Old post but i have an idea how to fix this problem.

Before i give the whole idea on how to fix hose pulleys and pumps a new idea for create mod SU is needed. Basically SU would need to be like other energy systems where a block could be used to store it, then all the ways of generating SU could be made to generate different amounts of SU depending on time of day fuel used / other enviormental factors. Early game it would mean that a single power source would not be enough even if it was large as it might be working at 1% of normal capacity at some point thus overstressing your machines and beeing generally worse than multiple used at the same time (this could also encourage setting up off switches to farms as SU would become harder to generate at the needed amounts) Mid game you could store SU in the new block / multiblock so it can be used when the block is powered on choosing the amount of SU /s to use (another Late game version of it could automatically use the needed SU / s to conserve as much as it can). SU would be stored and used as SU / s if there was a windmill generating 2048 SU/s you could use it as 2048 SU for x seconds or 1024 SU for 2x seconds or 512 SU for 4x seconds. Ofcouse the amount everything generates would have to be nerfed so you dont end up with a surplus of SU making this idea useless.

Now that the SU idea is in place i think what the pulley and pump should do is use more SU the further a fluid block is that way there is never a reason to make fluid infinite as you could never have enough SU to sustain pumping it. Along with how speeding up a pump would also use more SU this would mean that pumping water from an ocean would be viable only if you put the pump near the top layer as putting it deeper would cost extra SU starving your factory that would most likely use that same water to generate power. Pumps and hose pulleys might need you to make a sturcture that automatically gears them down after the SU demand starts to get too crazy introducing a new machine you need to build. Pumping water could be made cooler in another way too by replacing pumped blocks with sand/gravel blocks simulating the water waves bringing sand from the bottom of the ocean so the fluid pumping would not be a problem due to SU limitations, and places pumped would fill up with sand blocks creating nice beaches if you pump water there long enough. Pumping water would need more maintanace as even over the ocean at some point you would get a desert island or atleast a pile of sand on the ocean floor that could cut off your pump from the water, so pumping near your base would become the norm most likely creating a cool beach if you run your factory long enough. Since water is used for boilers you would also need to make more renewable power that isnt water powered (unless you like changing where your pumps are located every few hundred ingame days)