Planet Crafter Heater: All 5 Tiers, Recipes and Heat per kW

The Planet Crafter heater comes in five tiers, from the T1 Heater at 1 kW to the T5 Heater at 360.5 kW. Per kilowatt, the top tier delivers about 42 times as much heat as the first one, according to the game database. From T3 on, heaters also add pressure.

This guide lists every recipe with amounts, the power draw in kW and the heat per second. On top of that comes our math on which tier gives the most heat per kilowatt and per resource, plus an overview of the fuse and rockets that multiply your heat.

🔥 What You Need the Planet Crafter Heater For

Heat is one of the three base values of terraforming, next to oxygen and pressure. The heater is the machine that raises this value directly. Without enough heat, milestones and unlocks tied to it stay out of reach.

One thing for planning: in-game, heat moves through a chain of units from pK through nK and µK to K, and each step is a factor of 1,000. Why that can look like your progress has stalled is explained in our guide on Planet Crafter terraforming being stuck.

📊 Every Planet Crafter Heater Tier Compared

You build every tier with the Multitool in build mode. The values come from the database planetcrafter.th.gl (as of October 12, 2026), and every Planet Crafter heater is listed there with its own page.

The amounts come from the database's recipe calculator. On the T2 detail page, the Aluminum was missing from the short description at the time, while the calculator listed it. For T1 the database gives no unlock threshold.

🧱 What Each Planet Crafter Heater Costs in Raw Resources

The recipe calculator breaks the intermediate products down to raw resources. For T3 that's 9 Iridium plus 1 each of Aluminum, Silicon and Titanium, 12 pieces in total. For T4 you need 19 Iridium, 3 each of Aluminum, Cobalt, Iron, Magnesium, Silicon and Titanium, and 2 Sulfur, so 39 pieces.

T5 is far more expensive: 30 Iridium, 27 Aluminum, 24 each of Cobalt, Iron, Magnesium, Silicon and Titanium, and 6 Sulfur. That's 183 resources for a single machine. T1 needs 3 and T2 needs 6. From T1 to T5, material costs rise 61-fold, but heat rises 15,100-fold. Iridium is the biggest item from T3 on, and our guide to Planet Crafter Iridium and the Iridium Rod shows where to find it.

🧮 Our Math: Heat per kW and per Resource

Raw heat output says little while power and materials are tight. So we divided the heat per second of each Planet Crafter heater by both values.

Three things stand out about the Planet Crafter heater lineup. First, the jump from T3 to T4 pays off the most: heat per kW goes up more than sixfold. Second, T5 is only 20 percent better than T4 per kW, but almost 80 percent better per resource. Third, a single T5 replaces 15,100 first-tier machines on paper.

In practice: if power is your bottleneck, T4 will carry you for a long time. It delivers more than six times the heat per kilowatt of T3, and at 39 resources it needs only a bit over a fifth of the material of a T5. If building space or material is tight, go for T5. Pressure comes free from T3 on, with 280 per second at T5.

⚡ What a Planet Crafter Heater Asks of Your Power Grid

For comparison with the generators: a Nuclear Fusion generator delivers 1,485 kW. On paper that covers four T5 heaters at a combined 1,442 kW, with nothing left for a fifth. With T4 it would be 28 machines. How to supply enough power in the endgame is covered in our guide to Planet Crafter energy.

🗺️ The Planet Crafter Heater Upgrade Path Step by Step

The unlock thresholds in the database give you a clear order. Notice that four tiers depend on oxygen and only the last one on biomass. If you want to push your Planet Crafter heater output, oxygen is what you need first.

1. Start: T1 is listed without a threshold and costs only three resources.
2. At 1.85 ppt oxygen: T2 replaces T1 right away. One of them matches 15 of the old ones.
3. At 80 ppt oxygen: T3 needs an Iridium Rod for the first time. Some pressure joins in from here.
4. At 63 ppb oxygen: T4 is the big jump, but it needs Super Alloy and Explosive Powder.
5. At 8.3 kt biomass: T5 assumes plants, insects and animals are already growing strongly.

Between T3 and T4 there's a huge oxygen gap, according to the database. In that phase it pays to get heat from more T3 machines and, once unlocked, from an Asteroid attraction rocket instead of waiting for T4. Compare the thresholds with your own terraforming display, since the units shown in-game can differ from the database.

🚀 Boosting Every Planet Crafter Heater: Fuse and Rockets

Besides building more machines, there are two ways to raise heat overall. The database gives these values:

• Heat multiplier fuse: "Heat Boost +500%", trade value 2,500. It goes into a Machine optimizer and boosts machines nearby.
• Asteroid attraction rocket: "Heat Boost +1000%" as a global bonus. Its description says it attracts uranium asteroids. Built at the Launch Platform from 1 Rocket Engine, 2 Super Alloy and 3 Cobalt.
• T2 Asteroid attraction rocket: "Heat Boost +6000%", built from 2 Iridium Rod, 1 T2 Rocket Engine, 2 Solar Quartz, 1 Heat multiplier fuse and 3 Selenium. Unlocked on Selenea at the Breathable atmosphere stage, according to the database.

Be careful with fuses. For the energy fuse, one player measured a much weaker effect than the database states, which we cover in our energy guide. Whether the heat fuse really brings the full 500 percent in-game isn't confirmed. For the first Asteroid attraction rocket, the database contradicts itself: the recipe list says 2 Super Alloy, the step graphic doesn't match. All other types are in our guide to Planet Crafter fuses.

💡 Planet Crafter Heater Tips

• Don't stack early: T1 gives so little that ten of them don't even replace one T2. Wait for T2 instead.
• Plan power at T4: 51.5 kW per machine shows up on your grid right away.
• Remove old tiers: A T1 costs 1 kW for 0.3 heat. When power gets tight, those go first.
• Prepare materials: T5 needs Super Alloy Rods, and our guide to Planet Crafter Super Alloy shows how to make them.

❓ Planet Crafter Heater FAQ

How much power does a Planet Crafter heater use?

According to the database: 1 kW for T1, 3.5 kW for T2, 17.5 kW for T3, 51.5 kW for T4 and 360.5 kW for T5.

Which Planet Crafter heater tier is the most efficient?

T5 gives the most heat per kW and per resource. Per kW, though, T4 is only about 20 percent weaker and much cheaper.

Does the Planet Crafter heater also make pressure?

Yes, from T3 on. The database lists 0.6 for T3, 35.5 for T4 and 280 per second for T5.

What do I need for the T5 Heater?

3 Iridium Rods, 3 Explosive Powder and 3 Super Alloy Rods. In raw resources that's 183 pieces, 30 of them Iridium.

How do I raise heat without new machines?

With a Heat multiplier fuse in a Machine optimizer, or globally with the Asteroid attraction rocket.

📌 Status and Sources

Checked against the game database planetcrafter.th.gl as of November 2026 (detail pages and recipe calculator, data from October 12, 2026). Recipes, amounts, raw resource totals, power draw, heat and pressure per second, unlock thresholds and the values of the fuse and rockets come from there. The heat unit chain comes from our terraforming guide. The efficiency math and the generator comparison are our own analysis.