Lava

Quick answers: lava is found "naturally deep underground in the Lava Cave," it can never be pumped through pipes, and moving it means the Cinder cycle. Trapped in a Filter, it becomes the game's best automation tool — a permanent igniter.

Material Data

You Cannot Pump Lava

The Pump's own description rules it out: "Consumes liquid (excluding Lava) within the tile of the Pump and sends to attached Pipes." Every other liquid travels by Pump, Pipes, and Liquid Vent — lava alone does not.

The only documented transport is the Cinder cycle: "Lava can be frozen into Scoria by combining it with Snow (such as from the Cryoblaster). This can be destroyed with any weapon which will drop as Cinders... Igniting the Cinder will turn it back into Lava." Note the reignition catch: Cinder needs the Flamethrower's direct flame — passive heat will not melt it.

Lava and Water

The interaction is one-way and generous: "When Water lands on lava, the water evaporates to create Steam. The amount of lava does not decrease." Your lava pools are safe from flooding — and double as steam generators.

Whether lava damages the player, buildings, or drones is not stated in any captured official source (unverified) — we do not make claims about lava damage.

The Trapped-Lava Auto-Burner

The wiki's flagship lava technique: "Lava can be trapped inside Filters and will ignite pixels that pass over it, if possible. This can be extremely useful for automating your factory, for things like Residue and Flower auto-burners."

The setup, verbatim from the wiki: set a Filter to only allow Cinder, place a solid block below it, fill it with Cinders and ignite them — "you can hold Lava wherever you like. If the Filter is completely full with Lava and Residue is moved over it, the Residue touching the Conveyor Belt will ignite and turn into Burnt Residue."

What We Cannot Confirm Yet

• The Lava Cave is named but not described or mapped in any captured source — no location details available (and terrain is procedurally generated per save).
• Lava as Smelter fuel appears in the Research entry ("fueled by heat from Thermal Buffer or Lava") — mechanics beyond that one line are undocumented.