Insulated Tile

Insulated Tile is a building used to reduce heat transfer between adjacent tiles, liquids, and gases. It is the standard way to keep heat from leaking into or out of a sealed area, especially along the edges of a Temperate Biome or other base boundaries where outside biomes would otherwise exchange heat with the interior. Like most thermal control tools in Oxygen Not Included, its effectiveness depends heavily on the material used to build it.

For most purposes, the best material is the one with the lowest Thermal Conductivity and the highest Specific Heat Capacity available. That combination slows heat flow and also resists rapid temperature swings. Igneous Rock is a common early choice because it is abundant and has the highest Specific Heat Capacity among raw minerals. Mafic Rock is another option, with about half the Thermal Conductivity of Igneous Rock but only a fifth of its Specific Heat Capacity. Ceramic is a stronger advanced option, with Thermal Conductivity 0.62 and Specific Heat Capacity 0.84. Insulite, produced from Abyssalite in the Molecular Forge, is the best solid insulation material available from space-tier resources.

Insulated Tile interacts with heat exchange differently from regular tiles. In many cases it exchanges less heat than natural Abyssalite tiles because insulated materials use the lower of the two conductivities involved in a transfer, rather than an average. This makes it especially useful for isolating hot machinery, cryogenic storage, or polluted areas from the main base. The actual temperature delta needed before heat exchange begins also varies by material and thermal mass: as a rule of thumb, Igneous Rock needs roughly 250 C, Mafic Rock around 100 C, and Ceramic around 670 C when the tile itself is at room temperature.

• Natural Abyssalite tiles at biome borders are strong insulation, but Insulated Tile is often better against gases and liquids.
• For liquid pipes, the insulated version uses only 3.125% of the building material’s Thermal Conductivity, which makes insulated piping a major part of thermal management.
• If maximum insulation is needed, save Insulite for the most extreme cases.
• Insulated Tile can also be used in construction tricks and bugged setups involving airlocks, though these are not normal gameplay uses.