How do pipe junctions work?

[Hedning]

Sometimes two sources can merge into one with no problem. Sometimes they can't and both will just stop at the junction. What are the rules?

[mikek]

you can't create loops. follow the in and output ( green and white)
if you want to connect 2 pipes use a bridge to connect to the main pipe

[Misaki]

It was broken since early alpha. What else is broken is electrical wiring. Not sure about automation wiring.

I think liquid flow speed was divided by 2 for each connection before (even if you don't use that much and want majority of it to go trough as fast as possible). So you probably better off with different circuits for everything.

[Elidrin]

If you have 2 sources and 1 outlet you will never have a problem. 2+ sources in a tree will very often cause problems. This is because at somepoint the 2 sources will work against each other. The use of bridges and valves will minimize this, and can be used to build loops.

2 different gases/liquids can cause pipes to develope some issues due to the fact they don't mix, namely near filters.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by mikek:

you can't create loops. follow the in and output ( green and white)
if you want to connect 2 pipes use a bridge to connect to the main pipe

Originally posted by Elidrin:

If you have 2 sources and 1 outlet you will never have a problem.

I don't have any loops. In this case I have a straight line with consumer-provider-consumer-provider:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1434429836
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1434438653

Pipe from the pump is blocking water from flowing in from the bottom. It pushes all the water down to the carbon scrubber, past the sieve, even when the pump is turned off and even though the scrubber isn't using much.

I will add a bridge to make it unidirectional, but I would still like to know why the carbon scrubber is getting all of it and the electrolyzer can't get any when the supply is good enough for both and more.

Also in a junction which source gets priority?

[SKull]

Well, assuming that you haven't made any mistakes with them, each junction splits the water flow. A pipe with four places to go will end up with a quarter of the liquid going each way. Too many though and your pump won't be able to move the water.

If there is backflow, that is almost always because of a mistake during construction or cropping, which has been an issue in the past sometimes. Not so much in the last few updates though, so usually a mistake either with pump conflict ot bridges placed the wrong way. Keep it simple from the start, and only lay one pipe at a time. And be careful when laying new pipes next to old ones, so you don't accidentally hokk the wrong pipes together.

[mikek]

first picture did you use 2 pumps?
if yes: then they work against each other to fill the electrolizer

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/956336058810413387/79C9340CC6E026DD9AA50FF1ABA87750A3F3809F/

example: main pipes go first, so i connected the polluted water to clean water with main pipe because i want to use that first. the clean water connected it with a bridge so that comes 2nd. so if the sieve water doesnt flow the clean water tank with take over

[Hedning]

Originally posted by mikek:

first picture did you use 2 pumps?
if yes: then they work against each other to fill the electrolizer

No, unless you count the sieve as a pump. When the pump is active it will fill the electrolyzer, but when it is shut off it will still prevent the sieve from filling the electrolyzer (as in the picture).

[mikek]

Originally posted by Hedning:

Originally posted by mikek:

first picture did you use 2 pumps?
if yes: then they work against each other to fill the electrolizer

No, unless you count the sieve as a pump. When the pump is active it will fill the electrolyzer, but when it is shut off it will still prevent the sieve from filling the electrolyzer (as in the picture).

under the sieve is a pump so yes.

in your setup you got power(pumping water) from 2 sides.
try and set the pipes again with the help of my picture so you only have 1 pipe going into the electrolizer

[Hedning]

The way I solved it was to remove the connection from the top pump. I also tried putting in a bridge somewhere on the way up from the sieve which worked fine. I was just curious why it happened.

It seems pipes can only be one way. I wonder if that is actually a rule or if pipes can sometimes be two way.

It's good to know that a bridge can be used to set priority, but when not using a bridge what are the priority rules or is it always 50-50?

[The Queen Salis]

use many pipe bridges to direct your liquid how you imagine it should flow

[Malibloo]

Generally, if you're making a junction; to either merge or split, and are not using pipe bridges, things will very likely not go smoothly.

Here's a few examples on how to cleverly use pipe bridges:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1435174748

The rule of thumb is the more pipe bridges you use, the better.

Few more tips:
Pipe bridges are ideal to put at the beginning and end of a long path, so you can just replace them by pipe bridges facing the other way, in case you need to empty a long pipe, or redirect anything.

Pipe bridges only 'teleport' the content, it will never hold anything, which allows you to remove them without making any messes. (Just make sure to only remove the bridge, and not the pipes they connect to.)

Due to the fact that pipe bridges teleport, they technically are faster than normal pipes. Seeing they literally skip a single tile.

As far as I'm aware, due to the teleporting, there's no heat exchange between the bridge and the content. Allowing you to make cheaper insulated abyssalite piping by continuously using bridges.