Do tanks fill to the same level?

[pat]

Let's say I have some fluid running along a pipe. I fork it into two paths. One runs through a 50k tank, the other runs through a 100k tank. On the other end of the tanks, they join up again and the fluid continues on its way. Assuming all things equal (iron pipes, same lengths, etc., will the tanks always fill to about the same percentage level? That is, if the 100k tank is half full at 50k, will the 50k tank probably also be half full at 25k?

[Thryden]

Originally posted by pat:

Let's say I have some fluid running along a pipe. I fork it into two paths. One runs through a 50k tank, the other runs through a 100k tank. On the other end of the tanks, they join up again and the fluid continues on its way. Assuming all things equal (iron pipes, same lengths, etc., will the tanks always fill to about the same percentage level? That is, if the 100k tank is half full at 50k, will the 50k tank probably also be half full at 25k?

No offense, but would it be that hard to try out for yourself? Just do cheat mod and try it out.

That being said, I don't think that's how it would work. I've never tried it but I would think the tanks would fill at the same rate, unless you had a pump on one side. So if one has 25k the other would have 25k, until the smaller filled up then the bigger would start filling up at twice the rate.

[Ryan]

Yes they fill up to same percentage level.

[Overeagerdragon]

they END at the same fluid level but the intake tank WILL be filled first if you hook it up to 3 pumps (and all tanks are of equal size). May I ask why mess with different capacity tanks this way though?

So in your example; the bigger tank will be at 50K once the smaller is filled up (if you don't or have an equal amount of pumps transmitting the fluids) afer which the surpluss will fill the bigger tank to 100K.

I ONLY do this to build a slushing station...aka with Bob's+Angels you need pure water to hydro-refine ore so I build a big tanking hub with a 500K capacity that's hooked to my train network (transportng that water to my hydro-refineries) and using a pump with circuit network conditions I slush 50K of that to a smaller tank that allows my electrolisers to run. When the smaller tank is below 10% the condition is activated which has 3 pumps fill it up to 100% again after which the pumps shut off again untill the <10% condition is achieved again. I do that because if I don't either the electrolisers will rob my refineries of all the water OR (if the water just got hauled) my electrolisers will run dry.

[pat]

Originally posted by overeagerdragon:

they END at the same fluid level but the intake tank WILL be filled first if you hook it up to 3 pumps (and all tanks are of equal size). May I ask why mess with different capacity tanks this way though?

Ok, I actually just took some time and typed in what I'm trying to do, but once I was done and was proofreading it, I just knew that everyone was going to chime in and tell me how better to accomplish what I'm trying to do with their methods. I don't want to get into that. I just wanted an answer. Ryan gave it to me and now that I've got it set up, it appears that he's right.

[Warlord]

Originally posted by pat:

Originally posted by overeagerdragon:

they END at the same fluid level but the intake tank WILL be filled first if you hook it up to 3 pumps (and all tanks are of equal size). May I ask why mess with different capacity tanks this way though?

Ok, I actually just took some time and typed in what I'm trying to do, but once I was done and was proofreading it, I just knew that everyone was going to chime in and tell me how better to accomplish what I'm trying to do with their methods.

Yeah, sorry for that. I try to give out answers to their question as asked, rather than go with a "why would you do that?" reply. Sometimes the best way to ask a question is to give an EXAMPLE question that clearly defines the behavior you want to know about, rather than describe their entire setup and why this is how it has to be.

That being said, yeah, after some time both tanks will fill to the same percentage of capacity. Basically, think of storage tanks as just a really REALLY fat tube. If the pipes near it are half full, then the tanks themselves will be half full as well.

They may not fill up to that half-way point the same speed though. The bigger storage tank will take much much longer to even out, due to the way the game handles fluid balancing. Basically, it looks at each connected entity, and figures out how % full each is. If one has a higher % than the other, it then takes part of the higher percent entity and puts it into the other.

For example, a pipe that holds 10 and a tank that holds 100,000. If the pipe is 50% full and the tank is empty, it will take half of the difference between the percentages (25%) and put 25% of 10 units into the tank. Rinse, repeat a few thousand times until the tank is close to half, at which point half units of liquids are still flowing.

***I am not sure if liquids are ACTUALLY handled this way, but the way things behave is basically like this***

[impetus_maximus]

one thing to note about fluids. underground pipes count as a single length of pipe vs the multiple above ground standard pipes. if you are moving fluids long distances, it's best to use underground pipes for maximum flow.