Gas Fuel Generator question...

[SyntacksVT]

Context:

Set up my first GFG using tutorials on YouTube, and got it automated to the point that it's keeping temp and running consistently.

My issue is that it's redlining and not putting out power anywhere near what I see the tutorials do (27kw - Cowsareevil & 80kw - elmotrix, shooting for 27kw as I copied from cowsareevil and I am also on Mars). I'm doing the standard fuel mix (66/34 - H2 / O2), with a pressure regulator set at 1kPa.

At first, it was putting out around 14kw and after 3-4 days of fiddling with it and testing theories, I noticed a small increase in output after putting a radiator on the fuel pipe at night. So I guessed that decreased fuel temperature, resulting in more mols per L, would help with performance. I, then, built a cooling room and a heat exchanger to drop the fuel temps from ~8c to -110c. So my theory did prove beneficial.

Results:

My generator is putting out a max of ~20kw of power but is STILL redlining.

Question:

Am I on the right path here? If yes, what temps should I be looking for so I can automate the fuel cooling room? Also, why does no one ever talk about decreasing fuel temps in their tutorials because, if so, I think this seriously matters?

If not, (and I may be overthinking the process), what are some troubleshooting steps that I could possibly take to try to correct what I'm doing?

Thanks in advance. I've gotta go to work so I'll be checking in afterwards.

[LoboFH]

I think that Cows are Evil said in a recent video that the Fuel Generator output was nerfed, so don't trust too much in the data of old videos.

[SyntacksVT]

Originally posted by LoboFH:

I think that Cows are Evil said in a recent video that the Fuel Generator output was nerfed, so don't trust too much in the data of old videos.

Ok.. thanks.

[Jalapen0]

Best I’ve been able to get is 20kw too. Just a hint that seems to help me. Just before it gets too hot and the generator shuts down, automatically cut back fuel. Room will cool a bit, and then you can increase fuel again. It’ll keep the generator going.

Also if its cold, increase fuel more. That’ll heat the air faster so it won’t cut out from the cold.

[MisterCrow]

Yeah I've been wondering this too. I could only push ~10kw out of mine (although it was perfectly stable temperature wise). I noticed lowering fuel temperature boosted power output but it'd be good to know what the optimum temperature of the fuel should be. Will try lowering my fuel temp to -110C and see what happens. Otherwise I'm not sure why mine can't get above around 10kw.

I also found that throttling fuel pressure had an effect on power output, up to 10kpa. However, after setting the pressure regulator >10kpa, it seemed to have no effect on power output. Anyone else find this too?

Indeed the GFG has been nerfed recently (it's in patch notes somewhere), but unhelpfully the dev's didn't specify what its max power now is.

Finally, what gas are you using for the room the GFG is in? I heard Volatiles transfer heat the quickest, so that's what I'm using, but I've no idea if that's true as there's so much conflicting information on gasses.

[Jalapen0]

I didn’t notice any more power over 4kpa fuel pressure.

[SyntacksVT]

@Jalepen0 same.. nothing over 4 kpa.

@MisterCrow As of last night, I reached 25kw with fuel temps at -130c with standard mix. The glasses in the cooling room is regular old Martian atmosphere. I'll post pictures of the cooling room after work.

[Jalapen0]

Originally posted by Syntacks2000:

@Jalepen0 same.. nothing over 4 kpa.

@MisterCrow As of last night, I reached 25kw with fuel temps at -130c with standard mix. The glasses in the cooling room is regular old Martian atmosphere. I'll post pictures of the cooling room after work.

Good idea. Think I’ll try a heat exchanger.

[MisterCrow]

Originally posted by Syntacks2000:

@Jalepen0 same.. nothing over 4 kpa.

@MisterCrow As of last night, I reached 25kw with fuel temps at -130c with standard mix. The glasses in the cooling room is regular old Martian atmosphere. I'll post pictures of the cooling room after work.

Hmm interesting. Will definitely try supercooling my fuel mix then, as that seems to be directly correlated with power output. I'm currently building a base on Mimas, so I could probably get the fuel temperature even lower than that on Mars.

[DimasAMG]

Its strange you all getting so low output out of this thing, in my setup i can reach up to 70kW at -50ºC and 5kPa in the input, if i cool it even more i can reach maybe 80kW.
This is a screenshot i got some minutes ago from the reading of my Fuel Generator:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1878591265673563385/58D43D461ABF6673D47823DC9D865EC31A648858/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Some tips i give to you:
1- Input pressure increases the energy production up to a certain point, after that you are just wasting fuel.
2- Supercooling the fuel dramaticly increases the energy you can make, for that, use insulated pipes as well
3- In my setup there is only one pipe after the fuel generator, then a pressure regulator, i noticed a difference when using more pipes than that, less energy and more fuel spent.

If you want, i can post a schematic of my setup so you can make something similar

[MisterCrow]

@ Dimas,

Thanks for that. Yes I'd be very interested to see the schematic of your build if that's ok :)

Not sure I understand your third point above. Do you mean you put a pressure regulator on the exhaust pipe?

[DimasAMG]

Originally posted by MisterCrow:

@ Dimas,

Thanks for that. Yes I'd be very interested to see the schematic of your build if that's ok :)

Not sure I understand your third point above. Do you mean you put a pressure regulator on the exhaust pipe?

No, i meant, at the fuel input of the fuel generator there is just one pipe and a pressure regulator above it (after chacking my setup, there are two actually):

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2884336061

The pipe analyzer is just for showing some data in those consoles i showed earlier, the cooling is all automated but i really cant explain the logic now as i'm still tunning it (i want to use some differencial equation or something similar to control the cooling according to the room temps, keeping it almost constant), but at least it can make the generator running without any interruption, it is just very rudimentar.

I'll try to make a video or something for you explaining my setup as soon im able to hehe, almost at job time here

[SyntacksVT]

Originally posted by Dimas:

Its strange you all getting so low output out of this thing, in my setup i can reach up to 70kW at -50ºC and 5kPa in the input, if i cool it even more i can reach maybe 80kW.

That's the entire reason for this thread. We don't know either, and we'd like to understand why and what we're doing wrong. I've reached out to various boards (here, reddit, discord, etc.) and the answer, so far, has all been the same: That "the GFG was nerfed hard" and apparently, that nerf happened in the last week or two.

Edit:

Also.. found this in the Deep Miner patch notes.

Decreased Gas Fuel Generator combustion chamber volume, lowering its overall throughput, and max output power. Efficiency should be the same, and multiple gas fuel generators should be used instead of just one. Existing generators should be fully deconstructed and rebuilt to enter a good state.

So yeah, if you haven't rebuilt that generator since, then you may somehow ducked the nerf bat.