LV-N Overheat

[cicatrix]

I have this problem:

Generally I want to clarify some things:

1) why engines overheat?

2) does it affect their effectiveness?

3) how do I prevent that?

Edited January 12, 2015 by cicatrix

[worir4]

Just throttle down a little bit and you should be fine!

1) They are close together and on max throttle.

2)It doesn't affect their effect (Awesome!) Unless you let them explode of course!

3) Just a little bit and they will either stay at the same temperature or start to cool.

[UmbralRaptor]

Generally I want to clarify some things:

1) why engines overheat?

2) does it affect their effectiveness?

3) how do I prevent that?

1) A moderately advanced and highly primitive heat transfer model that looks at what parts are nearby. Spacing out the engines or having more non-engine parts (including struts) in close proximity helps reduce the heat load. lso notable is the orange tank bug where its center of mass is so far from an engine that it cannot effectively transfer heat away.

2) If they explode there's quite a bit of effectiveness lost. But as long as they don't, you get 100% performance. The orange bar filling up is more of a guideline than anything else.

3) If they explode, you'll want to throttle down slightly, use a thrust limiter, or rearrange the craft. If they don't then it doesn't matter.

[cicatrix]

So aside from cool red glow nothing bad really happens with an overheated engine (provided it doesn't explode)?

And what causes overheating when I have a single engine or generally, not particularly LV-N?

[Deddly]

1) why engines overheat?

2) does it affect their effectiveness?

3) how do I prevent that?

Hi Cicatrix. In KSP, engines are not less efficient when they get hot. The only problem with hot engines is that if you let them overheat too much (in other words, if the orange bar completely fills up), they will explode. This may or may not be a problem depending on how much you like explosions. To avoid that, you can either place them a little further away from each other or do as Worir4 says and just throttle down a little.

[bdito]

1) they overheat because they're too hot. It usually happens when they're clustered very close to each other.

2) definitely. They blow up when they get to 100% overheated.

3) turn them down a touch. You can run them at about 95% and they'll stabilize at a lower overheat level.

EDIT: I see you have mechjeb. Go to the utilities and check the prevent overheat option. Then it'll adjust your throttle down a tick for you.

Edited January 12, 2015 by bdito

[sal_vager]

(1) All engines produce heat, some more than others.

(2) Nope apart from exploding.

(3) Worir4 is on the money with his suggestion that you throttle back a bit, one pip on the throttle may be enough, alternatively you can design with heat in mind and fit struts to your engines, these will adsorb heat, as will the parts the engines are attached to, and parts attached to those parts

Wow, late to the party...

[cicatrix]

I haven't throttled down! Just to see if they explode or not. Turned out that I worried too much. Now Bill, Bob and Jebediah are on their 7 year trip to Eeloo