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[Naz]

I'm having a bit of an issue. I've built a massive water reactor to run my entire fort but I've hit something of a snag, it wont start. I've got a single pump hooked up to 40 water wheels linked by an axle system to ensure they're all oriented properly in the flow but they didnt start when I fired the pump up. Now that I've unhooked them from nearby machinery they seem to be operating like they're supposed to but the other problem is that 4 water wheels only seem to be producing 100 power...I'm stumped.

[Naz]

Sorry, guess I should provide some form of schematic. The P and the ^ are the pump showing which direction it's going, there's 1 tile and then a wall above that and the # are the walls to either side of the outlet for the pump. The o is a gear assembly and the other lines are axles. The * is the intake from the level below.
_________________

WWWW#^#WWWW
WWWW--P oWWWW
WWWW  * |WWWW
              |
WWWW    |WWWW
WWWW-ooWWWW
WWWW  |  WWWW
            |
WWWW  | WWWW
WWWW-o-WWWW
WWWW  |  WWWW
            |
WWWW  |  WWWW
WWWW-o-WWWW
WWWW  |  WWWW
            |
WWWW  | WWWW
WWWW-o-WWWW
WWWW    WWWW

[Uzu Bash]

Okay, I assume 'W' is water, since even a series of waterwheels wouldn't be 4x4. If it's going to generate power, where are you putting those?

EDIT: Nm that; it looks like 8 wheels per level, I guess you have someplace for water to splash back and that they're hanging over channels for water to run through. And I only see one pump.

If this is all built on one level, it looks like a horribly inefficient design.

[iceball3]

I think toady may have taken a few steps to reduce yhe effectivity of a PMM as i had a severe pain in the ass time setting one up myself. Try making the area of water around the water wheels to be closed off more.

[Naz]

actually the W is a waterwheel, each set of them is four wheels next to each other, connected by axles to the rest of the system. the water is the z level below what you see there.

[Uzu Bash]

Still, one pump with loads of connections, not very efficient. If you're cramming that many wheels on one z-level, you might as well line them up in front of the pump along a huge channel.

What's the level below it look like? Are you sure that pump isn't picking up the water that should be turning the wheels?

[Naz]

no the area below the system is just wide enough for all the wheels to sit above the flow with a walled path that runs under the center to force the water to go all the way to the back of the system before it can flow back up to the pump.

[Uzu Bash]

You probably have so much hooked up to the system that it's overloaded before it can start generating power. Try a breaker; replace the axle after the first series with a gear and disengage it before priming the pump. When the first pump picks up to full power, engage the gear and let it connect to the rest.

[gtmattz]

The problem is not the connections, the problem is that you are doing it wrong.

You have too large an area below the water wheels with just one pump providing movement of the water.  Tons of past experimentation has shown that generating flow is hit and miss, and the larger the area you are trying to make flow, the harder it gets.

What you really want to do is set up multiple 'cells' of the standard 2-wheel reactor design shown on the wiki.  Each cell works with a small contained amount of water and provides full flow beneath the water wheels.  This design ends up using more interconnecting hardware, but since all the water wheels are working at maximum efficiency it is not a big deal.

[Uzu Bash]

Well, if you're familiar with the experimentation, would this work if the wheels were in-line down a straight channel?

[gtmattz]

Well, if you're familiar with the experimentation, would this work if the wheels were in-line down a straight channel?

The orientation does not matter.  What matters is getting each wheel to have at least one tile of water which has the 'flow' tag beneath it.  Doing that with one huge chamber of water being circulated is iffy at best.  The v-shaped reactor that I linked to above does just that, however, and does it quite reliably.

I have spent hours upon hours experimenting with reactors, and the only thing I came up with that was even close to as reliable as the standard reactor on the wiki was a series of steps 3 deep over which I pumped water.  The water would cascade down each step and due to the fact the steps were only 3 tiles, the water would not fill to 7/7 so there was always at least one tile of water with flow under the wheels.  The only problem with that setup was that it ate all my FPS.  Trust me when I suggest you use the v-reactor, I know from personal experience that other designs just don't get the job done like the real thing.

[Uzu Bash]

I didn't think orientation was an issue, the question was whether a narrow in-line channel would provide the proper flow to power wheels, and that presupposes they're all on the same axis. I'm familiar with the v-shape design though, I've got a modified version working in a 22-pump stack, for water and power. Now interested in toying with new designs.

[gtmattz]

I didn't think orientation was an issue, the question was whether a narrow in-line channel would provide the proper flow to power wheels, and that presupposes they're all on the same axis.

Probably not, if you could manage to get the entire length of the channel to have between 4/7 and 6/7 water at all times then it might work, but good luck with that.

[Uzu Bash]

Assuming enough water, and the series split every four or five wheels with another pump to amplify flow, perhaps in a circular channel...

Can you see where I'm going with this? I would bet that it's already been tried, but I think I'll attempt it; a massive water accelerator. Add vertical bars at intervals, and there would be some collisions too; drop goblins and cats from chutes from above, and count the number of particles.

[Hyndis]

Here is my design for a massive water reactor. This one can produce 5200 units of power.

http://mkv25.net/dfma/poi-25986-reactorroom

And yes, that is correct. There are currently no waterwheels in the reactor room. I disliked the color of the waterwheels, and so ordered them to be removed so ones of a different color could be made. But you can see where the waterwheels would be installed.