Solid hydrogen problems

[KoryTheKind]

I'm having chunks of solid hydrogen appear in my condenser setup. The strange thing is that these chunks have the temperature of a few degrees warmer than the melting point of solid hydrogen

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2735123512

[PROUFUNDUS-IGiveUp]

Once it reaches -256.2 deg Celsius, it should melt. I hear that state changes like that only happen 3 degrees above/below the state-change points of a substance in question.

It's weird but it makes sense I guess, like how ice typically melts on the outside first. I think of it as an "edging" point.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by Gigawatt \T|E/:

I hear that state changes like that only happen 3 degrees above/below the state-change points of a substance in question.

It's true. You need to prevent temperatures from getting that low in your condenser to prevent it from making solid hydrogen.

[KoryTheKind]

The main problem is, I have created Francias John's oxy / h2 liquifier build, and set the temperatures / build correctly, he didn't get solids, but I am. The only difference is, my h2 isn't venting in at 70*C, it's around 40*C

If I lower my aquatuner from -255 to -254, then I'll eventually have a room full of gas.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by SeeCoryClimb:

The main problem is, I have created Francias John's oxy / h2 liquifier build, and set the temperatures / build correctly, he didn't get solids, but I am. The only difference is, my h2 isn't venting in at 70*C, it's around 40*C

If I lower my aquatuner from -255 to -254, then I'll eventually have a room full of gas.

A convenient fact he may be using is that once you have a pool of liquid h2 the temperatures will be more stable simply because there's a lot of mass there. One packet of minimum temperature supercoolant will not freeze the entire pool, so in the beginning you may want to regulate carefully, but once it gets going and there's good thermal mass in the pool you can let loose.

having it frozen isn't really a big deal, you still have your h2. If it turns to gas that's not a big deal neither. Again once you have the thermal mass it's golden and it doesn't matter if it's liquid or gas. The gas won't explode your walls and once you have it in the room it's easy to liquefy.

[XceptOne]

Can you post the plumbing overlay, please?

I suspect the temperature sensor is at a bad place.
But then, the whole cooling loop concept might actually be backwards, compared to how I would build it.

Edit: Thinking about it a bit more, plus what Hedning has written, the whole thing will probably sort itself out on its' own. So, just let it run and see what happens longterm.

[KoryTheKind]

I kept monitoring the volume of the liquid, it is steadily increasing, I'm at 500kg+ mass finally, so it's getting very stable. At first I was getting 100+kg of solid matter, which isn't useful. I think I had to reduce the intake of h2 to 550g/s