Coal Generator

From Oxygen Not Included Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Coal Generator
Coal Generator.png
Converts Coal into electrical Power.
Produces Carbon Dioxide
Burning coal produces more energy than manual power, but emits heat and exhaust.
Dimensions
3×3 tiles
Category
+600 W
+9 kDTU/s
75 °C / 167 °F
-15 (Radius: 3 tiles)
Requires
Coal: 1000 g/s
Storage Capacity
Coal: 600 kg
Effects
Carbon Dioxide: +20 g/s @ 110 °C / 230 °F+
Green: Enable
Red: Disable
Other Properties
Susceptible to flooding
Materials
800 kg

Coal Generator produces power when supplied with Coal. It will operate until it runs out of fuel. It can be configured to be active only when the stored energy level in connected batteries drops below a set percentage. The generator can hold 600 kg of coal and can therefore generate 360 kJ of energy before being refilled, enough to charge 9 Jumbo Batteries.

Coal Generators are the third least heat-efficient among continuous generators, producing 1.5 kDTU and 3.(3) g of carbon dioxide per 100 Watt.

Usage

Coal Generator is a good way to speed up colony development as they output more Power than a Manual Generator and free Duplicant time they would have spent running. However, they require a bit of setup, as you need to be able to deal with the high amount of carbon dioxide and heat they produce. Sealing the room or making sure the carbon dioxide falls into a space prepared to deal with it is mandatory so as to not flood your colony with heat and unbreathable air.

Heat economy

It may not look like it, but technically Coal Generators delete heat starting at the coal's temperature of 21.81 K

Minimal Heat output of Carbon Dioxide and Coal Generator itself:
0.846 (DTU/g)/°C * 20 g/s * 383.15 K = 6,482.898 DTU/s
6,482.898 DTU/s + 9,000 DTU/s = 15,482.898 DTU/s
Heat input of Coal at 21.81 K:
0.710 (DTU/g)/°C * 1000 g/s * 21.81 K = 15,485.1 DTU/s

However, it is only a passive heat, that was trapped in a solid, and only relevant if coal gained it from environment on its way to generator.

Tips

  • Keep the Coal Generator (and hot machines in general) in cool spaces such as the Frozen Biome so the temperature does not rise out of control. Natural tiles can safely absorb heat for many cycles.
  • Place Coal Generators in lower areas of the base to assist with carbon dioxide collection. Carbon dioxide is heavier than most gases and will fall to the bottom right.
  • The Coal Generator will stay active and waste fuel even after batteries are full. Connect Automation Wire to a Smart Battery with 90 % standby to shut down the generator and save fuel.
  • Duplicants will not refill a Coal Generator (and will even abandon a refueling in process) if an automation signal has it disabled.
  • Coal Generators can be serviced with Auto-Sweepers and nearby coal storage, greatly reducing the need for duplicant labor. Lock access to the room so that duplicants will not interfere.
    • Coal Generator's Cell of Interest is the bottom middle tile, so make sure that your Auto-Sweepers can reach that so it can deliver coal.
  • Preserve coal supplies by raising Hatches to transmute less useful resources into coal.
    • On average, one generator requires 8.5 Hatches, or >4 sage Hatches, to run constantly, slightly more than fit in one max size stable. But if it's connected to a Smart Battery and the average consumption is lower than the maximum production, it won't be running all the time and therefore will require less.

Cell of Interest

Trivia

  • Even though it is a coal generator it does not require Oxygen to burn coal.
  • The coal generator emits carbon dioxide from its top-right tile.
Battery.pngBattery
Coal Generator.pngCoal Generator
This content is added by The Bionic Booster Pack.Compact Discharger.pngCompact Discharger
Conductive Wire.pngConductive Wire
Conductive Wire Bridge.pngConductive Wire Bridge
Debug mode is needed to unlock this content.Dev Generator.pngDev Generator
Heavi-Watt Conductive Joint Plate.pngHeavi-Watt Conductive Joint Plate
Heavi-Watt Conductive Wire.pngHeavi-Watt Conductive Wire
Heavi-Watt Joint Plate.pngHeavi-Watt Joint Plate
Heavi-Watt Wire.pngHeavi-Watt Wire
Hydrogen Generator.pngHydrogen Generator
Jumbo Battery.pngJumbo Battery
This content is added by The Bionic Booster Pack.Large Discharger.pngLarge Discharger
Large Power Transformer.pngLarge Power Transformer
Manual Generator.pngManual Generator
Natural Gas Generator.pngNatural Gas Generator
This content is added by The Prehistoric Planet Pack.Peat Burner.pngPeat Burner
Petroleum Generator.pngPetroleum Generator
This content is added by The Bionic Booster Pack.Power Bank Charger.pngPower Bank Charger
Power Shutoff.pngPower Shutoff
Power Transformer.pngPower Transformer
Smart Battery.pngSmart Battery
Solar Panel.pngSolar Panel
Steam Turbine.pngSteam Turbine
Switch.pngSwitch
Wire.pngWire
Wire Bridge.pngWire Bridge
Wood Burner.pngWood Burner