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[Cheshire Cat]

I had a steel floodgate get uninstalled by magma....but now that I've read this forum I'm thinking I must have accidentally hit x when I was looking at it once. It didn't melt, by the way.

if it has a non magma proof mechanism, so anything not made of bauxite or adamantium, then it will get uninstalled once the mechanism melts. reading this thread though it seems this may only happen if magma occupies the tile it is built on, ie, you try opening it.

[Wolfius]

Magma is hot, but unless things have changed recently, it only heats surrounding tiles to 'kinda warm'(so you could, say, fill a magma channel under your water moat, and the water above the magma shouldn't freeze in the winter, but wouldn't boil off either) - to keep things near magma from melting, bursting into flames, etc.

Which would be cool, but bothersome; magma forges would be useless, and even walking over the magma channel on the z-level below, floor intact, would cause a dwarf to combust, while pumping would have to be powered(and need a magma-proof axle), tho channeling magma itself could still be done decently well, albeit always needing a sacrificial dwarf.

Thus to melt most things, or set them alight, the magma has to get into the same tile space. Which is why anything that blocks fluid-flow will stop magma, no matter the material, as the magma never enters the same tile - thus, your wooden floodgate is only 'warmed'.

Deconstruction of doors and floodgates(etc.) made of magma-proof material generally happens when they're connected to something that isn't 'proof, and which is then destroyed/melts when magma enters the tile - typically, this is the mechanism controlling it, for as that [B ] tag shows you, it's 'part of' the door/floodgate/etc.

Thus your steel floodgate /w slate mechanism, as well as your wooden door, will hold back the earth's fiery blood forever, until they're opened, at which time the wood will burn and the slate will start to melt(actual melting takes time, remember; note those stones in your filling magma channels - this causes confusion as people open floodgates built with non-proof mechanisms, and don't notice anything wrong until they check up on it a while later, as the mechanism survives the magma for a little while, so everything looks fine at the time), and you'll be left wondering how to recover that deconstructed steel floodgate.

[sneakey pete]

Yes, but magma doesn't self ignite things that are a few meters away from it. The wonderful fact that air has a low thermal conductivity and circulate helps with that. Or, well, at least with lava.

[anomaly]

the short answer is that if a mechanism attached to the structure is not magma proof, then the structure will un-build itself when in contact with magma.

[Wolfius]

the short answer is that if a mechanism attached to the structure is not magma proof, then the structure will un-build itself when in contact with magma.

Specificly, when it shares the same tile as magma - just to avoid confusion, I'll reiterate that being in a tile neighbouring magma, even if the structure is activly blocking the magma's flow and logicly is 'touching' it, it's still in a neighbouring tile and thus only heated to 'warm' - only tiles that actually contain magma are heated to 'BBQ', and thus suffer the destruction of non-magma-safe materials, so your floodgate's slate mechanism won't melt unless you actually open it.

[Noble Digger]

Lots of people already posted here but I've got a lot of experience with this through testing.

Block floors, walls, and fortifications aren't damaged by magma--ever. I've tested this with basic rock, obsidian, clear glass, and green glass. Wood blocks may catch fire if exposed to magma.

Doors are similiarly magma-tolerant, unless someone opens them. A rock door, for example, will prevent lava from flowing past it, but if someone opens or attempts to deconstruct the door, the lava will unbuild the structure and flow through as normal, eventually destroying the loose door.

Floodgates share the same rules as doors. Stationary ones are safe but if they are opened, they become vulnerable to magma. If a magma-safe floodgate is linked to a lever with a non-magma-safe mechanism, the structure will be unbuilt when the floodgate opens and comes in contact with magma.

On temperature, Bauxite is magma-proof due to its high melting point in the raws, which is also shared by iron and steel. This means that in the unmodded game, you can get by without bauxite for everything except mechanisms--all of your magma-contacting mechanisms need to be made of bauxite. Many people way, way overdo this and use 3 bauxite mechanisms to operate a single magma-safe floodgate. This is not necessary! The lever which operates the floodgate can be made of regular mechanisms (assuming you don't intend it to come into contact with magma, as it should be in a safe and dry control room somewhere!) and so can the mechanism which attaches to the lever. When you go to link up a building to trigger, the FIRST MECHANISM you choose will be linked to the building and the SECOND MECHANISM will be linked to the lever. My standard combo is an iron floodgate, bauxite mechanism, granite mechanism, granite lever.