Issue with coolers not cooling during a heat wave

[nuschler22]

I brought this up to see if others were having the same issue on Steam, and of course, got the litany of condescending know-it-alls that have played the game for a week and insisted on screen shots to prove what I'd told them. 

I have a base with eight 6x5 rooms and a small eating area and it's double walled inside a mountain.  During "warm" periods of 90 plus, one cooler can cool to 70 degrees with no problems.  Vented rooms are even at 70-71 degrees. 

Two coolers set to -100 or similar during a heat wave that gets to 124 degrees, and suddenly I cant get the interior temperature down under 110, and it normally hovers about 115 or so during the heat wave. 

Coolers are both set up properly.  The area near the outside is double walled to insulate.  I know the coolers are set up properly because I've used both independently and they work fine when there isn't a "heat wave."

I doubt that the intent of a heatwave is to have five to ten coolers. That seems excessive and completely unrealistic. 

Other colonies I've had with bigger bases have had no issues.   

My question is that is it not the actual temperature, but the event of the "heat wave" that makes a change?  When it's normally hot, I have no issues.  But when there is a "heat wave," suddenly the issues appear.

[nuschler22]

The hotter it is outside, the harder the cooler has to work to get rid of the excess heat from the room.

Did you even read what I wrote?  Doesn't sound like it.

[Gadg3t]

Do you have walls against your mountain walls or is it just bare rock? "Caves" will become the same temperature as the surrounding mountain/outside.

I did find there was actually a bug in cave temperatures in Alpha 14. It made the cave temperatures be the same as the outside.

[Kagemusha12]

Well, each cooler can only cool "so much".
It all depends on 3 variables:
1. How much space there is to cool
2. How much coolers there are
3. How much wall tiles connect the inner rooms with the outer world (and how thick they are)

If you have only few coolers (2 coolers are what I use on my fridge, with 9*7 tiles and surrounded by double walls), a large base to cool and lots of thin walls that connect the inner spacxe from the outer space will result in rather poor cooling.

Or to sum it up:
The coolers try to cool the base down ... but the walls connecting to the outer world heat the base up.
It will stabilize at an equilibrium, dependant on the variables I mentioned


So, yes, you want your base cooler, then use more coolers.
Or remove some vents and replace them by walls, thereby decreasing the space that gets cooled by the coolers

(It doesn't matter how deep you set the settings btw., if the set temperature isn't reached ... the temperature you set only determines when the cooler is switched on ... therefore your coolers in your example will do the same job if you set them to -5°C, as they do with your current settings (i.e. -100°C))

[nuschler22]

Do you have walls against your mountain walls or is it just bare rock? "Caves" will become the same temperature as the surrounding mountain/outside.

I did find there was actually a bug in cave temperatures in Alpha 14. It made the cave temperatures be the same as the outside.

For the most part, it's bare rock. 

And I thought mountains were suppose to be cooler inside. 

Regardless, as I wrote, it can be hot outside (90-100) and not be in a heatwave, and one cooler will keep it at 70-71 without a problem.

Once a "heat wave" hits, even at night when it's in the 80s and 90s, the mountain stays the same temperature.

[nuschler22]

Quote from: Tynan on August 06, 2016, 05:18:23 PM
I did find there was actually a bug in cave temperatures in Alpha 14. It made the cave temperatures be the same as the outside.


Ah....so, should I put walls on the outside of the mountain?  Or does that cause the bug?

Also, I have no issues unless there is a heat wave which is very strange.

[Gadg3t]

I would try covering the bare rock inside your base with walls and see if that helps.

I don't believe heat wave does anything to the efficiency of coolers, more than likely (and I could totally be wrong) i think it would be a issue with temperature equalization with vents and mountain temps. Both which may have bugs at the moment. (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=22655.msg243351#msg243351)

[christhekiller]

Yeah I think it might be your rock walls. I have a freezer that's surrounded by steel walls and two coolers were able to keep a fairly large room at around 20-30 degrees during a 110 degree heat wave.

[Darth Fool]

Coolers are effected by the temperature difference between the side they are trying to cool, and the side that is heating up.  Thus, if you have a cooler wear the hot side vents into a closed area, the hot side will get very hot, and the cool side will not cool very much.  This is why venting the hot side is important.  If, the heat wave is making the hot side very hot, even with good venting, the coolers will be much less efficient.  It will be like venting into the closed room.

[nuschler22]

Yeah I think it might be your rock walls. I have a freezer that's surrounded by steel walls and two coolers were able to keep a fairly large room at around 20-30 degrees during a 110 degree heat wave.

I'll give it a try.  Thanks.

[nuschler22]

Coolers are effected by the temperature difference between the side they are trying to cool, and the side that is heating up.  Thus, if you have a cooler wear the hot side vents into a closed area, the hot side will get very hot, and the cool side will not cool very much.  This is why venting the hot side is important.  If, the heat wave is making the hot side very hot, even with good venting, the coolers will be much less efficient.  It will be like venting into the closed room.

Once again, please actually read the post if you're going to comment.  It's not a functional question.  I know the coolers are working properly. 

I clearly said that the coolers work normally when it's hot but with no heat wave.

[zandadoum]

I don't have problems with heaters on ice sheet and I don't have problems with a/c on desert. It just needs more during a cold snap or heatwave.

And I absolutely did not like what you said in the OP about people being "know it alls" for asking for screenshots.

In fact, I'd like to see some screenshots of your setup, specially because you mentioned using vents.

If you CBA to post screenshots, why should anyone else BA to try and help you?

[nuschler22]

I don't have problems with heaters on ice sheet and I don't have problems with a/c on desert. It just needs more during a cold snap or heatwave.

And I absolutely did not like what you said in the OP about people being "know it alls" for asking for screenshots.

In fact, I'd like to see some screenshots of your setup, specially because you mentioned using vents.

If you CBA to post screenshots, why should anyone else BA to try and help you?

I couldn't care less what you like.  Feel free not to help.

Especially considering you didn't bother reading the entire post.  Or you didn't comprehend it.

I clearly said that the cooling works fine when it's hot, and it doesn't work when there is a "heat wave" incident.  That means everything is working properly normally.

Once again, feel free to read the entirety of a post.  I'm not looking for help regarding my setup.  It's completely fine.  The issue is when the "heat wave" event occurs.

[Juniormint90]

I believe what the other posters are trying to say is that cooling may work similar to this: if outside temperature is  90 and your target temp is -20 than by difference your trying to cool a large gap. However if the outside temp raises by 10 degree to  100 it is similar to lowering target to -40 or -50. In short your cooler compresses exhaust temp to let's say  250 degrees. As outside temperature rises, the gap between  outside temp and cooler exhaust temp shorten and efficiency lowers drastically.

Another point to consider is that a heat wave may effect temperature differently. When hear waves are not in effect, inside temp and mountain temp may be regated by simple convection between the walls and mountain rock. However a great wave may raise global base temperature of everything including inside temp. This could explain your issue because by comparison  the great wave may be adding +20 to +30 degrees to every single room and wall.

I'm just making conjecture here as I'm not good with the coding or decompiling so I cannot tell you the base game mechanics, only my personal observations based on gameplay.

Final thoughts. Please do not get defensive because others tell you their opinion of your problem. Also please understand that they are taking time out of their day to help you. Just because you do not get the answer you want doesn't mean they are wrong. They experience the same game as you do and so it is illogical for you to be the only one with this mechanic. 

[Mikhail Reign]

Yeah. Pics would help. Are the A/C directly venting outside, or into a room? If it's a room, outside might be 20 in both Hot and Heat Wave cases, but the room they are ventung into might be hotter in the Heat Wave case.