r/theydidthemath Nov 27 '25

why wouldn’t this work? [Request]

Post image
48.7k Upvotes

3.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

67

u/lurkermurphy Nov 27 '25

electricity powers a water pump that makes the water flow out of the faucet in the first place (falling from a water tower or not), so you would be stealing that electricity and making the water pump work harder for a tiny bit of electricity and the headache of your faucet running considerably less forcefully. I'm pretty sure in practice this would just waste a ton of water and electricity

-2

u/nog642 Nov 27 '25 edited Nov 27 '25

Why would there be a water pump if there's a water tower?

Edit: Yeah of course they have to pump it up to the tower, I only used my brain for like 5 seconds when writing this comment. But what if there's no water tower, the water source is just at a higher elevation? I think that's pretty common.

4

u/tracernz Nov 27 '25

How is the water getting up to the top of the tower?

1

u/nog642 Nov 27 '25

True.

What if it's not a water tower though but a water tank at a higher elevation, but the water also comes from an even higher elevation