Plumbing

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b42 version

Plumbing Mod

This mod lets you build a network of pipes to obtain water or fuel for various needs. You can transport water from rivers, lakes, wells, rain collectors and deliver it directly to barrels, connect whole houses to restore water after shutdown and also to irrigate farms. You can also transport fuel from gas stations to metal barrels.

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It is OK to add this mod in the middle of the game. It works for single and multiplayer games.

How does this work

Pumps

Every network must have at least one pump. Pumps are the only means of moving the water of fuel. In particular, this means, that the liquid will not move from barrels to anywhere else without a pump

Building a pump

To build a pump, you need to access the "Plumbing" menu from the main context menu. The menu will be accessible once you have read Metalworking Magazine vol 2.

Pumps must be build next to water or fuel sources. The only water sources pump can work with are: a water tile (lake or river), a well or a rain collector barrel. Fuel sources are gas pumps.

Once you have built the pump, select "Attach water source" or "Attach fuel source". Water tiles (lakes, rivers) will provide with tainted water, wells with fresh water.

Now you can click "Pump info" to see details about the pump.

Powering the pump

In order to function, the pump needs electricity. You can use a power generator, but Immersive Solar Arrays mod will also work. Global power before blackout will not work. A running pump will consume 0.09L/h of fuel. When you open "Generator info" the pump will be listed as "Other". Click "Turn on" to start the pump.

Pump efficiency

The pump you built, will have a starting efficiency depending on you metalworking skill. You will get 10% of efficiency for every skill level. Pump efficiency will very slowly decrease over time, lowering the volume of liquid pumped. 100% efficiency is 12L/10 mins. Pumps below 20% will be additionally susceptible to emergency stops or in rare cases will start fire. Never build pumps close to your base! A 100% healthy pump needs several months to wear out completely. Repair the pump to regain the efficiency.

Water filtering

By default, a pump provides with tainted water. If you want the pump to deliver drinkable water, you can click "Add Charcoal Filter" if you have charcoal in your inventory. Water filter will be slowly used over time. Use pump info to see the current status of the filter. Water is filtered as long the status of the filter is above 0%. When pumping fuel, filters do not play any role.

Collectors

Collectors are objects that have the ability of storing liquids. This mod has an explicit list of in-game vanilla object that are recognized as water collectors. This list includes small and big rain collector barrels, sinks, baths, toilets and washing machines. To collect fuel, build a Fuel Tank. To fill the collector a pipe must reach to it.

Connecting Buildings

If the pipe reaches edge of the building, then all water collectors on every level of that building will be filled. The water will fill collectors one by one until full, not paralelly. Self-built houses cannot be connected. Each building must be connected individually, because building are ends of the network and will not relay water further. "Plumb" option is not necessary at all. If you pump tainted water, it will also be tainted in the sinks.

Pipes

Pipes are the only means of transportation liquid from pumps to collectors. Pipes must be placed in a consecutive manner forming a pipeline. No other objects will relay liquid. In particular, this means, that if there is a barrel between the pipes, if will receive the water, but it will not relay it any further. Similarly a connected building is the end of the network and can't relay water to other structures.

Building pipes

To build a pipe, use the "Plumbing" menu again.

The pipes you place will adjust visually automatically. The first pipe will be a cross, but the next one you place next to it will fix both pipes. You can build a simple network, or network with multiple forks, you can even make a loop but then you computer may explode.

Pipes can be built on multiple floors. Check the screenshot gallery how to achieve this. Just place the pipes in the shown order.

If you build a pipe close to a collector object, the pipe should snap to it correctly. If that does not happen it means that the object is not recognized as a collector.

To remove a pipe click "Remove Pipe", you will get you pipe item back.

Water movement

If the pump is on, and the pipes are connected to it, liquid will start flowing. Every in-game 10 minutes, liquid will be transported to the end(s) of the network.

If you networks forks, the liquid amount will be split. The split may be unequal in certain situations. For example if there are 13 units of water to be split across 2 pipes, one will receive 6 units, and the other will get 7 units. If there are too many consecutive splits, some pipes will not receive liquid at all, that happens when there is only 1 unit of liquid that needs to be split.

You network can split liquid, but also join streams from multiple pipelines. Note, that the pipe however has a maximum throughput that is equal to the amount of five 100% efficient pumps. Joining streams strategy is effective if you want to transport large amount of liquid from multiple pumps using one shared pipeline.

If you mix gasoline and water in one network, the network will not work.

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