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Settlement building was one of the biggest additions to the Fallout franchise added in Fallout 4, and many aspects of it made it innovative. The ability to craft functional settlement items such as stores and water purifiers allows you to interact with the world in a way never seen in a previous Fallout game.
Water purifiers are a settlement item that come in a few different sizes, and they produce purified water for your settlers and also for you. Here's everything that you should know about the different types of water purifiers and how to craft a water purifier inside your settlement.
Why Should You Build A Water Purifier?
The primary function of water purifiers is to add water to your settlement, which is essential for keeping your settlers happy. However, there are many other reasons to build water purifiers as well, including to turn the water into Caps or collect Purified Water for healing yourself during combat.
Another important use for a water purifier is collecting the Purified Water in Survival mode. You need to drink water in Survival mode to stay in good health, and water purifiers give you an unlimited supply of the item.
How To Build A Water Purifier
Although building a water purifier is a quick task, you need to follow a few steps before you have the option to place these machines into your settlement.
Enter A Settlement Workshop Area
You can only place water purifiers inside the walls of a settlement, so you'll need to enter a settlement you've already activated before placing one down. You can place water purifiers in a body of water, so it's important to choose a settlement with a river or ocean inside it. Two good examples are Sanctuary Hills and Spectacle Island.
Open The Building Workshop And Select the Resources Menu Then Water Menu
Before having the option to create a water purifier, you'll need to travel through a few menus in the workshop tab. First select Resources, then Water; you can now select any type of water purifier.
Place The Water Purifier In A Body Of Water
You can now place down a water purifier in water. It's important to remember how you're positioning the water purifier in case you want to craft another one later, so don't take up too much room in the body of water and try to place it on the edge of the water. However, the powered water pump is the exception; you instead have to place it in the dirt.
Attach Generators To The Water Purifier
Generators are an essential part of activating your water purifier. The amount of power required depends on which water purifier you're crafting; regular water purifier — two power, industrial water purifier — five power, powered water pump — four power. Each generator requires different materials to craft; however, the smallest generator produces three power and requires two rubber, two gears, one ceramic, two copper, and ten steel.
Every Type Of Water Purifier And The Resources Required To Craft Them
There are four types of water purifiers within the settlement system of Fallout 4. Each of them produces a unique amount of water and they also have different crafting material requirements.
Water Pump
The water pump is the weakest water generator in Fallout 4. It only produces three water for your settlement, and it doesn't require any power to function. To craft a water pump, you need one gear, one concrete, and four steel. These contraptions are placed in the dirt.
Water Purifier
The regular water purifier is a good option at the start of a new playthrough because it produces a lot of water and doesn't have a perk requirement. Water purifiers need two power to function, and the components you need to craft it are two cloth, two ceramic, two oil, two copper, ten steel, and five rubber. This machine produces ten water for your settlement.
Industrial Water Purifier
The industrial water purifier is much larger in scale than the regular one; it produces 40 water and requires five power. You'll need to unlock the first stage of the Science perk before you can craft this item. The required components for crafting an industrial water purifier are four copper, four oil, four cloth, six screws, ten rubber, 20 steel, and two ceramic.
Powered Water Pump
The powered water pump was added to Fallout 4 with the Wasteland Workshop expansion pack, and it functions similarly to a water pump because you place it in dirt instead of water. You'll need four power to activate the powered water pump, and it produces ten water for your settlers. You need the following crafting materials to craft a powered water pump; four oil, two ceramic, four copper, eight rubber, 4 screws, and 15 steel.
How Do You Make Caps Using Water Purifiers?
Obtaining a lot of caps in Fallout 4 is tough, especially at the beginning of a playthrough. Water Purifiers are one of the best ways to make a lot of Caps, regardless of which stage of the game you're in; however, it's best to use this method once you have a lot of building materials so you can craft the maximum amount of water purifiers.
After crafting water purifiers in your settlements, you should then wait for the Purified Water to accumulate inside your settlement workbench. Then once you have a lot of it, you can empty your inventory, pick up as many Purified Water items as possible, and fast travel to Diamond City or any other area with merchants to sell the items.
The best place to use this method is in Sanctuary Hills because there's a lot of water to place water purifiers. There's also a merchant that occasionally travels to the settlement named Carla. If you don't create your water purifiers in a settlement with merchants, then acquiring a high carry weight is helpful so you can transport more Purified Water to other merchants more quickly.
How Do You Activate The Water Purifier In Vault 88?
Outside settlements aren't the only locations with water purifiers; you can also use the largest water purifier in Vault 88. To activate the water purifier, you have to unlock the East-Sector of Vault 88 and build generators to activate the purifier. You'll most likely need to clear enemies out of this area before you can activate the workshop, so make sure to bring a weapon and supplies because the enemies may be legendary and high-level.
You need to connect 20 power worth of generators to the water purifier to activate it, and once you do, it will start producing 100 water for your settlement. There aren't many other places to build water purifiers in Vault 88, so this machine is essential for keeping your settlement's happiness rating high.