Steam Machines (GregTech 5)

Steam Machines are the lowest tier of all machines in GregTech. These are made during what is referred to as the Bronze Age.

Steam Machines come in two versions: the Bronze version and the High Pressure version.

Running your steam machines
Steam Machines are powered by steam which you can obtain from a Small Coal Boiler. Steam from Railcraft can also be used.

All steam machines have an exhaust hole which will eject "used" steam after each operation. You need to make sure that the space facing the hole is cleared. Otherwise, the machine will stop any further processing until it can eject its steam. The hole is at the back of the machine by default and its position can be changed using a wrench with a right click.

Here is an image showing both the front and back of the Bronze Steam Furnace. Notice the square hole at the back of the machine for ejecting steam.



Note that the ejected steam will deal damage to any entities should they be in its path. Below is a side view of a Steam Furnace ejecting steam.



As from Gregtech 5.00, Steam Machines can suffer from the "Insufficient Power Line" problem. You need to make sure that your machines do run out of steam while they are active. Otherwise, all progress will be lost.

An easy way to fix this problem is to let your boilers run until you have built up a decent amount of steam. Then run your machines until you are almost out of steam. Rinse and repeat.

High Pressure Machines
Although they are called High Pressure, High Pressure Machines do not differ much from their Bronze counterparts. There is no such thing as "High Pressure Steam" or "Low Pressure Steam" in GregTech. The difference is that High Pressure Machines consume Steam at 3x the rate of Low Pressure Machines, but operate twice as quickly, resulting in a 50% increase in total steam consumption per operation.

High Pressure Machines also require Steel which you can make from a Bronze Blast Furnace. Since the Bronze Blast Furnace requires a large amount of materials, it is recommended that you build the Bronze Steam Machines first even if trying to rush the Bronze Blast Furnace in order to obtain steel as early as possible is an option.

Other properties of Steam Machines
All steam machines are I-Sided. This means basically that items can be piped in or out of them using items like BuildCraft, GregTech or Thermal Expansion pipes.

Steam Machines can also be spray painted with all the normal Gregtech spray cans. This will change both the color of the machine and the GUI.