Weeks into the apocalypse, the inevitable happens: the water shuts off. Suddenly, every sip becomes precious. While you can boil tainted water, setting up a plumbed sink provides a permanent, passive source of safe, clean drinking water. It’s a game-changer for long-term survival.
This guide will walk you through every step of the plumbing process, from gathering your tools to enjoying a refreshing, zombie-free drink.
Contents
- Why You Absolutely Need Plumbing
- Required Items and Skills
- Step 1: Finding the Essential Tools
- Step 2: Placing Your Sink
- Step 3: Building Your Water Collector
- Step 4: Making the Connection
- Troubleshooting: Why Can’t I Plumb My Sink?
Why You Absolutely Need Plumbing
Once a sink is plumbed to a rain collector barrel, it works like magic. Any tainted water in the barrel—whether from rain or manually filled from a river—is automatically purified when it comes out of the tap. No more boiling, no more micro-managing water supplies. It’s the single most important infrastructure project for any safehouse.
Required Items and Skills
Before you begin, make sure you have the following:
- A Pipe Wrench: This is the specific tool required. A regular Wrench will not work.
- A Sink: You must pick one up and place it yourself. You cannot plumb a pre-existing sink.
- A Water Collector: You’ll need to craft at least one Rain Collector Barrel.
- Level 4 Carpentry: To craft a Rain Collector Barrel (requires 4 Planks, 4 Nails, 4 Garbage Bags).
- Level 7 Carpentry: To craft a larger Rain Collector Barrel (requires 8 Planks, 8 Nails).
Step 1: Finding the Essential Tools
Your first task is to find a Pipe Wrench. They are most commonly found in warehouses, sheds, garages, and the tool closets of houses. Keep an eye out while looting. Once you have one, you need a sink. Find any sink in any building, and with the Pipe Wrench in your main inventory, right-click the sink and select “Pick up”. Be aware there is a chance for it to break.
Step 2: Placing Your Sink
This is a critical step. The sink must be in a room that the game considers “indoors.” If the room has a complete roof and is fully enclosed by walls and doorframes, you’re good to go. Place the sink you picked up onto a counter or crate within this indoor space.
Step 3: Building Your Water Collector
Craft a Rain Collector Barrel using your Carpentry skill. Now for the most important rule of plumbing: placement. The water collector must be placed one floor directly above the sink.
The barrel can be in any of the 9 tiles in a 3×3 grid centered on your sink. This means it can be directly above the sink, or on any tile immediately adjacent to the one directly above it.
Step 4: Making the Connection
With your Pipe Wrench in your inventory, your sink placed indoors, and your water collector correctly positioned on the floor above, you’re ready.
Simply right-click on the sink. You should now see the option “Plumb Sink.” Click it, and you’re done! The sink is now connected to the water collector and will provide clean water as long as the barrel has water in it.
Troubleshooting: Why Can’t I Plumb My Sink?
If the “Plumb Sink” option isn’t appearing, run through this checklist:
- Is it a Pipe Wrench? Make sure you have a Pipe Wrench, not a standard Wrench.
- Is the Sink Indoors? The room must be fully enclosed with a roof. If you built it yourself, double-check for any gaps.
- Is the Barrel Placed Correctly? It must be exactly one floor above the sink and within the 3×3 tile area. It cannot be on the same floor or two floors up.
- Did You Place the Sink? You cannot plumb a sink that was already in the house. You must pick it up and place it down yourself.
