Factorio Forums

TL;DR

Add logic so that burner inserters stop picking bad fuels.

What?

I don't know the internals about how burner inserters work, so this is just a guess but...by the behavior I've seen a burner inserter grabs an item, checks to see if it needs fuel, and if the item is burnable, it inserts the item into it's fuel box. My suggested change is that it should check to see if it needs fuel before it picks anything up. If it needs fuel, it specifically picks up fuel based on one of these three methods.

• Picks up the closest burnable item in regards to belt side or end-most slot on a chest. (What I was trying to get it to do/how I thought it worked)
• Picks up the closest burnable item in order of the filter defined on the inserter. (What I tried next)
• Picks up the highest fuel value reachable item.

There are mods that love to add a burner phase and they'll have one or more items meant to be the fuel and some other items which are burnable in a pinch, but aren't really fuels. Consider Lignumis with Peat & Wood or Omnimatter with Purified Omnite & Omnite. I will seed my inserters and machines with the fuel I want them to use and make sure it's available in plenty so they don't run out. However, the inserters will run through all 5 pieces of say...Purified Omnite, and then start refueling themselves (and their machine) with Omnite despite there still being Purified Omnite available.

Why?

Because it really harshes your mellow to set up a nice production chain only to find your machines burning your input products and not the fuel you've painfully run through in a way to be the closest thing for it to pick up when anything needs refueled.

I gather you're playing some mod that has an extremely long burner phase?

Did you know you can filter the fuel slot on a burner inserter?

It's the same button/key you use to filter a slot in a rail wagon.

This will prevent the burner inserter from picking up any fuel other than the one you want it to use.

Kyralessa wrote: Sun Jan 25, 2026 1:37 pm Did you know you can filter the fuel slot on a burner inserter?

It's the same button/key you use to filter a slot in a rail wagon.

This will prevent the burner inserter from picking up any fuel other than the one you want it to use.

/facepalm

Thanks