Heat Router

The Heat Router is a heat-distribution building that takes an incoming heat flow and splits it evenly into three output directions: the direction it faces plus the left and right sides. It appears in Erekir content and is used to balance heat between multiple downstream heat-consuming buildings. The router will output its share of heat on all three sides regardless of whether a block is actually present, so unused outputs simply waste heat.

The Heat Router can accept heat from any of the sides it outputs to. To avoid accidental transfers or infinite loops, Heat Routers, Small Heat Redirectors, and normal Heat Redirectors will not accept heat from each other if their output sides face one another; this behavior prevents mutual feeding between those components. Plan input and output orientations so that a clear upstream source feeds a router and each downstream consumer is connected on one of the router’s output faces.

Practical usage and strategy:

• Orientation matters: the router always splits into three faces (front, left, right). Place it so the three target buildings receive appropriate shares rather than sending heat toward empty tiles where it is lost.
• Keep a clean flow: have a stable upstream heat source feeding the router and keep input and output chains unambiguous. Minimize loops and unnecessary detours to preserve effective transfer efficiency.
• Don’t stack routers without a source: chaining or clustering routers without a genuine heat input wastes space and produces no benefit.
• Downstream checks: after adding a router, verify each downstream building actually receives stable heat; incorrect split direction or layout can leave critical consumers starved.
• With Neoplasia Reactors, plan carefully: the reactor’s heat is distributed over five adjacent squares at 12 heat per square. If a Heat Router is centered on the reactor, two of the router’s output sides receive 24 heat while the side opposite the reactor receives 12 heat. This uneven split can be ideal for certain layouts — for example, Atmospheric Concentrators pair well with this pattern because a single reactor can fully heat two concentrators while two reactors can combine to supply a fifth concentrator; five concentrators also happen to be a favorable ratio for feeding Prime Refabricators.
• Offsetting the router relative to a reactor changes the split: placing the router to one side gives 12 heat to two sides and 36 heat to the side connected to both router and reactor, which can be used to prioritize a particular consumer.
• Electric Heaters are not an efficient way to correct ratio mismatches produced by the Heat Router; using Electric Heaters to produce clean numerical ratios wastes power. Until higher-tier equipment like Phase Heaters or Neoplasia Reactors are available, it is often more efficient to give each heat-dependent building its own heater assembly rather than producing a large centralized heat pool and relying on routers to distribute it.
• Be cautious of wasted outputs: because the router emits on all three faces even when no block is present, position routers where all three outputs will be used or chained into redirectors to avoid losing heat.

Proper planning of router placement and orientation, combined with clear upstream sources and simple downstream chains, yields the best results. When used with advanced reactors and redirectors, Heat Routers become a powerful tool for supplying multiple heat consumers from a single source.