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[thefinn]

It has literally been at least a year since I created one of these, and I have no idea where I'm going wrong.

If I remember correctly, I should start at the bottom and build up?

Unfortunately, all the pumps are "hanging" and I cannot work out why. If I get a dwarf to pump the top one, none of the others goes into motion.

What am I doing wrong?


█_■□ █ <-hanging completed screw pump
█ □■_█ <-hanging completed screw pump
█_■□ █ <-hanging completed screw pump
█ □■_█ <-hanging completed screw pump

[mightymushroom]

Pumping dwarves do not produce power to transmit through the stack, they only do one pump at a time. You want to hook them up to a mechanical power source. If your power source is waiting for water pumped up through the stack you'd have to manually operate every pump until it starts working.

"Hanging" means not entirely supported by floor iirc, which is expected for most of them because they are half built on each other rather than floors. A chain of mechanical stuff needs only a single anchor, so if you have anything to the side (axle, gear box, etc.) anywhere on the stack that bottom one could be hanging as well, without issues.

[PatrikLundell]

Also note that all the pumps (except the bottom one) HAVE to hang in order to propagate power (which, as noted, is NOT mechanical pumping by a dorf) from one to the next one (well, you can provide power from the side, but that typically results in leaking unless those axles are encased in obsidian, although the correct build order might be capable of avoiding that).

Also note that you can build pump stacks from both the top and the bottom, with the top pump hanging from the power providing gear (which is hanging from an axle or other gear).

[timotheos]

Also note that all the pumps (except the bottom one) HAVE to hang in order to propagate power (which, as noted, is NOT mechanical pumping by a dorf) from one to the next one (well, you can provide power from the side, but that typically results in leaking unless those axles are encased in obsidian, although the correct build order might be capable of avoiding that).

Also note that you can build pump stacks from both the top and the bottom, with the top pump hanging from the power providing gear (which is hanging from an axle or other gear).

Who powers things from the top? If you have a >30 Z-level stack there is probably more room for a power station in the middle somewhere.
In which case a gear assembly from the side works fine. Put the gear to the side of the walkable tile (the one the dwarf would stand on to pump) and not only does it work fine and not leave holes for leaks, but you now have an anchor point that lets you build up and down so the stack gets built quicker.

[thefinn]

Wow glad I asked, thanks, guys.

It's one of those things I figured I would be able to remember once I started to build it, but I guess I remember it all completely wrong

[PatrikLundell]

Hm, I thought you couldn't send power in to the walkable tile, so I've built a shed on the surface to host the power transfer to my dwarf washer... Looks like there's room for improvement in the next fortress (which I hope I won't have to start for quite a while).