Steam Boiler/Turbines Not Running At Full Capacity

[Strill]

I did some testing and got weird results. When I attached steam engines, my turbines would slow down, even though there was plenty of steam left.

I set up a 36HP boiler, with two steam turbines attached. Each turbine was connected at three blocks, which meant I needed to hook one liquiduct to each turbine to top them off, which I did. I then tossd on two industrial steam engines. All that together should've used exactly as much steam as the boiler generates. (320 + 320 + 40 + 40 = 720 steam per tick)

After checking everything, it's all running at 100%, but then all of a sudden the turbines drop to 85%. I figure there must be a mistake on the wiki so I remove the industrial steam engines, but the turbines don't return to 100%. They just stick there. I also notice that the steam on one of the liquiducts is fluctuating instead of remaining steady. After breaking and replacing a block on a turbine, it returns to 100%. Same for the other.

I find that the problem is reproducible. If I put the steam engines back on, the turbines begin to fluctuate even though there's still plenty of steam in the boiler.

What could be causing this?

 

[Omicron]

Steam turbines will auto-throttle themselves down (to conserve rotor durability) if there is nowhere for their EU output to go. Maybe your energy storage filled up?

 

[Strill]

Steam turbines will auto-throttle themselves down (to conserve rotor durability) if there is nowhere for their EU output to go. Maybe your energy storage filled up?

I had the turbines charging a bank of six MFSUs. They were nowhere near full.

 

[Omicron]

Hmmm... yeah, then I got nothing.

 

[namae]

If I put the steam engines back on, the turbines begin to fluctuate even though there's still plenty of steam in the boiler.

Define plenty. If its ~50%, its not plenty. From my experience steam boilers won't output steam if it would drop steam in them bellow half capacity.

 

[Strill]

Define plenty. If its ~50%, its not plenty. From my experience steam boilers won't output steam if it would drop steam in them bellow half capacity.

Huh interesting. That was definitely the case. But it still doesn't explain why the turbines remained slow until I broke and replaced them, then returned to 100%.

Is there any way to check how much liquid is being drained from a liquiduct? It seems as though the steam production or consumption values for these machines are probably off compared to what the wiki says.

 

[namae]

I think multimeter does that. Most likely you have miscalculated something.