Creating an efficient cold room is fundamental to the survival of a colony in RimWorld, especially when food supplies begin to run low and the harvest has not yet been harvested. In harsh winters or hot summers, proper food storage becomes critical to preventing hunger and disease. Many beginners make the mistake of simply enclosing the space with walls, forgetting about the nuances of thermal insulation and operation cooling devices.
The construction process requires careful planning, since errors in calculations can lead to spoilage of tons of meat and vegetables. You will need not only to select the right materials, but also to correctly set up the work refrigeration units. In this guide, we will analyze all the stages: from choosing a location to automating processes.
The first thing you need to understand is that the cold in this game behaves physically realistically. Warm air rises and cold air sinks, but in RimWorld, heat simply spreads from source to source. Therefore, it is important to minimize the gain of external heat through walls and doors. If you plan to store large volumes of products, the size of the room should be appropriate, but not excessive, so as not to waste energy.
Choice of location and space planning
The ideal place for the refrigerator is the center of the base or a protected area where enemy raiders and wild animals cannot reach. Often players will build cold rooms inside other buildings, creating a kind of "room within a room". This helps to further insulate the interior from temperature changes outside. However, make sure that there is space around the future chamber for laying electrical cables and installing generators.
The size of the room directly depends on the needs of your colony. For a starting group of three people, a 6x6 square area is enough, but for a developed base, scaling will be required. It is important to consider that the larger the air volume, the longer the refrigerators will take to operate after opening the door. It is also worth providing a vestibule corridor or double doors to minimize the loss of cold when colonists enter and exit.
⚠️ Attention: Do not build a refrigerator directly at the edge of the map or next to active volcanoes if you do not want to risk temperature stability due to external environmental factors.
When planning, be sure to leave room for the cooling devices themselves. They cannot hang in the air and require installation into a wall or floor (depending on type). The optimal shape of the room is a square or rectangle without protrusions, which ensures uniform distribution of cold flows.
Required materials and walls
The choice of material for the walls of the refrigeration chamber is a balance between cost, strength and, most importantly, thermal insulation. In RimWorld, different materials have different thermal conductivities. The use of thin wooden partitions will lead to the fact that in summer the refrigerator will work at its maximum capacity, and in winter it may not even be needed.
The following materials are best suited for the construction of walls:
- 🧱 Stone —has excellent thermal insulation and high strength, ideal for capital construction.
- 🧱 Steel plates —good a compromise between strength and speed of construction, but conducts heat better than stone.
- 🪵 Wood - an available material in the early stages, but requires frequent repairs and does not hold temperature well.
- 🧊 Ice blocks - can be used in biomes with permafrost, but they melt when elevated temperature.
Particular attention should be paid to doors. A regular door will let in too much heat every time someone walks through it. It is recommended to install automatic doors or, as a last resort, a double contour of doors with a vestibule. This will create an air cushion that stabilizes the microclimate inside.
Remember that walls can be built from different materials at the same time. For example, make external walls from stone for insulation, and internal partitions from cheaper materials. The main thing is that the outer shell is airtight.
Installation and configuration of refrigeration equipment
The heart of your refrigeration room is the cooling device. There are several types of such devices in RimWorld, but the most common is refrigerator (Cooler), which is built into the wall. The principle of its operation is simple: it takes in warm air from one side and blows out cold air from the other, creating a temperature difference.
For proper installation, it is necessary to observe strict orientation of the device. The hot side (usually marked in red or just looks like a radiator) should go outside or into another room, and the cold side should go inside the chamber. If you mix up the sides, the refrigerator will run idle or even heat the room.
Setting the target temperature is done through the device interface. Click on the installed refrigerator to open the control menu. There you will see a slider or input field to set the desired temperature. For storing meat and vegetables, the optimal range is considered to be from -5°C to -10°C. Lower values require more energy, but do not provide significant benefits for food safety.
| Parameter | Value | Influence |
|---|---|---|
| Target temperature | -5°C ... -15°C | Product spoilage rate |
| Power (W) | 200W - 400W | Energy consumption |
| Efficiency | 100% - 300% | Cooling rate |
| Heat dissipation | High | Heating the external environment |
It is important to consider that one refrigerator may not be able to cope with a large volume of the room or an open door. In such cases, the installation of additional units is required. However, their excess will lead to a sharp jump in electricity consumption, which can overload your network.
