Temperature and winter

Keep a room comfortable

Temperature depends on the season, time of day and weather. Walls, doors and roofs affect how rooms exchange heat. A substantially unroofed room behaves like outdoors.

Build a Campfire for early heat. With Electricity, use a Heater; with Air conditioning, use a Cooler. Select heaters or coolers to change their target with the temperature buttons.

A cooler sits in a wall. Its blue side cools and its red side expels heat. Rotate before placing so the hot side faces outdoors. A hot exhaust room makes cooling less effective.

After Complex furniture, a Vent in a wall shares air between neighboring rooms. A colonist must operate its Open/Closed switch. Closed vents behave as walls.

Make a freezer

1. Build an enclosed storeroom with a completed roof.
2. Place a cooler in a wall, with blue facing inside and red facing outside.
3. Connect it to a sufficient power supply.
4. Set its target below 0 °C.
5. Put a food stockpile inside and check that stored food reports Frozen.

Food does not rot at 0 °C or below. Cooling takes time and capacity; inspect the actual room temperature, not only the target on the cooler. Minimize heat leaks and add capacity if the room cannot reach its target.

The blue room has reached −5 °C. Select the cooler to check its target and both sides: Blue side is the freezer; Red side should report outdoors. View full screenshot

Check a food stack after cooling the room. Frozen is the confirmation that matters, even if the cooler's target is already below zero. View full screenshot

Protect colonists

Clothing changes each person’s comfortable and safe range. Tailor parkas and warm hats before winter; choose lighter clothing for heat. Check the colonist’s Gear and Health tabs.

Serious hypothermia or heatstroke makes mobile colonists seek a bearable place. Sleepers and patients stay in bed, so keep bedrooms and treatment rooms safe. With no safe place available, automatic shelter-seeking cannot solve the problem.

Protect crops and animals

Crops stop below 0 °C and suffer in extreme heat. An ordinary greenhouse needs warmth and a sun lamp; hydroponic basins still need a safe temperature and electricity.

Livestock have species-specific safe ranges. Include a heated or cooled barn inside their animal area, using a Barn door for access. Handlers can carry downed animals out of dangerous weather if a suitable room exists. See animal husbandry.