How To Make A Water Bubble Elevator In Minecraft

A lot of players usually build staircases in the early game to go from different floors of their bases or mines. However, some genius players have started building elevators as a faster way of moving up and down. There are even elevators that are made out of redstone contraptions.

Gathering The Needed Materials

Here is a summary list of the materials needed to make a water elevator:

• Building Blocks (depending on how tall)
• 2 Water Buckets
  
• 2 Door Frames (6 Wooden Planks of any type) or 2 Wooden Signs
• Kelp Plant (depending on how tall)
• 1 Soul Sand Block
  
• 1 Magma Block (Optional)

Get Building Blocks

As always, you need to choose and get what building material you want to construct the elevator with. This part is crucial since it will serve as the elevator shaft. Most of the time, players use glass blocks so that they can see the outside, just like in some real-life elevators. It also allows you to see the one using the elevator. Nevertheless, you can use any solid block you like.

The only important thing to know about gathering the building block is to know the height of the elevator you are going to make. You should count the block using the coordinates found on your debug screen. Once you have counted the height of the elevator, multiply the number by 4. The result is the minimum number of building blocks you need to construct the elevator. The height of the elevator is multiplied by 4 because the water elevator itself needs 4 sides for the water to stay in place and work.

Craft A Door For Each Elevator Shaft

A door is used to prevent the water from flowing outside the elevator column. Door frames can easily block the water flowing out of the entrance or exit. Other than that, you can also use two wooden signs as well to stop the water from flowing out of the elevator shaft. Signs are a somewhat better than doors, since doors can be broken by a horde of zombies.

Get Kelp

Kelp is one of the key materials you will need to easily make water elevators in Minecraft. For the water elevator to work properly, the water inside the column should all be source blocks and not flowing water. The solution for this is to plant kelp and let it reach the whole length of the elevator column. By doing this, all the water blocks, flowing or not, in the elevator column will be transformed into a source block.

This is not a cheat. It is just a trick taking advantage of an officially implemented gameplay mechanic. However, you should worry about getting the kelp plant instead, since it usually found on the ocean floor. Harvest the entire kelp plant by destroying the lowest stem at the bottom of the ocean.

Dig A Soul Sand Block And A Magma Block

Magma blocks can be found in the Overworld. Some can be found in ruined Nether portals and underwater ruins. However, going to the Nether dimension to get both types of blocks, a magma block and a soul sand block, will be more efficient. Hence, it is recommended to go to Nether.

The soul sand, when placed under a block of water, generates the bubble column flowing upwards required for the elevator to work. It only takes 1 block of soul sand for each elevator column you will make. On the other hand, magma blocks also create a bubble column when placed underwater. However, instead of going up like the bubble column from soul sand, it goes the other direction, downward.

Using a magma block is optional for constructing two columns of elevators, which includes a downward one. A drop-shaft elevator can be built instead as the downward column. It will have a suspended water block at the bottom, where it will be softening the fall on the way down so that there is no fall damage inflicted.

Constructing The Water Elevator

Here are the steps to build a water elevator in Minecraft:

1. Choose the appropriate space where you would want your elevator to be. The minimum area for a single elevator column is a 3 × 3 space.
2. After which, use the specified building blocks that you want your elevator to be made with. In this case, glass blocks were used. Place each glass block in a diamond starting pattern in the 3 × 3 space with an empty space in the middle and extend that pattern going up multiple floors to your desired height of the elevator.

1. Once you have made the hollow tube of the elevator all the way up to your desired height, place a single water source inside the elevator shaft at the top of the height level. Let the water flow all the way down.

1. From there, you need to go back down and remove two blocks on the first 2 layers of the tube where you would want the entrance to be. Do not worry that much about the water overflowing on the ground.
2. The next step is to place a door or two wooden signs on the entrance that you have made to block the flow of water out of the tube.
   

1. At this point, you already have a simple waterfall column that you can use to go up. The next step is to place the kelp on the floor of the water column.
2. You will notice that the water block will transform into a source block. Keep placing kelp on each flowing water block until it reaches the top level of your elevator
   

1. Once you have transformed all the water blocks into source blocks, it is time to generate the bubbles. Destroy the block beneath the kelp and place a single block of soul sand on the bottom of the lowest water block of the elevator.

1. Bubbles should now be visible going up the water column until it reaches the highest point of your elevator.
2. You now have a working water elevator in Minecraft! Test the elevator by dropping an item into the water. It should go straight up.
   

You can follow the same steps in constructing a water elevator that goes down. Only keep in mind that a magma block should be placed instead of a soul sand block in Step 8. This way, the bubbles will be going downwards, if you look closely.

Quick Tip: Water elevators in Minecraft have no limit to what height you want them to be. You can build an elevator all the up the build limit, and it will still work fine. Aside from that, you do not need to worry about drowning because the bubble column itself provides oxygen for your character. Feel free to build any height of water elevators you want.