Mini Gas Pump

Mini Gas Pump is a small, low-power gas extraction building designed for moving limited amounts of gas rather than handling bulk atmospheres. It is especially useful when you only need to clear a confined pocket, maintain a small gas flow, or tidy up a room without paying the energy cost of a full Gas Pump. Its low power draw makes it efficient for light-duty work, but its pumping speed is much lower than the standard pump, so it is not a good choice for pressurized environments or for quickly emptying large spaces.

Compared with the standard Gas Pump, Mini Gas Pump uses only a quarter of the power and occupies only half the space, but its maximum pumping rate is only 10% as high. In practice, that means it becomes the better choice when the pump is expected to extract gas at a rate below roughly 200 g/s. When gas flow is heavier than that, a full Gas Pump is usually more energy-efficient. Its strengths are most noticeable in small areas where only a modest amount of gas needs to be moved.

The building has a few practical advantages that make it flexible in tight construction layouts. It can be rotated freely through 360 degrees, unlike the standard Gas Pump, which cannot be rotated at all. This can help when sealing spaces with diagonal tile arrangements or when trying to fit a pump into an awkward chamber. It also draws gas from every cell it covers, while the standard Gas Pump cannot draw from the top-right cell it occupies. That makes Mini Gas Pump particularly effective in cramped builds where every cell matters.

There are also important limitations to keep in mind. Mini Gas Pump is made of Plastic, which gives it low thermal conductivity and lets it heat up slowly, but it still has a relatively low overheat temperature of 75 °C and a melting point of 160 °C. As a result, it is not suited for hot environments, and repeated gas removal in heated rooms will eventually become a problem. It should not be relied on in places that stay hot for long periods, such as near industrial heat sources. In the base game, this makes it a poor fit for very hot gas recovery work. With the DLC, a version made of Plastium can survive much higher temperatures and greatly increase overheat tolerance, making it viable in extreme heat.

In general, Mini Gas Pump is best used when the goal is precision rather than throughput. It shines in early or mid-game setups where power is limited, the gas pocket is small, or the room geometry is awkward. It is less useful when the task is continuous high-volume pumping, since its slow rate can become a bottleneck even though its energy cost is low.