Cooling the machines

[GoHereDoThis]

I've got a polymer press that just seems to eat gold amalgam as it overheats and gets broken all the time.  I've just discovered an anti entropy cooler and would like to run some water between the two machines to cool down the polymer press.  I've put a tempshift plate behind both machines and also ran some gold radiant liquid pipes, with insulated pipes on the areas between the two machines.

I'm thinking of running some polluted water through the pipes but I realize now that I will have to have some sort of method to circulate the liquid?  So the plan is to have a pump push polluted water through the piples to the polymer press then to the anti entropy then out to a valve that empties into the same chamer that the pump is in.... are there any better solutions?  Thanks!

[Kabrute]

so put water on the floor of the press room and make the floor of that room of metal tiles, at that point the tsp should be on the floor to tie the water to the plates, run your piping through this floor and the water and it will maximize thermal transfer.  Use a bridge for "circulation"

[SakuraKoi]

Consider using Steel, albeit it costing 400kg, the Thermal Conductivity of Refined Metals is much higher to the point where you do not have to worry about reaching any overheat temperature if you cool it with three Wheezes or feed it with "cool" Petroleum.

[Lilalaunekuh]

2 hours ago, GoHereDoThis said:

I've got a polymer press that just seems to eat gold amalgam as it overheats and gets broken all the time.

Most of the time gold amalgam is THE WORST material to build an polymer press.

(It will heat up faster than it can disperse the heat)

For non-continuous working polymer presses I use irone ore early (later steel). This means a normal polymer press with an thermo sensor above it to turn it off.

[For continuous running setups with a dedicated cooling wolframite would be better than steel cause of the lower heat capacity]

[Coolthulhu]

1 hour ago, Lilalaunekuh said:

Most of the time gold amalgam is THE WORST material to build an polymer press.

Nah, it's great since it can take 75C petroleum without cooling.

You just have to leave at least one tile of liquid on it. It's a common error to make tiles under the press mesh tiles. If they aren't mesh, the steam created by the press will condense and cool it to sane temperature.

[Lilalaunekuh]

Always feeding my polymer press right out of a refinery, and that never made any problems.

If your using at least some kind of insulated pipe the possible transferred heat energy is nothing to worry about compared to the output of the polymer press. (The petroleum inside the polymer press is not a problem if you don´t submerge it in liquid)

[GoHereDoThis]

The press is fed directly from the oil refinery but I do have mesh tiles under the press.  I'll change it to insulated tiles and see what happens but luckily, I have enough plastic for my needs at the moment.

[Coolthulhu]

9 hours ago, Lilalaunekuh said:

If your using at least some kind of insulated pipe the possible transferred heat energy is nothing to worry about compared to the output of the polymer press.

You're doing it wrong - you're supposed to use the 75C petroleum to COOL the press.

[KittenIsAGeek]

I agree: Gold amalgam is the WORST for making a polymer press.  Even before steel was introduced, it was best to make it out of iron or copper.  It generates a huge amount of heat in a burst of steam at output that gold absorbs way too quickly.  Both iron and copper have larger heat capacities and lower conductivities, so do not heat up quite as much with each burst of steam.  The easiest way to manage the heat is to use granite tiles and let some liquid run over the press.  Some granite thermal plates can also help.  Do not use insulated tiles directly under the press -- the heat won't have anywhere to go but into the press.

I apologize if I'm not making much sense.  I'm still half-asleep this morning.  

[GoHereDoThis]

Thanks guys!  I thought the ability to heat/cool quickly was a good thing, but I guess not if I can't get rid of the heat fast enough?

[KittenIsAGeek]

1 minute ago, GoHereDoThis said:

Thanks guys!  I thought the ability to heat/cool quickly was a good thing, but I guess not if I can't get rid of the heat fast enough?

The problem is that gold amalgam heats very quickly, and much of the heat isn't generated by the machine working -- its generated by the burst of steam output at the end.  If you don't give anywhere for the heat from the steam to go, the polymer press takes that heat.  Iron and copper have much larger heat capacities so can take more of it than gold can.  And gold takes the heat more quickly -- so with gold, less of the heat goes into the environment and more of it goes into the press, overheating your press and causing a meltdown. 

[Craigjw]

I originally tried running pipes around the machine backed with tempshift plates, however this wasn't workig well, as my Gold Amalgam polymer press was overheating too quickly. 

My solution was to make gold tiles underneath the press and run gold pipes through these, the three Gold Amalgam Polymer press machines have been working fine ever since.

 

[KittenIsAGeek]

Pipes in the air (behind the machine) conduct with the air, not the machine.  They'll take some of the heat from the burst, but not enough.  This is because gas (even hydrogen) doesn't transfer heat very well compared to solids and liquids.  That's why most will partially flood the press -- water and oil both have huge heat capacities and much higher thermal transfer rates than any gasses in the room. 

