Cooling in space

[Shawn of the Dead]

Ok, I know this is a problem a lot of people have dealt with, but I haven't been able to find a good solution. How do you cool machines in space? I have a good bunker system with scanners. I have auto-miners and sweepers to dig up the regolith and sweep it away, and solar panels beneath that. The problem I have is with my sweepers and transport loaders overheating - not from regolith, but just from normal operation. They generate their own heat, and with no way to vent it in a vacuum, they eventually overheat. Building them out of steel just gives them a longer lifespan. Right now I just deconstruct them, sweep the steel into a cooling tank, and reconstruct them. Is there a better solution?

[asanger]

I'm pretty much doing the same as you for now except I don't recool the steel since buildings have a max build temp.

I'm thinking of dripping water on the stuff build on solid tiles to hopefully cool it enough before it vacuums into space, not sure what to do with the stuff built on airflow tiles though.

[Shawn of the Dead]

Does the water have to actually touch solid ground so it becomes 'solid' for it to cool, or will the drips passing over a machine cool it? (In a vacuum, of course.)

[L37]

You have few options.
1. Cover them with drywalls, vent small amount of gas next to them.
2. Build things in such a way that small amount of liquid can sit next to the machine, this will allow heat transfer into tiles, cool tiles using liquid or gas in pipes running through them.
3. Build them out of thermium/niobium and let regolith touch them, they will be cooled to regolith's temperature (~300C).

[asanger]

The drips have to land on something, the game seems to ignore it otherwise.

[Hedning]

First of all you don't need to cool the steel. The max construction temperature is 45, so even if the steel is red hot the machine will be 45°.

I think most people when they start to get into space and rockets will have too much co2 from power production and starts to dump this waste product in space. It's cheaper than scrubbing it. Tap the co2 line and place a vent near the miner, then use some of the co2 to puff it every now and then. This is what I do.

#2 in L37's list is what I see most often.

[Shawn of the Dead]

Originally posted by Hedning:

First of all you don't need to cool the steel. The max construction temperature is 45, so even if the steel is red hot the machine will be 45°.

I think most people when they start to get into space and rockets will have too much co2 from power production and starts to dump this waste product in space. It's cheaper than scrubbing it. Tap the co2 line and place a vent near the miner, then use some of the co2 to puff it every now and then. This is what I do.

#2 in L37's list is what I see most often.

I didn't know about the max construction temp. Thanks for the tip!

I vent all of my CO2 down to my slicksters, so that's not an option. (Can't let the poor guys starve.) But I may have some geysers around that I can use.