Piping?

[wonderbread]

I have all sorts of piping set up yet for some reason sometimes when I add on new stuff that needs water it'll stop supplying all the bathrooms with water so then there's an issue, is it cause I'm bad at piping or just an issue and I should just have dedicated pipe systems?

[SamuraiJones]

piping is confusing sometimes... it used to be better but as they've optimized it's gotten lower processor load, but the water packets have started going in weird direction.

The trick is that fluids must always flow in the same direction through pipes. fluids try to flow from every input to every output... so if there's a chunk of pipe with both on both sides, water will go back and forth.

Also, don't ever have fluid outputs on pipes that other fluids flow through. An output will often block the pipe, so having a dedicated output pipe and a Y works much better.

That's not super clear I realize... feel free to send a screenie and we can look at your specific problem.

[wonderbread]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1794868313

[wonderbread]

It does sorta look like chaos but that may also be because I'm ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up oxygen too rn lol

[SamuraiJones]

psh, that's nuthin for messy. You shoulda seen my base back before they had ice coolers... had coolant lines woven through everywhere.

You got water coming up, and then it's in the floor and ceiling of your medical room. But then you've got pipes taking it up on the left and right of the medical room. I'm guessing that's gonna confuse the heck out of the water. Try taking one of those out.

[cainboy]

You have multiple outputs attached to multiple inputs, so everything is getting confused.
everytime there is a split in direction, with inputs down the line, the water will split up proportionately: IE: 50% this pipe, 50% that pipe.
when you have multiple outputs, they start pushing the liquids as well.

imo: it looks like the water looped around and is all trying to go into the lowest lavatory, and since water cant move past water, it is blocking everything.

As Samurai Jones mentioned, try to have the liquid only move in 1 direction.
you can also use bridges to seperate lines for priority. If the water line goes ONLY goes to a bridge*(first), it will treat that as the only input, even if the line keeps going, so the bridge will take the water first 1 way, and until that path is full/blocked off, water wont keep going through. This forces water to only move 1 way, despite having multiple end destinations.

I'll try to see if i got a pic of a bathroom set up I made.


Edit: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1629660004

This is a bathroom set up I made for a friend to try to explain. *(some time ago, but it still would work)

[wonderbread]

Thanks guys, I'll work on that soon, also cainboy how did you get that water into your own tile system like that did you just pump it in from somewhere?

[SamuraiJones]

Saw some other issues. I think I'm saying the same thing cain's saying.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1794900606

[cainboy]

Originally posted by potatogamer:

Thanks guys, I'll work on that soon, also cainboy how did you get that water into your own tile system like that did you just pump it in from somewhere?

The thing at the bottom is a pump, it pumped water into the inputs with pipes designated with white, the outputs all feed into the sieve designated with yellow (radiant), and the filtered water is then pumped back into the circuit with orange *(insulated). I used diff pipes to just section off the system to better explain it.
A couple other things:
I used a bride from the pump to the circuit so that after the circuit is full, the bridge cannot load more water into it, meaning the pump is no longer needed, and i used a bridge in the recycled seciton, so that after that part is backed up with water, excess water is sent to the vent to be put back into the world.

Water ONLY flows counter clockwise in my system, because I have bridges that force 1 direction. for the most part. Water may split to get to the inputs, but they fill before the next dupes need to use it, so that little bit of confusion causes no problems... its also basically a closed system that feeds itself. *(I later came up with ways to use the excess water created, but you were just wondering about piping mechanics)

[Foxtopus]

There's a nice little organization trick that should sort out most of this for you: every time your pipe splits to go to multiple inputs, use a pipe bridge to force one-way flow. You can have lots of outputs on the same line, but they should always be downstream from every input.

So coming from the pump, you'd remove the pipe 2 sections away from your electrolyzer and bridge over that gap. Output of the bridge is right below the machine so packets of water can go up or they can go to the right. When you get up a little further and have two different paths to the toilets you use another bridge there (or just remove the side that doesn't have water in it anyway.)
Next up you've got the sickbay toilet, so you wanna have a bridge just before that.

Next up you've got the bathroom with lots of machines. Since these are all inputs and they don't run terribly fast you can just do one bridge before the whole bathroom, and your direction in the pipes shouldn't have any problems.

That leaves your sieve water tank. I don't see a great way to make that work with the pipes you have now. You probably want that water to be able to go to the electrolyzer, so I'd actually tear out a bunch of pipes and the storage, and then move the storage just under the electrolyzer. You could have the pipes from that hook into the pipes coming from the pump, before the first bridge, and everything would be smooth and all the pipes would be one-way flow. However, the heat from the sieve would eventually make that pool of water hotter, so you'd need some other water source if you ever want to grow plants off of it (or a cooling solution.)

Bonus: If you take out another pipe and have the pump bridge onto the line coming out of your sieve storage, then the water will always come from the sieve first. That line will have to empty before the pump adds water to the line. This works in the opposite order if you have the input of a bridge on the line- water will always go through the input first, with only a backed up line continuing down the pipes.

[wonderbread]

Thanks y'all, now I just need to fix my lack of power and ventilation management everything is overpressurized rip, I'm trying to get multiple gas filters all over the place for random stuff, also whats all the automation used for, I may not be far enough but I don't really see a reason for most of it

[cainboy]

Originally posted by potatogamer:

Thanks y'all, now I just need to fix my lack of power and ventilation management everything is overpressurized rip, I'm trying to get multiple gas filters all over the place for random stuff, also whats all the automation used for, I may not be far enough but I don't really see a reason for most of it

Automation is used to automate things. obv right? :)
but in plain terms, it allows you to control what happens, when it happens, how it happens, why it happens etc.
If used properly it is the STRONGEST benefit to your survival.

Coal generators eating up coal even if you dont need power? automation can stop them, meaning you never have to waste resources or waste power*(basically)

Critters are feeling too cramped while ranching? Automation can keep things clean and ready.

Dont want to send a dupe across the map to deliver something? Automation has that covered too.

Dont want to pump a certain liquid/gas unnecessarily? Automate it so that it only pumps if its submerged, or automate valves to send certain gases/liquids elsewhere. *(why this instead of filters you ask? Average cost of an automation filtering is roughly 5~15w, filters are 120w.)

Basically; If you want to do ANYTHING, or Everything you can think of, Automation can help you do that.

[madcow]

https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/94932-a-guide-to-bridges-and-how-they-help-you-achieve-efficiency-and-flow/

[Prometheus]

The easiest automation to use and one with extreme early value is the smart battery. It has a built in switch that turns things on and off based on power thresholds in the battery. As Cainboy said, hook it to your coal generators and it'll make your coal last dramatically longer.

Later automation makes doing certain things possible. You'll be using temperature sensors the most because you'll need liquids within certain temperature ranges for a variety of things.

About piping and vents. Dedicated lines per purpose are the way to go, even if they use the same material. You might be hesitant to set up multiple pumps but they only draw power when in use. Very few things consume non-stop liquid inputs. Also if you want a liquid to travel a constant loop use one of the liquid storage buildings. You only need a pump to insert the liquid into the line initially. After that the storage's output will serve to keep things flowing.