Filling a loop of pipe

[E Man]

Ok, this is a really dumb question. I'm trying to build a steam turbine/aquatuner setup. There is a loop of pipe containing polluted water from the aquatuner. My dumb questions is, how do I fill this (currently empty) loop of pipe with polluted water? There are a variety of polluted water sources about, which I can pipe over. I'm just trying to figure out what the simplest method is to fill the pipe loop and I'm drawing a blank.

[chaney]

You can just build a section of pipe into the loop. That new "T" connection can fill the loop.

The source could be any convenient building that contains or can accept the water - the source building output will push the polluted water into the loop, and the Aquatuner will establish the flow direction for the loop. Connect your T to the supply and fill 'er up.

[E Man]

Thank you. :)

[Tseudonym]

Originally posted by chaney:

You can just build a section of pipe into the loop. That new "T" connection can fill the loop.

I should be noted that this method can overfill the loop, meaning the liquid won't flow. This can be avoided by using a bridge to send liquid into the loop from the supply line.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by ProDude:

Originally posted by chaney:

You can just build a section of pipe into the loop. That new "T" connection can fill the loop.

I should be noted that this method can overfill the loop, meaning the liquid won't flow. This can be avoided by using a bridge to send liquid into the loop from the supply line.

Using a bridge doesn't prevent overfilling. You need to either pay attention to it and cut it off before it overfills or you need to deconstruct and rebuild a pipe segment after it overfills to remove a packet of liquid so it's not overfilled any more.

[Xilo The Odd]

you can also set it up so that you got a sensor down the loop (about half way) connected to a shutoff so that when fluid is detected it'll sned a red signal, killing the intake. further, with the new additions you can put an auditory warning on it as well so it'll go off when this happens.

then just have a 2nd shutoff setup so you can enable it by hand if you ever want to drain the loop and put a new fluid in it.

[TVMAN]

Originally posted by gimmethegepgun:

Using a bridge doesn't prevent overfilling. You need to either pay attention to it and cut it off before it overfills or you need to deconstruct and rebuild a pipe segment after it overfills to remove a packet of liquid so it's not overfilled any more.

You don't even need to do that much. If you overfill a loop, just use a dupe with the plumbing skill to use the "empty contents" command on a section of pipe in the loop. They'll keep filling bottles until the liquid starts flowing again, at which point you can cancel it.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by gimmethegepgun:

Using a bridge doesn't prevent overfilling. You need to either pay attention to it and cut it off before it overfills or you need to deconstruct and rebuild a pipe segment after it overfills to remove a packet of liquid so it's not overfilled any more.

Using a bridge alone does not guarantee that you won't overfill, but using a bridge and placing it correctly does.

To prevent overfill count the number of bridges on the loop itself, then add 1 to that number. This is the minimum amount of tiles between the output of the aquatuner and the output of the bridge. If you are unsure the best is to bridge on just before the aquatuner input. That way you can't mess up. If you do it correctly the bridge cannot overfill the aquatuner loop but will fill until it flows perfectly with no gaps (to fill with no gaps the aquatuner needs to be running with no interruption for 1 loop cycle unless you placed the bridge on the minimum distance described above).

[chaney]

Wow, for a "really dumb question" this discussion has revealed a lot of complexity! Thanks for the good teaching.

Hedning, (or anyone, really) I'm interested in details of mechanics. The rule you state for filling bridge placement is very helpful. Can you point me to a resource that describes the mechanics in detail that lead to that result? I understand the most rudimentary pipe/building priority. I think of it compactly as buildings having priority to contain fluids over pipes, so that if a junction can feed into a building or a pipe, it goes to the building, and if a building and a pipe can feed into a single pipe, the feeding pipe will have priority. (I hope that's right.) That doesn't seem sufficient to generate the rule, but maybe I just didn't think it through enough. I think I read something about bridges not actually containing anything, rather transporting fluid from input to output, and that seems relevant, but I have not found a source for the full details of that kind of thing. Any resource on order of operations or function would be a great foundation.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by chaney:

Can you point me to a resource that describes the mechanics in detail that lead to that result?

Bridge priority is pretty simple:
Packets in bridge/machine will "give way".
Packets will go into bridge/machine first.
Packets exiting a bridge can merge with packets of the same material. Other machines cannot merge but needs completely empty exit pipes (unless changed recently).

Each bridge teleports packets while material is flowing, so they essentially store a packet when stopped, a packet that will need space to empty before the pipe can flow freely again.
The aquatuner takes one packet to "wind up" so that's why it needs 1 free space in addition to an empty exit pipe.

I don't have a link, but if you google "oni bridge priority" you should probably find something.

[chaney]

Thank you. I think I understand what you wrote. I'll do some more searching and thinking to try and figure out why that leads to the spacing requirement you described, a good exercise.

[Angelo Dante]

Don't forget a plumber can empty the fluid from a pipe segment without having to deconstruct. Less elaborate, but handy.