Sandustry Reactions Chart: Water, Steam, Ice, Lava & Heat

Quick reaction chart

The exact timing and geometry depend on the current Early Access build. Build a small test chamber first, because a reaction can move through adjacent pixels and overflow into a machine or storage area.

How to build a safe reaction chamber

1. Use Foundation or another deliberate boundary to contain the first test.
2. Keep the heat source separate from the input drop point.
3. Put an empty collection basin below the reaction so overflow has somewhere to go.
4. Add a route for the result before adding more input.
5. Test one material at a time, then connect the chamber to the main production line.

Water and steam loop

Water is not just a resource to pipe into Wet Sand. Heating Water produces Steam; Steam rises and can return as Rain. A useful loop is:

Water basin → heat source → Steam rise → Rain collection → Water route

Keep the collection area wider than the heat column and avoid placing valuable machines directly under the expected rain path. For long-distance transport, use the Pipes and Pumps route once Fluids research is available.

Lava and Cryoblaster

The Cryoblaster is listed in the current Research reference as a way to produce Snow and interact with Water and Lava. Use it as a controlled utility, not as an assumption of infinite production: confirm the power input and the local reaction before scaling the chamber.

For current Lava handling, keep v0.5.6 in mind: Lava density is 200, it destroys Fluxite, Redsoil, and Strataform terrain, and a cold Thermal Buffer converts contacted Lava back to Cinder instead of fully consuming it. In artifact rooms, Thermal Buffers no longer consume Lava.

Ice cleanup

Heat still melts Ice into Water, but Update #3 added a direct Laser interaction. Use Laser cleanup when you need to open an Ice block quickly, then route the resulting Water before it reaches heat or Lava.

Common mistakes

• Heating a liquid without leaving headroom for rising Steam.
• Building a reaction next to an unfiltered Conveyor.
• Treating a Demo-era water, ice, or lava trick as guaranteed in Early Access.
• Connecting a large reservoir before the small test chamber is stable.

Related guides

• Sandustry Recipes & Production Flow Chart
• Steam Turbine Setup
• Sandustry Water
• Sandustry Lava

Sources

Reaction behavior is based on the official Sandustry overview, the Research reference, the game's Steam description, and the official v0.5.6 Update #3 Steam changelog, checked on 2026-09-05. This page intentionally labels build-sensitive details instead of presenting Demo behavior as permanent.