Pitcher Pump

Pitcher Pump allows Duplicants to bottle liquids and carry them to other places. It is an early, manual way to move fluid without piping, and it is especially useful when a colony needs to relocate a small or awkward pool of liquid before a more permanent plumbing solution is built.

Because a Pitcher Pump only draws from a single liquid at a time, it can be paired with Bottle Emptiers to separate mixed reservoirs into different bottles. This makes it practical for sorting pools that contain multiple liquids, such as polluted water mixed with other fluids, or for recovering liquids that cannot be mopped normally. It also works as a general-purpose way to remove unwanted liquid from a basin and feed it into storage or another area.

A Duplicant using a Pitcher Pump will try to bundle multiple delivery errands together. This means that if several Bottle Emptiers are waiting nearby, a single trip can load a large amount of liquid and distribute it efficiently. With four adjacent Bottle Emptiers, a Duplicant can deliver up to 800 kg per run, which makes the setup much more efficient than moving bottles one at a time.

The pump is also useful for automation tricks with Bottle Emptiers. If an auto-bottling setup is made unreachable at the right moment, the Duplicant will drop the bottle, allowing liquids to be bottled without direct supervision. This can be used to generate Polluted Oxygen from Polluted Water bottles, among other uses. Other ways to produce liquid bottles include emptying pipes and deconstructing a full Liquid Reservoir.

Pitcher Pump has some unusual thermal behavior. It only exchanges heat with the two tiles that make up the platform where the Duplicant stands, rather than with the whole liquid body it is drawing from. As a result, it can be used in surprisingly extreme conditions, including collecting bottles of Magma or even Liquid Tungsten when placed appropriately. It also cannot flood, and it can still be operated while completely submerged.

Practical notes:

• It is best used as a temporary liquid transport tool before pipes or pumps are available.
• It can separate one liquid from another in a mixed pool when combined with Bottle Emptiers.
• Duplicants may prefer to satisfy several delivery tasks in one trip, improving efficiency when multiple emptiers are placed close together.
• It is safe to place in flooded areas, since the building itself does not flood.
• Its limited heat exchange makes it usable in situations that would destroy many other liquid-handling setups.