How many water pumps can fill a single pipe conduct without losing efficiency?
Let's say I put 20 water pumps into one single pipe channel, will they always pump at full efficiency? What is the optimal ratio?
Factorio – How Many Water Pumps Can Fill a Single Pipe Channel?
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Related Solutions
The hard limit is currently 255. We never tested it for more than 12 people on local network so different kind of problems might arise when lot of people play.
Edit: Since 0.14 the limit has been increased to 65535 and it might actually be possible to get that number of players online with exceptionally good network connection.
So you seem have to have a few questions, but for the most part, you want to know how to burn trees down quickly. My answer to that, is to use the tank's flame thrower (added in 0.15). This is by far the fastest way to destroy a tree using fire, and what is nice about it is it completely destroys the tree, instead of leaving behind a potential burnt tree carcass. Here is a GIF illustrating the speed of it:
Note that this was with Flamethrower Damage at level 7. A lower level in this technology will make this process slower, but it's actually not by a whole lot. This isn't too difficult of a science to research anyway, so you may want to invest in it if you haven't already for at least a few levels. I found that this method is by far the fastest way to remove trees. If you find a real dense forest that you need to remove, driving through it with your tank and using the flamethrower in a sweeping motion works wonders.
As for using the regular flamethrower on foot, this method is far slower, but allows you to "AFK" remove trees by taking advantage of the burning fires. The downside to this, is it leaves behind some dead tree carcasses. Another downside is if you have aliens in your world, the fire could spread to one of their bases, and they will come after you for attacking them. In my experimentation, I found that the maximum distance apart that trees can be in order to spread fire was... this (sorry, I don't know how to put it into actual length terms):
If I had to estimate, this distance is about two inserters long to give you an idea.
To answer your question of How does the amount of fuel or time spent burning affect the propensity for a fire to spread, I think that the amount of fuel used does not impact the spread of fire. Spreading fire seems to go on indefinitely so long as the tree density is high enough to support it. I tested this by making a very large and dense forest in the map editor and then ignited it at just one spot. The entire forest was burned down after some time.
To answer your question of Does it matter if I ignite multiple trees in different locations, or will a single fire spread and consume the whole forest just as quickly, I would say that burning multiple trees in different locations would remove the forest faster. This is because if you start one fire on one end of a forest, and one fire on the other end, you effectively double the rate at which the trees are burned. Eventually, the two fires will meet up (so long as tree density allows for it).
To conclude:
- The tanks flamethrower is a very fast way to remove trees
- Using the flamethrower on foot is great for removing trees if you want to be lazy, but it leaves behind dead tree carcasses and could possibly cause an alien attack
- The amount of fuel used to start a fire doesn't dictate it's speed of spreading
- Starting fires in multiple spots in a forest will burn it down faster
Best Answer
Um... that answer doesn't exactly apply to this specific question? :)
As we know, pipes can handle up to 150 units of water per second. Therefore it will take more than just 1 pump to achieve full capacity.
150/60 = 2.5, or 3 minimum pumps to achieve 150 "pressure".
In fact using the "pumping stations" from the other answer literally won't even work if your input isn't as high as your desired output. If you're putting in a single pipe from a single pump into any of those stations, the maximum output will still be 60. Those stations can't "increase" more water than they get in the first place through the single input pipe.
That being said, because the first 30 "pressure" drops off so quickly, it's probably best to just stick to 120 pressure. This will start you off with only 2 offshore pumps and pumping stations far less, if you're needing to transport water so far.
If power is your concern, consider the following:
1 pump on 1 pipe handles 10 engines, because it pumps 60 units per minute, and the engines consume 6 units a minute. 10 engines consume... 60 units per minute.
You can also use 2 pumps, 28 boilers, and 20 engines, etc. Basically if input/output = 1 then you're good.
If you're going for the 150 it gets a little wonky and not a perfect 1, but oh well.
If you're pumping other liquids you'll likely need storage tanks as your output (since you can't "offshore pump" those liquids), as these "single" sources can actually have up to 3 small pumps draining them, and since smalls only add or "push" 30 "pressure" you'll need 5 in a small distance to achieve 150 pressure, or just 4 if you're fine with the 120 pressure.
Oh, and as a final note to the small pumps, be warned, they have a maximum pumping capacity of 30 pressure. MAX. That means if you put just a single pump anywhere in the length of your pipe you have created a maximum throughput of 30 for the entire length of pipe after that single pump. If you feed that pump 150 pressure it still only puts out 30 pressure. (As depicted in the first "pumping station" in the other answer's image.)