Steam turbine does not work

[Insectiside]

Hey guys, 

So i have got a Steam turbine that refuses to kick in. I am really struggling for a while now, pondering what i'm missing here...

The steam turbine itself is below 100 °C, is not in the room with the steam itself, has cleared vents, has an open valve. The steam temperature is about 190 °C and the pressure is somewhere around 135 kg of steam. 

The turbine keeps saying: "Not enough steam" and "Steam temperature below 125 °C". 

Does anyone know what is going wrong?

[NeoDeusMachina]

There is a layer of oxygen at the top of your steam room. That would block the turbine.

[Insectiside]

Ty Neo

[Insectiside]

Hm i assumed this would fix it, but... no

Vacuum'ed out the room with the steam turbine and rebuild it just to be safe. Still same issue.

 

[NeoDeusMachina]

I meant in the steam room itself, below the turbine. As far as i can see on that screenshot, it is still in there and blocking the turbine input.

On a side note, the turbine itself might overheat now that it is nearly in a vacuum if you do not provide adequate cooling via, e.g., cooling panels. Beware

[Insectiside]

Oh yes, i forgot to vacuum-out the room itself dammit :). For the turbine above it doesn't matter lol. Ty Neo

[Gurgel]

13 hours ago, Insectiside said:

Oh yes, i forgot to vacuum-out the room itself dammit :). For the turbine above it doesn't matter lol. Ty Neo

Most annoying part of building anything with steam-turbines ...

[KittenIsAGeek]

Steam turbines are annoyingly useful.  On the one hand, they're very finicky.  On the other hand, they're excellent for heat management.  Lately I've been using this sort of airlock to build the steam room for my turbines.

 

In this case, I'm using mercury, but crude/petroleum or something similar would work.  Basically you want something heavier than water that won't evaporate if hit by super-hot steam.   

Anyway, this lets me build all the internals in a vacuum so I don't have to worry about other gasses interfering with the turbine.  I should also point out that you don't want flatulent dupes, or dupes with oxygen masks to go through because they'll break the vacuum.

[Gurgel]

On 2/11/2025 at 10:31 PM, KittenIsAGeek said:

Lately I've been using this sort of airlock to build the steam room for my turbines. In this case, I'm using mercury, but crude/petroleum or something similar would work.  Basically you want something heavier than water that won't evaporate if hit by super-hot steam.   

That is pretty ingenious. I have been using liquid-locks to get in there on occasion (not many failures these days, but occasionally something breaks), but I have always used water and active cooling to keep the lock going. That works somewhat. Your approach does eliminate problems like excessive condensation.

[KittenIsAGeek]

On 2/14/2025 at 8:25 PM, Gurgel said:

[it] does eliminate problems like excessive condensation.

It also prevents thermal loss.  The central gap is a vacuum.  A fully liquid lock will bleed thermal energy out of the room.  There is a particular point of failure to watch out for, though.  If a dupe is carrying a substance that off-gasses, such as polluted dirt or bleach stone, it will displace the mercury or fill the vacuum if the off-gas happens when the dupe is crossing through the lock.  Generally not an issue, but if you're used to full liquid locks, then it is something to keep an eye out for.