Problem with Boilers/Inserters/Solid Fuel

[Juanxp]

After playing with this setup for hours, it suddenly stopped working. Most of the inserters just won't grab the solid fuel, some do. Can somebody tell me what I'm doing wrong? Or is it a bug? (fyi: the inserters that won't grab the solid fuel move slowly like if its broken or something)

[Zerias]

At a guess I'd say your belts are moving too fast for the slow burner inserters to pick up fuel before it's moved to the next tile. I'd further guess that you had no problems before because either you hadn't upgraded to blue belts and/or your belts were backed up with fuel. Unfortunately, there are no fast burner inserters, so your solutions are either downgrade those belts, or curve the endpoints so they no longer feed back into the part between the underground belts.

[Juanxp]

Yes, you were right. I downgraded the belts and it worked again. Thanks

[axelsword]

Anyone know the ratio of empty oil pumpjacks to supported boilers?

I know it's silly to use oil in electricity production when batteries and solar are far better alternatives. It's more of a curiosity. After yield drops to the lowest, what would a closed electrical grid look like that would fuel itself, i.e. keep refinery processing oil and three chem plants that make solid fuel from the three oil products that feed back into boilers.

[Koub]

Hi,

I think you will find here all the data you need to answer your question.

[Juanxp]

Well, it didn't take long to stop working again, this time the belts are full, the solid fuel is not moving and some burner inserters can't pick up fuel. So what now? Any ideas?

[Neemys]

First thing I try when inserter are acting strange, is removing and replacing them. They sometime just bug (mostly in MP). Have you already try that ?

[FishSandwich]

Well, the burner Inserters are running out of solid fuel, and turning off. Because they are off there are less Inserters to take fuel which means the belt is filling up.

Solution: make sure there is enough fuel for boilers and burner Inserters.

[Neemys]

Well, the burner Inserters are running out of solid fuel, and turning off. Because they are off there are less Inserters to take fuel which means the belt is filling up.

Solution: make sure there is enough fuel for boilers and burner Inserters.

Burner inserter take fuel if needed even if they don't have fuel left. In the screenshot, we see inserter with no fuel and fuel next to it (they should take it)

[ratchetfreak]

Well, the burner Inserters are running out of solid fuel, and turning off. Because they are off there are less Inserters to take fuel which means the belt is filling up.

Solution: make sure there is enough fuel for boilers and burner Inserters.

Burner inserter take fuel if needed even if they don't have fuel left. In the screenshot, we see inserter with no fuel and fuel next to it (they should take it)

if they are flashing no fuel it means that they are fully out of energy and cannot do anything (even taking some fuel to fill up again)

if you manually put some fuel in them they will start up again.

This tends to happen when they try to take of blue belts but the fuel goes by too fast. They will twitch towards the fuel and consume a little energy each time until they run dry.

[Neemys]

I test it, You are right, they don't took fuel when flashing red, sorry. so yes they are flashing red because at some point there was no fuel, and now fuel has come but can't take fuel because they have no energy.
I was sure they took it even with no energy. My mistake


Mostly for boiler, I try to use splitter to split fuel evenly between boiler rows so when there is a lack of fuel every row has fuel (even not a lot). I never has this problem even if I run out of coal multiple time (that's why I was sure they took fuel even with no energy). And yes I never use blue belt because they are to fast for burner inserter. You can use blue belt to bring coal on site but a row of boiler don't need lot of coal so after splitter I use yellow belt.

[Juanxp]

First thing I try when inserter are acting strange, is removing and replacing them. They sometime just bug (mostly in MP). Have you already try that ?

Thanks, that did the trick, working now.

if they are flashing no fuel it means that they are fully out of energy and cannot do anything (even taking some fuel to fill up again)

if you manually put some fuel in them they will start up again.

This tends to happen when they try to take of blue belts but the fuel goes by too fast. They will twitch towards the fuel and consume a little energy each time until they run dry.

Thanks, I tested it too, and you were right, they can't pick up fuel because at some point there was no fuel and ran out of energy.

[Neemys]

First thing I try when inserter are acting strange, is removing and replacing them. They sometime just bug (mostly in MP). Have you already try that ?

Thanks, that did the trick, working now.

Yes it worked here because when placing burner inserter, they have a litle energy but the real problem was them not able to grab fuel at some point. Just avoid placing fast belt next to them. (you can still use fast/express belt to bring fuel on site, just not next to inserter )

[EvanT]

I find the change that burner inserters have enough fuel to take some for themselves very convenient what I do not understand is: Why the heck do they not reserve some energy for self-refuelling?

When using them for anything but fuel input there will be a time at which they will run out and get stuck.

[SyncViews]

They do try to maintain a small inventory of fuel units so as to not run out. But with fast belts (not backed up) each time they try to get fuel they fail (too slow), but also consume some energy.

If they do that enough times then they do run out.

[Neemys]

When needed, burner inserter take fuel if there are on the belt. When idling, they do not consume energy (so they have some in reserve) when fuel come, they take it, and give it to the next boiler or for themselves if they need it. The fact here is with blue belt which is not backed up, the fuel is going too fast for the inserter to take it, because they try to take it, they use a bit of energy, and after some try, run out of energy.

To see that, run a blue belt with burner inserter next to it. Make coal passing on the blue belt. The burner inserter can't take it. If the belt is yellow it can take it.

[EvanT]

The belt-to-fast problem is easily solved. The Burner inserter is to slow to take items from belt-corners too..

But I have them reloading turrets. (Energy cost free, low tech base defence) So every other belt slot (1:5) there is fuel on the belt. But when some inserters take fuel the later will get only munition. If it is also close to running out it will refuel the turret regardless of how much energy it has left. Increasing the fuel factor increases the risk of them getting stuck when the turret gets destroyed and replaced (grabbing fuel from the belt while there is no turret and having no place for it when it got replaced).
I would not mind if the turret would wait on its last movement reserve for fuel but having to manually maintain the front line every two hours is .. repetitive.

[SyncViews]

hmm, that is true. Generally when I am using them I fill one side of the belt with coal. The amount of coal used is pretty small, so generally I end up saturating the entire length of the belt with only a small number of coal miners.