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Overshot and pitchback water wheels are suitable where there is a small stream with a height difference of more than 2 meters, often in association with a small reservoir. Breastshot and undershot wheels can be used on rivers or high volume flows with large reservoirs.
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[[File:Vertical waterwheel simple.svg|thumb|Diagram of vertical axis water mill.]]
Commonly called a tub wheel or Norse mill, the horizontal wheel is essentially a very primitive and inefficient form of the modern [[turbine]]. It is usually mounted inside a mill building below the working floor. A jet of water is directed on to the paddles of the water wheel, causing them to turn; water exits beneath the wheel, generally through the center. This is a simple system, usually used without gearing so that the vertical axle of the water wheel becomes the drive spindle of the mill.▼
A horizontal wheel with a vertical axle.
▲Commonly called a '''tub wheel''', '''Norse mill''' or
The earliest known reference to water wheels dates to about 400BCE,
<ref name="ASMEnoria"> {{cite web
|url=https://www.asme.org/getmedia/ac3c3ad4-4e16-46e3-b153-e586ca513e6d/241-Noria-al-Muhammadiyya.aspx
|title=Noria al-Muhammadiyya
|publisher=The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
|author=The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
|access-date=12 Feb 2017
|date=December 2006
}} </ref>
and the earliest horizontal axis wheels date to about 200 BCE, so vertical axis mills pre-date horizontal axis mills by about two centuries.
===Undershot wheel===
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