Best way to use Biofuel?

[hotblack desiato]

I already got you. you want to turn the maximum out of a boiler. that's okay... ECrownofFire mentioned that burning biofuel inside a boiler is a bad idea in any way.... it is not.

firstly, whoever uses biofuel also runs some kind of farm that generates tons of biofuel, maybe even more than he can use in a boiler, since everyone is afraid that the boiler can be out of fuel, the fuel supply could be even superiour than the boiler consumption.

that leaves us with a system, where just the boiler efficiency matters.

and the boiler efficiency is best in a 36 hp or lp (it doesn't matter) boiler, that is constantly supplied with fuel. and it doesn't matter how the fuel is generated. biofuel has the nice advantage that it just takes a treefarm to produce tons of apples and saplings, and it also creates tons of wood as by-product.

so, the boiler is the best way, IF the fuel is constantly supplied and the steam is constantly used (excess steam of the boiler just vanishes).

 

[Mash]

You seem to not be understanding the point. Your 36 HP boiler consumes a MASSIVE amount of fuel in that 6 hours. Such a massive amount of fuel that you would have produced more MJ per unit of fuel using a smaller solution. yes, the 36 is more efficient once at max heat, but that small savings in fuel takes a long time to overcome the significantly larger heat-up cost (not in time, in fuel). If you have unlimited fuel quantities then it does not matter what solution you use, do whatever the heck you want, there is no 'ideal' or 'right' answer other than possibly maximizing output for space used. If however we are actually talking about fuel efficiency, you should leave the mega large boilers for 24/7 operation.

This guy's right.

Powering down max-size boilers is almost always the wrong answer, unless you just don't want to use it anymore.

I believe a 36HP boilers uses 700~ buckets of biofuel getting from 20C to 1000C. As opposed to the 250~ buckets that it will use at maximum heat in the same amount of time. (My math is probably a bit off on that last number, but it's right around there.)

 

[un worry]

Efficiency? BAH this is MC sometimes not being efficient is just plan cool to build.

Personaly as long as your getting the power to do what you want and have the supplies to keep it going who really cares about efficiency?

Exactly.

Are there "more efficient" solutions? Sure. Do we care, now we have a self-sustaining system? NO!

One you have established your renewable and stable source of power, there's no need to to turn the lights off.

Ultimately, its up to the player - whether you want to design an energy grid that is On-Demand/efficient or On-Tap/perpetual

 

[baw179]

I don't know why some people get so worked up into a lather over the heat up phase of boilers and start screaming about inefficiencies. Seriously guys, give it a rest please. I think that even the dumbest player will know that they need a crap ton of fuel/solids to get their newly built boiler up to temp and so will prepare accordingly. So what that it uses 80 billion buckets of biofuel to get it up to temp? Who cares? Once that 5.5 hours is up you have yourself a very powerful energy generator that with the help of a SC tree farm is completely maintenance free and that is why we build them and love them.

 

[Mash]

I don't know why some people get so worked up into a lather over the heat up phase of boilers and start screaming about inefficiencies. Seriously guys, give it a rest please. I think that even the dumbest player will know that they need a crap ton of fuel/solids to get their newly built boiler up to temp and so will prepare accordingly. So what that it uses 80 billion buckets of biofuel to get it up to temp? Who cares? Once that 5.5 hours is up you have yourself a very powerful energy generator that with the help of a SC tree farm is completely maintenance free and that is why we build them and love them.

Well, I'd care if it used 80 billion buckets of biofuel, because heating it up would be quite literally impossible.

Or, at very least, so wildly impractical that I wouldn't bother.

 

[baw179]

Well, I'd care if it used 80 billion buckets of biofuel, because heating it up would be quite literally impossible.

Or, at very least, so wildly impractical that I wouldn't bother.

You should get some new batteries for your sarcasm detector. It appears not to be working.

 

[Mash]

You should get some new batteries for your sarcasm detector. It appears not to be working.

Well, when using sarcasm, it helps if the entire thing is sarcasm. Because the part about it being a very powerful energy generator after heating up is true.

The only part of that that could be interpreted as sarcasm is the exaggeration on the fuel consumption.

 

[baw179]

Well, when using sarcasm, it helps if the entire thing is sarcasm. Because the part about it being a very powerful energy generator after heating up is true.

The only part of that that could be interpreted as sarcasm is the exaggeration on the fuel consumption.

Indeed, just like the same over-exaggerations from certain parties about how "inefficient" it is and shouldn't be used because of its heat-up cycle.

 

[Saice]

Well, when using sarcasm, it helps if the entire thing is sarcasm. Because the part about it being a very powerful energy generator after heating up is true.

The only part of that that could be interpreted as sarcasm is the exaggeration on the fuel consumption.

