40d Talk:Water wheel

Perpetual motion machine

I've not used waterwheels yet, so I'm unsure if this is the case, but couldn't you, theoretically, set up a perpetual motion machine using a waterwheel and a screw pump?

The article contradicts itself, it says on the first line "in" a flow, but the next line refers to a flow underneath, which is correct? Matryx 17:34, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

A perpetual motion device is easy enough to setup once you have an understanding of screwpumps and power. I currently have a water wheel placed between two underground resevoirs that runs a mill and pumps water from the lower tank to the higher one. Its very energy efficient aswell. Three axles, a gear, the mill and the pump only draw 40 power leaving me 60 for other devices.

I'll try get up screenshots of it or maybe a tidier one later --Lucid 19:58, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

edit comments

Someone removed my edit, but the water wheel actually only requires one square of water underneath it, not three. - Sludge Man

We could really use better pictures. The tileset in these screenshots is terrible, (lets use the default one) and they are very unclear. I do not understand how to build a working waterwheel after looking at this page.

Perpetual motion again

I removed the unclear example of a perpetual motion machine with a forum link to much clearer designs. We still need clear pictures and elaboration of the method of construction. I'll get around to it once I understand it myself, if no one beats me to it. --Turgid Bolk 15:48, 5 November 2007 (EST)

Sorry about the tilesets but I didn't think anyone would mind my custom one considering the only noticibly difference is the pump which looks like 2 barrels.

Although my screenshots were specifically for a perpetual motion machine which is why they lacked indepth wheel and pump construction. I was hoping to create a video or some sort of tutorial to add in the construction section which dealt with creating waterwheels for someone who has absolutely no idea of any of the mechanics.

Also how reliable are the new designs? I checked out that link and I previously toyed with designs similar to those and found them to be excellent power generators but not true perpetual motion machines, they all lost power intermittedly for varying lengths of time. --Lucid 18:30, 5 November 2007 (EST)

Perpendicular to water flow

Strange as it may sound, water wheels do 'not' need to be parallel to the water flow direction to work. VengefulDonut 16:31, 23 November 2007 (EST)

This is as in real life - you can build a less efficient water wheel by putting the "buckets" at an angle - and indeed might put the "buckets" on a 360 degree pivot for some purposes.GarrieIrons 07:21, 8 January 2008 (EST)

Water Flow Needed?

Actually there is no need for water flow at all. A water wheel seems to generate power even if it is built to a water body with no current (no "entry" or "exit" points). So basically the water wheel just needs to touch water and that's it. This is what I've noticed when confining a canal with floodgates at both ends. --Flaa 07:47, 22 April 2008 (EDT)

This seems to have changed in a recent version. In previous versions you just had to connect a canal to a brook and the whole canal would count as 'flowing' even when nothing was moving. In my latest game this hasn't worked. So it's either changed, or the fact that I tried a 4-tile wide canal has stopped it working. --Juckto 18:22, 10 May 2008 (EDT)

Powering a Water Wheel

It seems that you can connect a Water Wheel to a Windmill, or other power source and cause it to spin - is there a purpose to doing this? can you move water along channels this way? What are the benefits? --SeiferTim 12:47, 12 March 2008 (EDT)

I think that it's because water wheels use power to run. Hence, they produce 100 power by themselves, but end up using 10 to spin, making the net power output only 90. Therefore, most likely the windmills provide that 10 power to the waterwheel. I don't think it does anything, but it does look cool.

--Umiman 05:34, 27 May 2008 (EDT)

Verify Carpenter

Does the water wheel require carpentry to build?--Richards 04:11, 21 April 2008 (EDT)

Yep--Dorten 04:15, 21 April 2008 (EDT)

Thanks Dorten.--Richards 04:26, 21 April 2008 (EDT)

Minimum water level

What is the minimum water level and flow required to power a waterwheel? --Sphexx 16:48, 27 May 2008 (EDT)

1/7 water Hight. Hoborobo 04:59, 8 June 2008 (EDT)-

That doesn't sound correct to me... Juckto 20:33, 14 June 2008 (EDT)

Definition of "flow"?

The article states that waterwheels need flow under them, but how exactly does the game calculate this?

