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[Slappy Moose]

I have built my fair share of wells. The problem is, I am doing something wrong, lately, and they are overflowing.

What I usually do is find a river, then dig out a hallways, put a door on one wall, dig a channel at the end, then dig a small room out below it. On the other side of a wall, I put another channel with the well over it.

The pressure is pushing the water out of the well, is there some simple way to counter this?

Example:

code:

 . = floor   _ = channel   - or | = wall   / = door   o = well   ~ = river and water
........|~~~|
...--/--|~~~|
.o.|_~~~~~~~|
...-----|~~~| 

What am I doing wrong? Is there a simple way (something I don't have to monitor, such as a lever system) to counter this?

Another question: When a dwarf drinks from a well, does the water level below the well go down? If not, then my problem is solved.

[ December 06, 2007: Message edited by: Slappy Moose ]

[Lord Dullard]

I'm not exactly sure what's going on in the picture.. however, I'm pretty sure that your problem is that you've got the river directly connected to the well. I never do this, since water in DF can overflow.

Solution: build a hatch over the channel where the water is flowing into the bottom room the well is built over. Wells will work as long as there is *some* water in them, so put a pressure plate on the floor that will trigger the hatch to close whenever there's 5 or greater water levels over top of it.

[ December 06, 2007: Message edited by: Lord Dullard ]

[Skanky]

A floodgate (linked to a lever or a pressure-plate) can block the flow of water.
Floodgates and water - two great tastes that taste great together!

[Klokjammer]

I can't make sense of your diagram, but from what I know about fluid dynamics is that if you don't want the well to overflow, make sure that the well is well above the level of the source of water.

If you design your well like this, you SHOULD have no problem.

code:

  
                  W
       ########### ###
#RRRRR___________~~~~#
#################~~~~#
######################
(side view)
R - river (flows into the screen)
_ - Channel/pipe
~ - Water in well (would not go higher than the river itself)
# - Rock wall/floor
W - well

You can place a floodgate and a maintenance hatch anywhere on that channel.

As soon as I figure out SL's new map compressor, I'll upload my fort with the well design in it.

[DuncanFrost]

Odd, my simple well works perfectly without overflowing:

code:

~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
   ~
   ~
   ~
 ~~~~
 ~~~~
 ~~~~

[DJ]

Use a pump at the entry to reservoir, as pumps can't push water above their level. Side view:

code:

-~--------
-~--------
-~--- o  
-~---- ---
-~~~%%~---
-~~~------
----------

- ground
~ water
o well
%% screw pump

Offcourse, you'll need to connect that pump to a power-providing axle. I'm not sure if water can flow through axle shafts, so make sure that it's isolated from your main fort.

[Slappy Moose]

Okay, I think I know a solution.

I'll just use a pressure plated that is below the well, and if the water level gets to 6 or something it will close the floodgate leading to the rover.
I forgot all about pressure plates responding to water.
Thanks.

[Erasmus Darwin]

quote:Originally posted by Slappy Moose:
<STRONG>I'll just use a pressure plated that is below the well, and if the water level gets to 6 or something it will close the floodgate leading to the rover.</STRONG>

That's a valid solution, but there are a few nuances of the interaction between floodgates and pressure plates that you have to worry about.  It's nothing you can't figure out with a little experimentation, but it's also explained on the wiki:  http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Pressure_plate

[Slappy Moose]

quote:Originally posted by Erasmus Darwin:
<STRONG>

That's a valid solution, but there are a few nuances of the interaction between floodgates and pressure plates that you have to worry about.  It's nothing you can't figure out with a little experimentation, but it's also explained on the wiki:  http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Pressure_plate</STRONG>

Thanks for that link, it will save me a lot of trouble.

[Klokjammer]

Sorry for the late post, but here's my fortress with a simple well with no complicated pressure plate systems.  There is a grate and a floodgate separating a brook from the reservoir.  The floodgate need not ever close since the water levels itself.

Linky to Slapcudgels!

[ December 08, 2007: Message edited by: Klokjammer ]