Ok so your sarcasm parser is buggy then. It should be scanning text entry by entry but it seems to be going chunk by chunk. Might just be a config issue.

 

[Mash]

Indeed, just like the same over-exaggerations from certain parties about how "inefficient" it is and shouldn't be used because of its heat-up cycle.

I don't think anyone's saying that. Or at least, I didn't see it.

I think they're saying that you shouldn't constantly let it cool off, because unless you're not going to use it for days or weeks, it's way less fuel efficient than just leaving it running.

 

[Hoff]

Indeed, just like the same over-exaggerations from certain parties about how "inefficient" it is and shouldn't be used because of its heat-up cycle.

It's really not much of an exaggeration if you take a look at Omicron's thread about it. If not playing SMP it is highly unlikely it is in your best interest to build a max size boiler instead of "smaller" solutions such as a battery of combustion engines.

 

[Mash]

And if people are bitching about the heat up cycle, why don't you just heat it up with something else?

I have a huge fat tank full of creosote oil that I use to heat up my boilers. Sure, it doesn't take them all the way to max heat, but it gets them through the worst of it. I may even get a bunch of fuel for the same purpose.

 

[Chompi31]

This was incredibly entertaining! Mash and Milaha for the win!

 

[Hydra]

I doubt it was an intentional troll. Some people simply took the idea of the heatup being massively inefficient too far. I will say this though, if not on a chunk-loaded server you should never touch super large boilers, they are exclusively the realm of 24/7 operation.

And this is exactly why I dislike the way that topic presents boilers. The consumption during heatup is only relevant in the sense that you need a stock of fuel. No one is going to switch on and off a 36 HP steam boiler frequently.[DOUBLEPOST=1366030799][/DOUBLEPOST]

It's really not much of an exaggeration if you take a look at Omicron's thread about it. If not playing SMP it is highly unlikely it is in your best interest to build a max size boiler instead of "smaller" solutions such as a battery of combustion engines.

Why? Even in single player the max heatup for a boiler is about 5.5 hours. And when you're not playing it's not consuming fuel anyway.

 

[Milaha]

Why? Even in single player the max heatup for a boiler is about 5.5 hours. And when you're not playing it's not consuming fuel anyway.

See the train-racecar analogy. I explained it 3 times in this (necroed) thread, if you still don't get it, that is fine, don't worry about it. Not like the world is going to end.

 

[Hydra]

See the train-racecar analogy. I explained it 3 times in this (necroed) thread, if you still don't get it, that is fine, don't worry about it. Not like the world is going to end.

That analogy is rather flawed. What people are interested in is power. The power of a boiler on biofuel is the same no matter how hot it is. And even in single player, since you're not 'refueling' the whole analogy with racecars makes no sense.

Your whole comparison is moot because fuel is a non-issue when it comes to biofuel. It's infinite. You only need to keep in mind to have about 300 buckets stored before you switch a 36HP boiler on.

 

[Milaha]

That analogy is rather flawed. What people are interested in is power. The power of a boiler on biofuel is the same no matter how hot it is. And even in single player, since you're not 'refueling' the whole analogy with racecars makes no sense.

Your whole comparison is moot because fuel is a non-issue when it comes to biofuel. It's infinite. You only need to keep in mind to have about 300 buckets stored before you switch a 36HP boiler on.

I do not know if you can only read every other line, are trolling me, or have a memory that can not make it through reading a 2 page thread. In any case, yay you, you are special! EDIT: Seriously, who comes into a discussion about efficiency and tells people they are wrong, only to later go "yeah, well, efficiency does not matter!" If efficiency does not matter, why did you bother engaging the discussion in the first place. Kindly pick your stance and stick with it, don't just flip flop as soon as you realize you were wrong.

 

[Hydra]

I do not know if you can only read every other line, are trolling me, or have a memory that can not make it through reading a 2 page thread. In any case, yay you, you are special!

Way to not go into arguments but insult someone instead. If you can't have a civil discussion I don't see why you hang around on these forums.

 

[Hoff]

Way to not go into arguments but insult someone instead. If you can't have a civil discussion I don't see why you hang around on these forums.

One; See Omicron's thread. A max size boiler does not actually beat out MANY other uses for it for quite a long time IRL. Something you will not reach for probably a month or more of playing every day for ~2 hours.
Two; Argue what's at hand. It doesn't matter if we're talking about biofuel or coal or anything else; if the thread is about being efficient that's what it's about.

 

[DoctorOr]

Personally, I'd hate to build, much less keep supplied, the one hundred forty four sterling engines that would be the equivalent of my solid fueled boiler.

Especially when I have four of them. The conduit costs alone of wiring up 574 engines would be prohibitive.