☑️ Check before starting
Energy supply and safety
Stable energy supply is the life of your refrigerator. If the power goes out, even for a short time, temperatures will begin to rise and food may spoil. Therefore, the power supply system must have a reserve. Using only solar panels is risky due to night time and sandstorms.
The recommended energy supply scheme includes:
- ⚡ Main source - coal generators or geothermal station for constant generation.
- 🔋 Buffer batteries - minimum 5-10 pieces for smoothing peaks and working at night.
- 🔄 Backup generator - automatic start when the battery charge drops below a critical level.
⚠️ Attention: When using coal generators, make sure that the smoke from them does not fall into the colonists' rest area, otherwise they will receive the negative mood modifier "Stink".
Triggers can be used to automate the reservation process. Configure the network so that backup generators only turn on when battery charge drops below 30%. This will save fuel and resources during normal operation.
What to do if there is a fire in the refrigerator?
If a fire starts in the refrigerator (for example, from lightning or a short circuit), immediately turn off the electricity to the entire network so as not to aggravate the situation. Then use fire extinguishers or make it rain if technology allows. The products will most likely have to be thrown away.
It is also worth considering the possibility of using geothermal generatorsif the bionom allows geology. They provide stable power 24/7 without the need for fuel supply, which is ideal for critical infrastructure.
Automation and logistics
Manually carrying food to the refrigerator and back is a tedious and time-consuming task for the colonists. RimWorld has a storage zone mechanism that allows you to automate this process. Create a storage zone inside the cold room and configure its parameters.
In the zone settings, specify:
- 📦 Item type — select "Food" and "Raw Materials" (for meat and hides).
- 🔢 Maximum quantity —limit the capacity so that colonists do not carried excess.
- 🚫 Priority —set a high priority for perishable products.
For even finer tuning, you can use quality filters. For example, prohibit the storage of low-quality food (“Rotten” or “Extinguished”) in a common refrigerator, leaving it for feeding animals. This will help maintain order and hygiene.
Do not forget to periodically check the fullness of the refrigerator. If it is overcrowded, colonists will leave food on the floor outside the area, where it will quickly spoil. Expand the area or create new refrigeration chambers as the colony grows.
Common problems and their solutions
Even with proper construction, problems can arise. One of the most common problems is that the refrigerator does not maintain the temperature. This may be caused by poor wall insulation, too much floor space or an electrical fault. Check to see if the hot side of the refrigerator is in a confined space without ventilation.
Another common problem is the equipment constantly turning on and off. This "clocking" wears out devices and creates voltage surges. The solution lies in increasing the buffer capacity of the batteries or lowering the target temperature by 1-2 degrees to create a reserve.
Colonists may also complain about the cold when passing by an open door. The solution is to build a vestibule or install a second door at some distance from the first. This will create a buffer zone where the temperature will be intermediate and cold air will not escape into the hallway.
Why did the refrigerator stop cooling?
Most likely, the device is damaged (for example, by EMP shock or age) or the power is cut off. Check the device status in the menu and the presence of power in the network. Also make sure that hot air does not circulate back to the input.
Can natural cold be used in winter?
Yes, in biomes with cold climates the temperature drops below zero in winter. At this time, you can turn off refrigerators to save energy, but keep an eye on the weather forecast so as not to defrost supplies during a thaw.
How to protect the refrigerator from raiders?
Build a fridge compartment in the depths of the base, surround it with traps and turrets. You can also make the walls reinforced so that they cannot be quickly penetrated by explosives.
What wall material retains heat best?
Walls made of stone and a slab of uranium concrete (in DLC) have the best thermal insulation. Wood and glass conduct heat much worse, which makes refrigerators work harder.
Do you need lighting inside the refrigerator?
No, light does not affect the safety of food in RimWorld, but it is necessary if you want colonists to work inside at night without a speed penalty. However, the lamps also emit heat, which can upset the temperature balance.