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Kit (Radiator)

Properties
Stacks	Yes (10)
Paintable	Yes
Recipe
Created With	Hydraulic Pipe Bender
Cost	3g Gold, 2g Steel

Pipe Radiator

Paintable	Yes
Construction
Placed with	Kit (Radiator)
Placed on	Small Grid
Stage 1
Deconstruction
Deconstructed with	Wrench
Item received	Pipe Radiator

Description

Used to cool or warm the gasses within pipes. These are the cheapest radiators, with the next upgrade being the Medium Radiator.

It comes in 2 flavors, selected by moving the mouse wheel;

Convection Radiators have a grill on one side of the pipe, which exchanges and balances the temperature of the gasses inside the pipe with the environment. As they do require an environment, they have no use in a vacuum, but still provide a more reliable, cheaper though slower alternative to Wall Coolers when used inside a station (pressurized room or collection of rooms).

Radiation Radiators add radiator sheets around the pipe, radiating the heat even into a vacuum. As they only radiate and don't capture, they can only be used to cool down the piped gasses and they do so at a much slower rate. This is the only viable method (apart from the Kit (Liquid Radiator)) of shedding excess heat without venting gasses or otherwise sacrificing resources.

• In an atmosphere the radiators will convert energy based on their temperature and the atmosphere.
  • If the pipe has a higher temperature then they will transfer heat into the room.
  • If the pipe has a lower temperature then they will receive heat from the room.
• Without an atmosphere they will radiate heat into space. Note that they will receive a little energy if the sun shines on them due to the solar constant (The ability for pipe radiators to absorb thermal energy in any environment in game is contested).

In layman's terms you can think of the radiator as a "valve for heat". It will allow heat (but no gases!) to be exchanged between the pipe it's attached to and the surrounding environment. This "valve" will work bidirectional (heat can flow in both directions). And heat will always flow from the hotter to the colder side.

Pipes without radiators are actually capable to exchange heat with their surroundings the same way on their own. But a radiator will greatly accelerate how fast this exchange will happen. And the effect of multiple radiators on the same pipe system will be cumulative. So you can speed up the transfer even more by placing more than one radiator on the same pipe system. The "shape" of the pipe system is not relevant, though. So a straight pipe with a certain amount of radiators will have the same heat exchange than a pipe of equal length (same amount of pipe segments) and equal amount of radiators, that snakes around or forms any other imaginable shape. The part of the pipe with the radiators must be free and not touch the floor or wall, even partially.

Another factor that will influence how well (and how much) heat will be transferred between the pipe/radiator and its surroundings is the gas mixture inside both the pipe and its surroundings. Gases differ in both the "speed" in which they can exchange heat and the "amount" of heat they can "absorb". Pollutants (X) for example are able to exchange heat very quickly, but the "amount" of heat they can absorb is limited. Water (H2O) on the other hand will exchange heat slower that pollutants will, but the "amount" of heat water can absorb is significantly larger (over 3 times, hence Kit (Liquid Radiator)s).