Print

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

[Afterburner]

I have an idea, but I dunno if it will work.

I am currently playing on a saltwater map.  I will be using screw pumps for desalination. 

If I were to set things up so that the desalted water were to fall a couple of Z-levels into a cistern, would the cistern eventually overflow?

[gtmattz]

The water will attempt to fill up to the level at which the pump outputs, so if you have no means of drainage or some way to reset the pressure (diagonal passage, screw pump) then yes, it will flood.

[Ampersand]

The way to deal with this is to have the pumps either dwarf powered, or activated by a lever so that you can turn it off and on at will, in order to prevent overflow, that is if you're really set on the architectural design. Otherwise, if you want it to run constantly, the screw pumps must be on the same level as the maximum height of the water. Think of it like this. If in real life, the design would have water gushing out somewhere, it's probably a bad idea.

[Thexor]

Water is shockingly-realistic in DF. I say shockingly because I've never seen another game that attempts (and succeeds!) to simulate water quantity, water pressure, and so on.


So yes, water will flood the cistern, given enough time and assuming that your waterfall's origin is above the edge of the cistern. The solution would be to have an outflow of some kind - pump some water into a bottomless chasm, or back into the ocean, or whatever. Assuming inflow == outflow, you'll never get flooding and can run the system perpetually.

Then, you make sure your cistern will have some water in it - make the outflow valve somewhat above the bottom of the cistern, so the base of the cistern will fill up before water flows out - and set up a well on top. Volia - a nice waterfall, and a freshwater well drawing from it!

[Quatch]

Not sure if this applies to you, but watch out for saline aquifers, as I recall (perhaps incorrectly) water falling through an aquifer layer (even if it has been dammed and drained) will still revert to saline.

[Shoku]

I really prefer to just have my waterfalls come from closed water supplies. Flowing water slows down forts anyway.

[Rhenaya]

how to offset the pressure with pumps:

http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-4692-axeauraofangels

go down until you see the 7/7 of the magma, then follow the right pipe down to the bottom. this is my cistern in construction, which is intended to be offset the pressure via the pumps, of course its nore ready but maybe you get the idea. the pump on the left is just to provide power as "wall" to the other 4 pumps (abvoe the gear/axle should be walls or just 3 more pumps)