Oil pump: "The source is not sending resource"

[tivaber]

I'm a beginner and love the game, but I do not understand what is causing this problem:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1879396822

The rig is working ok, the pipeline is connected correctly, so why does the pump say "The source is not sending resource"?

[Comrade Joe]

It seems to me that your pipeline connection is rigged in the opposite direction.
It's set up to send oil *from* the reservoir *to* the pump :P

[thibaulthc]

i think all is set up correctly; just that the oil rigs send oil every few seconds, and between those this message always shows up :/
I guess your tank is filling up ?

[archiver213]

input goes from rigs to pumps to storage then to refinery opposite from output

[tivaber]

Thanks a lot for your answers!

The pipeline connection is correct indeed, I verified a 3rd time.
Also, the error message appears all the time, not only now and then.

In the meantime I switched off the pump. Now I looked again and the internal storage of the rig was completely full. I switched on the connected pump and within 5 seconds (!) it emptied the internal storage of this rig (showing "working ok" status during these 5 seconds) and then it switched permanently back to "Source is not sending resource".
It remains a mystery to me.

BTW, this rig produces 5,9 t, the other ones which are connected to the tank (not connected directly to a pump) produce 5.6 t. So IMHO the rig in question surely is not a weak one.
A pump is needed in order to establish longer pipe distances, so I still don't understand why it remains idle and displays this strange error message most of the time?

[Jolie Rouge]

It's partially a bug and partially a capacity thing. The average maximum flow a pump can provide is around 10 tons per second, the rig is pumping 5.9 tons per day. You would have to connect a lot of rigs and pumps to a central pipeline to reach this amount.
Connect three rigs to one pump and the pump to a storage tank, it will work out okay, but if you let's say have four or five pumps betweent the three-in pump and the storage tank, then it will start to give erratic values.

[tivaber]

Originally posted by Jolie Rouge:

The average maximum flow a pump can provide is around 10 tons per second, the rig is pumping 5.9 tons per day.

Thanks a lot for this explanation! So it seems at the moment this error message is a 'normal' effect when being obliged to use a pump simply in order to establish 1 pipeline which needs to be a little longer. Very strange and confusing, but ok, it's still EA. (And otherwise very nice :-)

[Lord Bludgeon]

So it's working? Doesn't seem like it's filling the tanks. My tanks coming out of the refinery are filling nicely, but I have 4 rigs hooked to 2 splitter pumps to two tanks and my oil seems to stay at @ .05. I even added a rig (I had 3 to start with) ... but you're saying the rigs volume won't keep up with the pumps demand, correct? I'd like to paint this problem solved so i can move on to trains... I'm at the point I have more fuel and lumber than I can ship! In fact, I'd love to see ships, and I just read on Trello that they are in work!!!

[Lord Bludgeon]

Originally posted by tivaber:

Thanks a lot for this explanation! So it seems at the moment this error message is a 'normal' effect when being obliged to use a pump simply in order to establish 1 pipeline which needs to be a little longer. Very strange and confusing, but ok, it's still EA. (And otherwise very nice :-)

Wait... so if the line is short enough (like @450m) I don't need a pump? I kinda didn't think so, but would like to verify?

[TheAmishStig]

Because pumps are involved, it gets a little more complicated.

In a pump-heavy system, unless you can create material faster than the pumps can pump, the material will get sucked away just as fast as it can be produced and the buildings on the 'input' side of any given pump will stay empty. 0.05 is a combination of rounding and the pump's minimum increment.

To confirm it's working, check the building after the last pump in the chain. If it's getting material, the system is working.

---------------------

No pipe connection "needs" a pump...if the run is short enough you could go well -> refinery if you really wanted to. It's not advisable because an oil well puts out either 7 tons per shift [3 shifts in a day] or 7 tons per day, and the refinery at max output sucks down 250 tons of oil per shift [750 tons per day], but it can be done. But they are useful for the following things:

- Extending a run. Just like with Minecraft Repeaters, you can use pumps [and conveyor engines] to break a "longer than allowed" run up into shorter pieces.

- Moving material forward. I use them sparingly...mostly to keep power plants topped up, because "the power plant is passively drawing from outside storage, and the outside storage caught fire, so now the power went out too" is a really, really, really lousy situation.

Personally, the 'load balancing' rule that drives a lot of people to use pumps where they are't strictly necessary doesn't bother me [load balancing: for any given load or unload action, as a generalization the least full option gets material, the most full option gives material...and both are by percentage not tonnage], I use the lack of material being 'pushed forward' as a 'Peak Hold Gauge' and it helps me find bottlenecks in my system.

For example: if I have a farm attached to a silo, the silo attached to a distillery, and I come back after a while to see the farm's internal storage at 90% full...I know that at some point that production chain got so backed up the silo also hit 90% full. Maybe the distillery struggled for workers, causing it to not consume crops as fast. Maybe the farm had awful timing and a bunch of crops came ready for harvest all at once. Maybe the trucks / trains carrying alcohol away got stuck in traffic and the distillery stopped producing because its output was full. Seeing the 'peak hold' on the farm tells me that something is happening, and that I should probably investigate.