Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[herpderp]

so i figured i'd post this in its own thread. i'm building a waterfall powered by a waterwheel perpetual motion machine. both the screw pump stack and the PPM draw from the same reservoir(I don't have enough space to do otherwise). but then the pump stack was causing flooding on the upper floors. i figured out that the water pressure powering the waterwheel was the culprit. so i redesigned it like this:

reservoir

Code: [Select]

wwwwwww
w~~~~~w
w~~~~~w
w~www~w
ww~~~~w
wwwwwww

w=wall
~=water
up one level: (sans axles/assemblies)

Code: [Select]

...S...
...s.c.
...c.s.
.....Sw
..XXX.w
...wwww

s=pump input
S=pump output
c=channel
XXX=waterwheel

northern screw pump is the bottom of the pump stack. the southern pump pushes water into the narrow part of the reservoir, which creates pressure, which powers the waterwheel, which powers both pumps. then the water flows through the diagonal tile, killing the pressure, rendering it safe for the pump stack to use. that's what's supposed to happen anyway. but no, i'm still getting the same flooding i was before. what gives?

[Malicus]

Screw pumps reset water pressure to the level to which they pump.  You can't reset water's pressure to somewhere below where it actually is.  ...what is this pump stack used for, anyway?

[herpderp]

I'm not sure if i understand what you're saying... but i'm not trying to reset the water pressure "below where it actually is", the southern screw pump pushes water into the open space the right side of the waterwheel is built on(maybe i should have mentioned that), so the water falls into the narrow part of the reservoir, its pressure powers the waterwheel, then the diagonal tile neutralizes the water pressure.

and i already said, it's for a waterfall. the flooding happens when the water falls down to the reservoir. like too much water is falling for the channels that lead down there to handle.

[DeathOfRats]

If you have a pump stack, the water that comes out of it will be pressurized to whatever level the top of the stack is at. So it doesn't matter what you do with the input, it's the output that matters.

I'm also surprised about two things with this setup: a. That the waterwheel level isn't flooding slightly and b. That the waterwheel actually produces power.

I think I understand most of it now, but I've got a few questions about your design: The output for the waterfall drops straight into the reservoir shown in the first diagram, right? And in what level does the flooding occur? Can you post a diagram of that level, too?

I'll say that your design has at least one flaw: pressure doesn't just spread in one direction, so even though there's a diagonal tile in one side of the pump, as long as there's an open way under the pump, the whole water mass is going to be pressurized at r+1 (r being the reservoir level). Of course that only matters if the water level for the reservoir is at or near 7/7. Otherwise you'll just have some minor flooding on r+1 that won't affect anything.

[Malicus]

Depressurizing the water and then pumping it won't cause it to not be pressurized after it is pumped.  Pumping pressurizes liquids to the level they are being pumped to.

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure I understand your diagram.  Where does the pump stack take the water, and where does it fall?  If it falls back into the channel it was pumped from, try widening the channel one tile to the east and west.