Heater

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Heater

An electrical device that turns electricity into heat. It can automatically turn itself on and off to reach a specific target temperature.

Base Stats

Type

Temperature

Mass

6 kg

HP

100

Flammability

100%

Building

Size

1

Placeable

Yes

Cover Effectiveness

40%

Power

-175 W

The heater is a device that can be used to raise the temperature in a room. This effect can maintain happy colonists during cold outdoor temperatures by preventing negative mood debuffs like Slept in the Cold or ailments such as Hypothermia/Frostbite while indoors. It requires power to operate.

The heater is necessary in any biome with temperatures that can drop below far below 20ºC/70ºF (room temperature).

Placement

Heaters use power and takes the place of a floor tile. If powered and the room is enclosed with at least 75% of the roof complete, it will begin to heat the room.

Heaters require no specific placement within the room. A heater in the corner of a room will heat the space as efficiently as a heater in the center of the same room.

Performance

If the areas surrounding a room are colder than the current temperature inside that room, heat will escape the room. As a result, the overall area of the room as well as the number of heaters affects how easy or difficult it is to cool a room. A single heater has a maximum efficiency (or output) and may not be able to reach the target temperature of its thermostat if the room is too cold or too large. In these situations, building multiple heaters is helpful, but it consumes more power.

Heaters have two states of power consumption: low and high. A heater that is actively heating a room will consume 175W (high power) regardless of thermostat setting. Once the goal temperature is reached, the heater will transition to its low power state where it only uses 18W. However, if the exterior of the room is colder, the instant the goal temperature is reached, heat will escape the room, the heater senses this and returns to the high power state (there is a time buffer to this effect to avoid a flickering between high and low power states). This low power state can be exploited to save power when using multiple heaters to heat a large room. Consider stepping up each heater one degree above each other for this room. That way, only one or two heaters will be active in their high power state maintaining the temperature of the room, while the others remain in their low power states, only to be used during times of colder temperatures, such as nighttime or cold snaps.

In addition to providing heat, the heater will illuminate a each tile surrounding it with ~50% light level (Lit), dropping to <10% light level (Dark) at two tiles.

Simple testing reveals that with an exterior temperature of -17ºC/0ºF, a single heater with a target temperature of ~20ºC/~70ºF can maintain a room with a 9x9 exterior. There is significant reduction in efficiency starting at rooms with 10x10 exteriors. This reduction decreases as the heaters target temperature is reduced. A single heater with a target temperature of ~10ºC/~52ºF can maintain a room with an 11x11 exterior.

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Architect

Temperature

Campfire • Heater • Cooler • Passive cooler • Vent