As you found with your solution, making the floor with gold tiles and gold pipes lets you bypass the atmosphere "bottleneck" when moving the heat.  Mesh or airflow tiles will act like the atmosphere, which is why they didn't work.

[Xuhybrid]

Use Steel.

[KittenIsAGeek]

8 minutes ago, Xuhybrid said:

Use Steel.

Still need to deal with the heat or you'll be producing Naptha instead of plastic.

[Xuhybrid]

17 minutes ago, KittenIsAGeek said:

Still need to deal with the heat or you'll be producing Naptha instead of plastic.

Using steel gives you a much wider margin for error even when cooling it.

[GoHereDoThis]

Don't have access to steel yet, I think.

[Xuhybrid]

If you're making Plastic, are you not in the oil biome and using oil as coolant in the metal refinery? I thought those things went hand in hand.

[GoHereDoThis]

As a small side-topic, how do I cool my main base?  My main area has now risen to around +30C and my mealwood plants don't like it.  The videos I've watched mentioned using abyssalite insulation tiles and insulated pipes but I'm think these are old videos?  I can't seem to make anything out of abyssalite in the current version of the game.  The best I can use is igneous rock.

Is the solution just some strategically-placed wheezeworts?  Seems like slow going at the moment.

1 minute ago, Xuhybrid said:

If you're making Plastic, are you not in the oil biome and using oil as coolant in the metal refinery? I thought those things went hand in hand.

No clue what you're talking about there, so I guess the answer is no?  I've dug down to the oil biome but the ambient temp down there is very hot, 74C-80C, so I didn't want to build there.  Just above the oil biome was a slime biome which I've cleared out and was around 30C so that's where I built my refinery and press.

What am I missing here?

[Neotuck]

7 minutes ago, GoHereDoThis said:

Is the solution just some strategically-placed wheezeworts?  Seems like slow going at the moment.

a few placed wheezeworts are your best bet for early cooling around your main base

Abyssalite is used in late game space industry now, best to use ceramics as a step up from igneous rock if you need better insulation

 

[KittenIsAGeek]

There are lots of tips that can help.  The primary method of cooling your base is preventing heat build up in the first place.

1. Heat tends to travel 'up,' so if you build your 'hot' buildings at the top or side of your base, they won't warm your base.
2. Use insulated tiles to wall off hot areas of your base.  For example, this room could be blocked off with a couple of insulated tiles until I'm ready to do something with it:  
3. Your plumbing can bring a lot of heat into your base.  Insulated pipes will help, but latrines and sinks have reservoirs that hold water and will slowly (its considered insulated) leech heat from 40c water into your base.  You can counter this by either using aquatuners or passing the water through a cold room (wheezewarts, AETN, slush geyser, whatever) before it goes into your base.

Here's a partial shot of my early base.  Notice most of the heat is being generated to the side.  Optimally that super computer should be on the other side of the insulated tiles.  I just haven't gotten that far yet.

Spoiler

 

 

Even insulated sandstone is useful around your living area.

[GoHereDoThis]

19 minutes ago, Neotuck said:

Abyssalite is used in late game space industry now

Ceramics use coal which I seem to be always short on, so I'm hesitant to use that.  I've looked at the research tree and don't find anything regarding abyssalite being used later on?  Is it still used for insulating walls/pipes?  Or just for rocket stuff now?

KittenIsAGeek, I have built my warmer machines on top, with an insulating layer of igneous rock between my machines and my bedroom but I do have a 5-tile wide gap between layers for airflow (airflow tile - gap - ladder - pole - airflow tile) so maybe the heat moves through there?  My kitchen and toilets are at the same "section" of my base as my bedrooms are though, so that's another source of heat.

[KittenIsAGeek]

Depends on where your air source is coming from.  If your air supply is up in the heat, then yes, heat is going to travel down into your living area as oxygen is consumed and the hotter oxygen flows in to replace it.  The heat energy itself may trend upwards, but oxygen (and other gasses) do carry a lot of heat with them when they move.  If you're using insulated tiles to keep heat energy separated, it needs to also be sealed against gas flow.

 

[Neotuck]

Just now, GoHereDoThis said:

Ceramics use coal which I seem to be always short on, so I'm hesitant to use that.  I've looked at the research tree and don't find anything regarding abyssalite being used later on?  Is it still used for insulating walls/pipes?  Or just for rocket stuff now?

this is why I always ranch stone hatches early on, you can convert igneous rock to coal at a 50% ratio and get a fair amount of egg shells early on that can be saved for lime

Abyssalite is now use as an ingredient in the molecular forge for making insulation which is the best insulator in the game

[KittenIsAGeek]

Just now, Neotuck said:

you can convert igneous rock to coal

Igneous is useful and plentiful.. still, it is useful.  I tend to prioritize sedimentary before igneous.

That said, coal is hardly ever a problem in any of my bases, even when I'm running multiple coal generators.