or even two of the oxygen pumps might save you a bit of power since everytime they starts up, 240w per pump is drained even if it only has a whiff of oxygen...

That does not make sense. Draining 240W is perfectlly fine. If it's a whiff they'll just be on a very short time. Do you mean they drain a minimum of 240J even if on less than a second?

Energy spent, 240W to pack a full block of oxygen vs 240W for 100g of oxygen many times many times considering the "large open room". You are wasting power in a close loop with limited energy where you are draining more power then producing it. Instead of you sucking once, you suck 10+ times...

Of course eventually the pipes will be blocked with oxygen and your pumps will no longer need to work as hard due to vent output pressure. But it will take ages which meant you have a need to supplement power with the hamster wheel till then...