Noob question about making a fuel

[FredyC]

So I am trying some stuff in creative mode and I want to make a gas fuel for a furnace so I don't need to split stuff by hand.

I saw a video to make a small airtight room where I will throw oxides and volatiles + active vent to suck gases out. I did that, threw stuff in there and those weren't melting. Even though I made a window and sun was shining right to it.

So I stuck the heater in there in hopes it will melt and couple minutes later ... Was that too much? I assume I need to limit that temperature somehow? Or is that something else?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1871870420

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwPgiX8MfXA

In the video it's linked directly to furnace, but I want to store the fuel first in the canister and to be able to move that canister to my furnace.

[Alth]

The airtight room would need to be above the melting point for ices to melt, and you would want to melt them separately. Try remaking your setup, locking yourself in the room, and melting the ice types separately (ice won't melt if it stays in your mining belt).

[Delle(DK)]

Regarding the room with an active vent where you try to make stuff melt and suck out the gas.

The trick to make it work is indeed to install a wall heater in the room BUT you need to heat the room when its empty to example 50 degrees, and then you turn off the heater.
IF the heater is on when you add the gax that melt, then it will BURN since the heater is very hot .
My advice design it so you can cut a cable outside the room to turn off the heater, that is pretty easy to do ;-)
And then dump stuff into the room via Shutes.
( or you can personaly go into the room and do everything manual that also work ).
Next via shutes throw in ONLY one kind of material at a time so you dont mix it, and pump out the gas into a tank.. Be aware that this method will give you the gas you want, but also build up presure in the tank since the active vent will keep pumping air/presure all the time.
So monitor your presure so your dont blow up your tank.
Anyway repeat again with other type of ore you want ot melt and put into new tanks.

Once you have two different tanks with different gas you can do this for example

Build a new furnace and make a 5 long pipe.
connect a presure regulator and set it to 1.
Connect your two different kind of gass to the mixer and set it to the correct gas mix... im not sure but things its 66 and 34% something like that. ( 1 blue and 3 red )

To turn on your furnace then turn on the power of the gas mixer for 1 sec and turn it off..
Now go and push the button and it should ignite.
( on europa you properbly need example 5 sec for it to turn on ).

[FredyC]

Thanks a lot for such detailed information. Makes total sense now :)

I also found this video on mixing the fuel, so that looks fairly easy indeed. And second video on how to hook it up with furnace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUgzWP8lG8Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTt7aubwyng

[Delle(DK)]

sorry i think i made a mistake regarding the setting of the presure regulator.

to turn on the furnace you need 1 blue and 3 red...
BUT try to figure out how much 1 blue is in "liter of air"
And how much 3 red are in liter of air.

Maybe you have to use a fluid pump insted and pump in xx liter of gas pr sec to reach a high enough amout of gas to turn on the furnace.

( i dont think using the presure regular as i wrote is a good idea, since its a bit slow, and you need xx amount of liters of fuel.. )

Anyway experiement a little with things, i am sure you will make it work ;-)

[Adam De Beers]

Beware, if your fuel hits 32C this is going to happen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO63GsmpAXQ

[FredyC]

Uhhh and now I am confused again :) So I need 50C to melt down ice, but it will also warm the gas and when mixed as fuel it will blow? I need to somehow cool it down before mixing? No video I've seen mentions that :/

[FredyC]

Hm, still struggling with basics it seems.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1872121200

There is a trace amount of H2 from that volatiles when I deconstructed wall to get inside (no door), so that's understandable, but why is it there so cold when heater is on? Temperature is not rising. The active vent is not connected yet, just fiddling with this for now.

Also wiki mentions that for heater to work there has to be a pressure. I guess it makes sense, vacuum cannot be heated up. But with what should I pressurize it when I need H2 only? Seems like egg & chicken problem to me :D

Do I need to fill it with some other gas (N2?) and filter that out?

[FredyC]

I don't get it. When I hold Ice(Volatiles) in my hand it the outer space, it starts melting even without direct sunlight. How is that possible? It's still just a cold vacuum, the same one I get when I close myself into a little box. How is such a box different? Is is possibly a bug?

[Maireen]

Easiest and safest way to melt ices is using the gas furnace. Just make sure you put only one type and spam click the activate button and let your filtration system to do its job. If you want to do it faster and prolong your mouse and finger hehe just use IC to spam the activate and turn it off when not in use.

[Proxy]

I always just create airtight room with active vent, throw volatiles on the floor and empty my waste tank from the suit into the air to create some pressure, and ice starts melting, some tiny bit of CO2 gets into the fuel, but whatever. 2 stacks of volatiles, 1 stack of oxites after that.

[FredyC]

@Proxy Thanks, I will try that.

I basically wanted to create a separate station from my base dedicated to creating fuel so in case something explodes, it won't hurt that much. I was hoping for a nice double 1x1 rooms, each for melting different ice and then use Mixer to make fuel. Filtration unit is so bulky, but I guess it's necessary.

[DrSID666]

Arc smelter can melt ices no problem

[FredyC]

So I figured it out without a furnace. There is no need for tempature, even a tiny amount of pressure is enough to melt the ice. So what I did is just thrown one ice in the box, quickly closed it and then I could simply throw rest of them through the chute and it melted on its own.

What's great about such solution - I don't need to filter at all. I get pure gas. The N2 on the picture is just from jetpack when I was closing the box.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1873177541

It's very crude for sure, but it's a proof of concept. I will definitely improve with some pressure regulator to always keep some small traces of pressure inside so I don't need to ever reopen that box again :)

[Bill]

fuel mix is 33% O2, 67% H2; as for "charging" atmospheric system, just dropping volatiles/oxites/ice into furnace without igniting works for me on mars (like 1-2kpa planet pressure); temperature seems to make no difference

[Jameak]

Melt your ice in the furnace by dropping it in and pressing the activate button multiple times.
Beware about putting in Ice and Volatiles together, you will essentially fire it up. Do one kind at a time and vent the furnace using a pipe on the back and a volume pump or back pressure regulator set to 0 with a manual valve and pipe it into a tank or filtration system for storage.

There is no need to melt ice in sealed rooms.