Pumps

Pumps are powerful mechanisms used to handle large quantities of liquids without having to build drainage pipes or carry buckets.

To use, an Inlet Pump is connected to an Outlet Pump using wire. When the wire is activated, up to four tiles full of liquid are removed at the inlet and created at the outlet. For continuous pumping, a timer must be used.

Pumps can be used to transport lava as well as water. However, once a pump is placed submerged in lava in cannot be retrieved without destroying it, until all lava is pumped dry.

There may be no more than 1000 wires in a single connection, so if a straight line is made of wire, a set of pumps will operate over a maximum distance of 1000 blocks, or 2000 feet.

Similarly to buckets pumps can be used to duplicate as well as directly destroy liquids, without having to create obsidian. While water will vanish once it reaches the Underworld, slowly flowing lava can be destroyed by pumping it continuously over an evaporator structure. A triangular arrangement of single tiles starting on top with a single obstacle tile that splits the lava flow in half, followed by staggered tile layers of two, three, four and so forth, resemembling a Pascal's triangle or a Pachinko machine.

Infinite Liquid
This will compound over time, producing infinite fluid as long as the outpump is not submerged. This has been used by many players as a more automated and less buggy obsidian farming machine. For similar information on infinite fluid production, see Guide:Making liquid.

Workaround
To pump liquids without producing more, do not place the in-pump at the bottom of the reservoir. The illustration below shows an inlet pump placed above a 1-block run-off where "leftover" lava will gather. The run-off prevents the inlet pump from generating excess lava, and can be easily emptied with a single bucket.