I was thinking that it means any water changing depth below it, but that would rule out building on a river/ocean full of 7/7 tiles. Will a waterwheel work on top of water full to the brim but supposedly "flowing" (i.e. ocean, full river)? G-Flex 8 June 2008 (EDT)

I just redirected a river to run through my fortress and then back out again. As my channel was filling up it provided NO power. However, once the water filled the spaces at the edge of the map (the OUT point of the original river), my waterwheels suddenly gained power. It seems that flow takes place either a) when the depth of the water is shifting around or b) when the tile is defined as a river. Rivers seem to be defined as any body of water that is connected to both the in and out points on a river. Lymojo 22:04, 6 May 2009 (UTC)Lymojo

I believe that right now a waterwheel will provide power as long as there is at least 4/7 water depth below it, or at least that is what has been the case in my experience, as I don't think a dead end channel would really provide any water flow yet a waterwheel will still provide power if place over one. --Elvang 04:15, 8 June 2008 (EDT)

Are you sure, though? Juckto (above) seems to believe the state of affairs is a bit more complicated. I guess I can just test it out for myself at some point. G-Flex 04:28, 8 June 2008 (EDT)

I'm sure about the minimum being 4/7, never had a waterwheel that would work below that level. Maybe it counts the water as flowing if the water depth changes during x ticks? If thats the case then a closed system would work unless you manage to get all the tiles at the same depth. I doubt the game uses a system much more complicated than that, as it would cause incredible lag checking each tile for depth, direction of flow, speed of flow, and path of least resistance. Not to mention factoring in water pressure and evaporation. Additionally, waterwheels seem to work no matter what their orientation is to the water. --Elvang 04:37, 8 June 2008 (EDT)

Hrm, yeah, it seems like you need change of depth for it to count as "flow". Putting in the ocean just don't work.G-Flex 04:23, 16 June 2008 (EDT)

Change of depth not needed. Putting it in a full river works. --Savok 22:47, 20 July 2008 (EDT)

I believe to have found the key to it: I placed three waterwheels in the bed of a drained underground river; the first one with its outer tiles on the riverbed, the second one hanging in a channel of three tiles, the third one with its outer tiles on top of two constructed walls, which I constructed in a channel in the riverbed, i.e. on rough stone-block floor.

So I built them on top of this:

 1.     2.     3.  (  4. )
rrr    rrr    rrr  ( fff )
rrr    r_r    rfr  ( f_f )    r=river-tile
r_r    r_r    r_r  ( f_f )    f=rough floor (top of constructed wall)
rrr    r_r    rfr  ( f_f )    _=open space (channeled underneath)
rrr    rrr    rrr  ( fff )

When I let the water in again, only the second one was powered, even when I interrupted the flow again. (As I the water flew out, it still turned at water level 1. That seems to be the minimum level indeed.)^[Verify] So the generation of power seemed to depend on the underground you build them in, not on anything like flow. Then, to verify my theory that you need river-tiles around waterwheels to make them work, I built a fourth one upstream, which was surrounded by floor-tiles. This one, however, streched all across the river, and so divided it into a lower part (with the three waterwheels in it) and an upper part. In the lower part, no waterwheel worked anymore, as I built one of the second type in the upper part of the river, it worked again!

Therefore, I suppose waterwheels must be surrounded (at least partially?)^[Verify] by river-tiles, which additionally must not be disconnected from the source of the river. --Doub 12:25, 4 September 2008 (EDT)

Construction Key?

The construction area needs a key. I can't figure out what the O is supposed to be, and I only use the ASCII version of DF.--Rusty Mcloon 11:19, 18 July 2008 (EDT)

It is a vertical axle. You should know, since you play the pseudo-ASCII version. --Savok 22:47, 20 July 2008 (EDT)

Two Quick Questions...

would water wheels be powered by water falling down a Z axis onto a waterwheel?

can a waterwheel be used in magma or would it burn?

--Althalus 10:05, 9 August 2008 (EDT)

Water wheels need to be placed in a channel with water to be powered. AFAIK the channel doesn't have to be any longer than the water wheel, doesn't need water coming in nor going out. The game isn't clever enough yet... (shhh!)

I think the water has to be depth:3.

Water wheels have to be made of wood. Any machine that has magma flow through it, if it isn't made of magma-safe material, will burn/melt. You might get a bit of power for a short time but the water wheel would burn (assuming temperature is turned on which it is by default).

To sign your name properly use the signature button on the toolbar or type "~" four times: ~~~~ GarrieIrons 21:26, 8 August 2008 (EDT)

Waterwheels may not be magma-safe, but the actual structure of the wheel is built one z-level above the magma, rather than in it. Thus it is entirely plausible that a waterwheel could survive being used with magma. Whether it does actually survive such circumstances, and if so whether it starts turning, could do with being tested. --Raumkraut 23:09, 8 August 2008 (EDT)

Well i guess i will have to do my own experiments on magma wheels, i will report my findings. --Althalus 10:05, 9 August 2008 (EDT)

Sounds something like Cog's wooden magma pumps. --Schwern 20:22, 18 December 2008 (EST)

Not really - of course, waterwheels suspended above magma will not self-destruct, since they are not IN magma, but it is not known whether magma powers waterwheels, or if that is only hardcoded to be water. --Savok 09:42, 19 December 2008 (EST)

