A Stirling Engine
Stirling engines (Formerly referred to as Steam Engines) are the second tier of engine. They use cobblestone instead of wood or iron so are still cheaper than the Combustion Engine. These engines cannot overheat unless there is an oversupply of power. Note that the flame gauge on the Steam/Stirling Engine GUI does NOT indicate if it has any energy to run or not, but rather if there is still fuel being added to build up heat. In other words, the stirling engine continues to run quite a while after the instant the flame gauge empties and there is no more fuel in the slot to burn (unlike Vanilla machines).
As of Buildcraft 3.2.0, they have been renamed to Stirling Engines, as they do not actually require water or steam to function.
Recipe[]
Ingredients:
- 3 x Cobblestone
- 1 x Glass
- 2 x Stone Gear
- 1 x Piston
Produces: 1 x Stirling Engine
Power Source[]
Stirling Engine interface
Stirling engines output 1MJ/t while on (given a redstone signal).
The stirling engine runs on burning items and so needs refuelling to continue operation. Burnable items include lava buckets (which the buckets are not consumed) , coal, charcoal, wood, planks, sticks, saplings, crafting tables, chests and bookcases--basically it will burn everything a normal furnace will burn, except cactus and sugarcane. The stirling engine also needs a redstone signal to run.
| Material | Burn Time |
|---|---|
| Lava bucket | 16 minutes 40 seconds |
| Coal/Charcoal | 1 minute 20 seconds |
| Wood and Planks | 15 seconds |
| Saplings and Sticks | 5 seconds |
Usage[]
Stirling engines can be used as a power supply for mining machines. Stirling engines can be connected to each other, or they can transfer power through conductive pipes.
Though it doesn't run much faster than the Redstone Engine, it provides a great deal more power per stroke.
They are your best choice for powering a pump for 1 or 2 combustion engines, while if you are using more, a combustion engine will be needed for the water supply.