Thermal Desalinator

It doesn't make any sense for Thermal Desalinators to use steam to work as these machines heat up salt water from the sea and then condense the steam produced into fresh water. I propose that they first use coal, then gas and then run on electricity, following a logic similar to that of boilers.

As mentioned above the way these work in reality is a heat source is applied to sea water, and the water is converted into steam. This should use coal, gases, solar power, electricity, or whatever other source of heat the game uses. The steam should then be released into a pipe network where the pressure is determined by upgrade levels and heat source used. as well as a pipe output with brine. the steam output can then be connected to other steam related components or piped into the existing condenser to get the fresh water. This unit should do nothing but flash boil sea water and make steam plus brine. The rest of the puzzle is already in the game as existing buildings and networks.
For an example of this is the real world, the UAE gets all their water this way, but they pipe the steam into a steam turbine before condensing it and thus they get all their electricity for free basically.