Aluminum factory backing up

[wileZcoyote]

My aluminum factory is set to output 1200 aluminum ingot per minute using the sloppy aluminum alternate recipe. My first stage of refineries require 1000m of water. I have my intake valve limited to 400m while i reclaim 600m from the second stage refineries. My return path includes and industrial storage tank that is elevated to prevent back flow into it. I'm able to get it to run for a while before the reclamation line fills up and clogs aluminum scrap production. I'm confused about why this happens because I'm not introducing more water into the system than it needs.

I can go flush the system and everything restarts just fine but I'd like this to be fully autonomous. Is it possible to run a reclamation line like this or should I dump my water into a coal power plant?

The rest of the line is set to run 100% efficient and has sinks for when casings, sheets and battery storage fills up.

(My intake water and reclamation water are on different loops. 2 refineries are fed from the intake and 3 are fed from the reclaimed water.)

[Akarin]

I have all the water connected into one single loop i then build the necessary fresh water source and math out how much water the system needs and how much it will produce then i purposely set it to introduce slightly less water then the system requires creating a small inefficiency that prevents aluminum from ever shutting down.

TL;DR you want these systems to be slightly inefficient because thats how you automate them.

[wileZcoyote]

Interesting...I'll limit my intake valve then. Thanks for the suggestion.