Energy Heaters: “How effective are they?”

[Deadeye_Rob 905]

Hi guys!

Im planing on building a self-sustaining permanent arctic base. The majority of which will be underground. Naturally this will present problems as the temperature drops significantly underground.

With the application of energy heaters I want to make the interior of my base as habitable as possible. There are problems however.

I don’t know how useful the energy heaters are in real terms. It would appear that they don’t have an effective range for their size and unless my character is standing right on top of it, he will freeze.

Am I missing something here? Or is this something that could be expanded on by the devs?

[spiritchaser28 918]

I know the feeling. I was in an arctic map last year and set up an energy heater and had to be 1 block away from it to stay warm, but my soup on my table several blocks away turned into a pile of ash. Which makes me wonder how that's even possible. It can burn soup from far away but only keeps me warm if I am practically sitting on it.

 

[spiritchaser28 918]

Ocnog has a list of the temperature variances for the heaters, but said it was hard to gather the data because it doesn't appear to have a circular radius

 

[ocnoglittle 760]

So I tested this as well. I put this on the wiki, "The Energy Heater uses 2 energy and must be linked to an Energy Source or Engine to function. The Energy Heater affects up to 12 blocks away. Directly next to the heater, the temperature increases by 48°C and the temperature is less affected farther away. Increasing the number of Energy Heaters will not increase the maximum temperature, but will increase the area affected." (24°C for the small heater)

The small heater only has a significant (>10°C) change within 4 blocks or so. The larger one is similar. I guess you could spam a lot of them every 4 blocks or so... ?. I would recommend just wearing Inuit or expedition clothing.

 

I would love to see the area affected by the heater increased by the Devs!

[ocnoglittle 760]

2 minutes ago, spiritchaser28 said:

Ocnog has a list of the temperature variances for the heaters, but said it was hard to gather the data because it doesn't appear to have a circular radius

 

Actually, I was complaining about the workstations not being circular. These are.

[Deadeye_Rob 905]

44 minutes ago, spiritchaser28 said:

but my soup on my table several blocks away turned into a pile of ash.

The fact that heaters can damage and burn objects is also a mighty turn-off too. It definitely makes me more reluctant to use them in case random free-places objects combust whilst my back is turned!

[Deadeye_Rob 905]

I wanted to fit some heaters under some floor panels to radiate heat inside an underground room. It looks like I may have to suspend the project for now.

[spiritchaser28 918]

4 hours ago, ocnoglittle said:

I was complaining about the workstations not being circular. These are.

Oh @ocnoglittle I misunderstood then  

[ocnoglittle 760]

@Nikki Severin For the 1.8 request list, can we add reworking the heaters so they can actually keep the players warm, instead of only working in a super, super small area (and maybe so they don't cook food to ash ?)?

[Nikki Severin 1130]

12 hours ago, ocnoglittle said:

@Nikki Severin For the 1.8 request list, can we add reworking the heaters so they can actually keep the players warm, instead of only working in a super, super small area (and maybe so they don't cook food to ash ?)?

Sounds like a very reasonable request I'll add it to the list! Thanks!