Gregtech 5 Steam Turbine Help

    Hi everyone, I'm really digging GT, but the lack of documentation and conflicting documentation is killing me. I hope I'm putting this request in the right place; if I'm not, feel free to move it, naturally. I'll start with the questions and move on to a general description of my setup, and its particular problems.


    1) FTB wiki lists a maximum of 1600 steam consumption per tick. Is this still true?
    2) The same source also states you MUST supply 1600 steam per tick, or it stalls and you get no power. Is that accurate? If so, does that mean any turbine rotor that isn't optimal at 32k L/second is worthless?
    3) Several things I've read suggest that you have to use tesseracts and liquiducts to supply enough steam to the turbine. I currently use 2 huge steel pipes, rated at 19200 L/sec. They should, theoretically, properly shuttered, be able to move 1920 L/sec in total. Is that incorrect?


    On to a general description of my woes: I have a turbine set up such that there are 2 inputs, and 1 dynamo hatch. The front panel tells me that everything is "running perfectly". I have 2 bronze large boilers feeding it via huge steel pipes. 1 of the pipes is 1 block long, and the other is 2 blocks long. Both boilers work perfectly fine with Advanced Steam Turbines attached. 2 large bronze boilers should create, at peak, 1600 L/tick of steam, thereby maxing out the turbine (maybe?). I've checked the inputs to confirm the turbine is receiving steam. When I run the turbine, it will run for two to three minutes before suddenly stopping and consuming a full durability turbine rotor. As in, a turbine rotor will go from 25k durability to non-existence in the blink of an eye. Until that point, the front 3x3 turbine animation is spinning, the console reports running perfectly, and things seem generally happy. The second problem is that while all this is going on, zero power is being output from the dynamo hatch. For testing purposes, it is hooked up directly to a battery buffer of appropriate voltage containing 2 empty batteries.


    1) Why is my turbine rotor disappearing? I was under the impression it takes days to consume a blade.
    2) Why is my turbine outputting zero power?


    If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. I appreciate any help, answers or guidance you may be able to provide.

    The amount of consumed steams depends on what turbine item (rotor) you are using. Could you also post a screenshot of your turbine? You should also use the right dynamo hatch. If you input 1600 L/t the turbine puts out around 800 EU/t (depends on the rotor), you need an EV hatch.

    http://imgur.com/sDKSPQB


    This is a rubbish screenshot that doesn't capture the full setup because I'd need about 8 different angles to recreate it faithfully and who's got that kind of patience? I did manage to get all 3 machines in the shot though, and my pipe.


    Let me draw you a simple diagram in addition.


    BBB
    BBB TTT
    BBOPITT
    ___PITT
    BBOPITT
    BBB
    BBB


    B = Boiler
    O = LV output hatch
    P = Huge steel pipe
    I = Input hatch
    T = other turbine blocks, including maintenance hatch and output hatch.


    I've tried using both a HV and EV dynamo hatch, since I didn't know if it would choke by using one that's too big or too small. Between those two, one of them (and in my opinion, both of them) should have worked. However, I got 0 power out of either one. Of course, when I was using the EV hatch, I first ran it to an HV transformer, then to HV battery buffers.


    I hope that helps to clarify my setup.

    Your setup looks good. However, what Turbine Rotor do you use? What material, what size? Are you using the version 5.08.27?

    I'm running Beyond Reality 2.3.2, which contains Gregtech 5.08.26. I'll check the changelog to see if it mentions any improvements to turbines. Updating Gregtech would require updating Beyond Reality, and last time we tried that, we got all kinds of crazy sound problems, so updating would not be a frictionless route to attempt troubleshooting.


    I have attempted a number of rotor configurations, the ones I most expected to work being a small fluxed electrum turbine (16000 optimal flow, running off only 1 of the boilers. 800 steam * 20 ticks = 16000 L/sec optimal flow), as well as a normal size rose gold turbine off both boilers (28000 L/sec, but I recall reading that rotors can handle up to 1.5 times their optimal flow without issue, just without any extra power generated).

    The turbines and the large heat exchanger was overhauled in 5.08.27. You could try using something with a higher durability, a steel turbine or something like that. Otherwise, updating will be the only solution.

    So turbines, prior to 5.08.27, are intended to break after a minute or two of operation? That doesn't seem right. I'll look into it. Does that mean that prior to 5.08.27 the turbines were essentially worthless and unusable? Thanks again.


    Edit: Checked the changelog. Do you know anywhere I can find additional information about Pyure's overhaul?

    No, the turbines takes every 3000 ticks 20% of the generated Eu/t as damage. I have a large plasma generator running perfectly. You should try to put a really good turbine in it, something like tungstensteel or neutronium (try it in creative), and build a tank as a buffer for the steam between the boilers and the turbine.