Waterwheel on rivers

Yesterday I build a waterwheel above a river, it did not work. I build a second wheel in a moat channeled from the river it did work. Either I made some stupid error, or there is a bug at the current ver. that makes wheel not working on rivers themselves... --Catpaw 06:37, 29 August 2008 (EDT)

A brook or a river? HeWhoIsPale 09:24, 29 August 2008 (EDT)

Oh it was a brook, since my dwarfes always waded through it. okay I understand it now... Is kinda quirky in the simulation... you turn a brook into a river by digging its surface... uh. common logic anyone? :-) --Catpaw 09:50, 29 August 2008 (EDT)

Brooks have a special layer of floor on top of them that allows fishing and similar activities, but discounts it being considered as running water, channeling can remove this layer. Apparently this has been the best fit way of allowing a brook to be traversable while still being a body of water. HeWhoIsPale 10:51, 2 September 2008 (EDT)

Water and Flow Answers

After a few(a lot of) tests, I have deduced the following:

• A water wheel needs to have any one of its three tiles above water
  • The water must be at least 4/7 depth
    • The exception:water falling down a z-level

  Placing a waterwheel with one tile stuck into the side of a water fall with make it active, and can be effectively done by placing several next to each other under the waterfall

  Note: if the water flows over all three or the two opposite tiles, it will only be active for a second here and there, but it's great to make tons of mist

  • It can not be submerged, a submerged water wheel will not work
• The water must be flowing, stationary water will not power the wheel
  • A screw pump can make water flow (See the section of the article on Perpetual Motion)
  • Many rivers do not flow, you may have to channel a side river to make it flow out of the actual river and then into some other body of water

  P.S. it helps to stagger the channels downwards so that the flow continues

• Lava will make a water wheel turn, (if it flows of course) if you turn off temperature (the water wheel will simply go up in flames otherwise)

This information was gather in version 40d Feel free to add anything here to the article or correct anything that might be wrong

Very simple design for a water wheel
+~W~+
+~W-*
+~W~+
(W) = wheel tile with flowing water under it
(-) = horizontal axle
(*) = gear assembly
(~) = river/brook tiles
(+) = ground/wall/whatever else you may have there

--Wizjany 23:14, 25 October 2008 (EDT)

I'm not entirely sure about submerged water wheels. I had a water wheel placed in a (channeled) brook, connected to a screw pump. I built a wall/box around both the screw pump and the water wheel to create a reservoir which was drawn from by another screw pump one z-level up. Perhaps the waterwheel only ceases to work after the water reaches a certain depth? --RomeoFalling 23:31, 25 October 2008 (EDT)

Safe water wheel power

Imagine that I had a totally walled off above-ground area. Now I redirect a river to flow under my walls with an above-ground area between my walls. Will this provide the necessary flow for a water wheel? Gairabad 18:13, 15 November 2008 (EST)

I imagine if it would work without the walls in place, it would work with them in place. But swimming creatures (crocodiles, etc.) might be able to swim up the channel.--Maximus 19:27, 15 November 2008 (EST)

A well-placed grate or two would deal with them. Gairabad 23:55, 17 November 2008 (EST)

Any flow ought to be able to power a water wheel. I've had three ganged water wheels running off the power of one aquifer flowing into another. (much lava work was needed to breach the aquifer in various places.) --Corona688 14:04, 19 December 2008 (EST)

Underwater Waterwheels

Will a waterwheel continue to provide power if it is submerged, so long as there is running water in the appropriate tiles? Say, suppose you drain the ocean, and set up water-wheels along the ocean floor to provide power to an underwater fortress, so it can auto-drain itself if you abandon and reclaim. Lastofthelight

Adjacent water tiles

I'm not going to get caught up into this edit skirmish, but having three adjacent water tiles is a requirement for neither the construction nor the functioning of a water wheel. VengefulDonut 02:34, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. Moving on to the real puzzles? --Höhlenschreck 13:52, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Water Flow Complexities

I understand the basics, a brook has a false floor over it that won't power a waterwheel, and water must be 4/7 or greater. I also saw vague mention of stagnant or contaminated water which sounds like bad things too. There however doesn't seem to be any easy way to tell if water is actually flowing other than to fool with waterwheels.

So far I've ran into several issues where a loop of water that was connected to a brook, still wouldn't power a waterwheel despite it being 7/7. I ran into similar issues with a closed loop of water of my own I thought I was pushing around with a screw pump which was steadily powered by a windmill. I tried putting waterwheels down and strangely, they weren't moving.

A theory I'm considering is that a loop of water that is too long may end up not flowing at a certain point. So far I haven't been able to test this. As for my private reservoir I was using a diagonal feed to fill my reservoir without having to worry about flooding my entire fort. When this system became more full, I ran into the problems with waterwheels. I was powering a rather large loop of water on a single screw pump. May be that it was too long, or may be that the system became too full and there was nowhere for the water to move.