    So when I used a fluxed electrum rotor on 1 boiler, that would be 800 steam turning into ~400 EU/tick, so roughly 80 damage a tick, so 2400 damage distributed every 1.5 seconds? That suggests that the rotor only lasts slightly longer than 15 seconds. Am I getting that right? This is confusing, because I've had the turbine spin for well over 60 seconds, and the rotor goes from full durability (25400/25400) to just gone when the turbine stops. Is that how it used to work, as far as you know?


    The same calculations performed on neutronium suggest it lasts basically forever, so yeah, I'm really looking forward to progressing that far.


    As far as tanks, what would you recommend? Quantum tanks are the ideal, but that osmium wiring is killer, I still need to make an HV laser etcher, and I don't understand how Gregtech interfaces with other mods fluid transports systems so I'm sure there's an easy answer I'm overlooking purely due to my own ignorance.

    The damage is applied every 3000 ticks, you get 80damage per 3000ticks.
    For tanks, you could use railcraft tanks. Attach a electric pump as a cover to a side of a gregtech pipe, set it to Import (rightclicking with screwdriver). Then place the output side of the tank next to it.

    Aha, I see. I think I missed a decimal.


    Thanks for the tips on using Railcraft tanks. I've been storing everything in Buildcraft tanks and moving it around by hand. Definitely not a habit I'd like to retain. It's bad.


    Any ideas on what changes Pyure's overhaul contained regarding turbines? Or, failing that, what kind of rotor would last a decent amount of time that is viable for a crew straddling the fence between MV and HV?

    I really don´t want to search through the GT5u thread to find what pyure said about that, you can do that if you want to.
    I think titanium or stainless steel would do a good job. Iridium would also be good (if you have that), the best one you could use is tungstensteel (if you upgraded your EBF with the best heating coils.

    Of course not, neither do I. I was hoping that maybe you knew from having read it before and it wouldn't be any effort for you. But no problem, I'm not averse to digging.


    So if I only run one one bronze large boiler (as it seems really hard to find a turbine that has an optimal flow of 32000), that gives 800 l/tick, which is 16k/sec, which is the optimal flow for the medium titanium rotor, I should be good? I think that's how it shakes out.


    If I'm doing 80 damage per 3000 ticks, I should be nowhere near these rotors breaking in the span of one to two minutes, am I wrong? And while I appreciate all your advice, and you've been admirably patient so far, it doesn't seem like either the rotor or the tank issue is responsible for the fact that my turbine is outputting 0 EU. Is there any further possible cause for me to investigate, or is it just an issue of working out the update and hoping that 5.08.27 will treat me right?

    The titanium rotor should work good for you. If a better rotor and a buffered steam supply won´t work, only updating will help you.

    Unfortunately for me, the Beyond Reality most recent update still only contains Gregtech 5.08.26. Looks like I know who to bother now.


    Thanks so much for all your help, I was expecting to hear nothing but radio silence for days. I'm glad to hear I was doing it mostly right. If it wasn't for you, I would be drinking to excess and sobbing into my keyboard about now.

    Are you playing on a server? If you´re not, I think you could just exchange the GT version in your mod folder.


    Hiya Again Jaunt. Be aware that all of what I say below applies to, I believe, v27+.


    1) For steam consumption, can you point me to that wiki? The steam consumption depends entirely on the rotor, so 1600 steam/tick is only true if that's the maximum consumption of a very heavy, huge rotor.
    2) Optimal Flow for a rotor means that's the amount of steam required to get the most efficiency out of a rotor. Let's say you have a rotor that generates 500 eu/t. If you only give it 10% of its optimal flow, it will only generate around 50 eu/t.


    "Flow" to a reactor is determined by the turbine checking its hatches every tick. It attempts to consume up to 125% of its optimal flow. In other words, if it wants 1000 mb/t steam, it will try to take up to 1250. At 1000 mb/t it will generate 100% efficiently. At 750 and 1250, it will operate at approximately 75% efficiency.


    It will never try to consume more than 125%, so don't worry about losing 64000 steam from a full hatch all at once.


    Your pipes should be fine so long as they're going into 2 input hatches. Be advised that multiple hatches are buggy as all hell in your version (upgrade plz)


    1b) Your rotor is disappearing due to a bug fixed in later versions.
    2b) Bug fixed in later versions.


    Hope this helps, feel free to ask for clarification on anything you like.

    Thank you so much for the replies, Pyure. Trying to make the turbine work in this older version make me feel like a lunatic.


    The outdated wiki is this one: http://ftbwiki.org/Large_Steam_Turbine


    There are two or three other pages I was using to source my data but none of them come out and say "there's no limit except the one imposed by rotors", so I thought it could be an idiosyncratic limit.


    Man, I normally have a half dozen follow up questions, but you've left me thoroughly enlightened. Thank you again.

    Very happy to help :)


    For future reference, GT5u wiki content seems to get the most regular updates on gamepedia. For instance: http://ftb.gamepedia.com/Large_Turbine_(Block)


    This is where I do my wiki updates for GT content, so does Blood Asp. Note that the Optimal Flow stuff is still confusing as all hell in that article (even after I re-wrote it).