The H-Factor

Reducing Entropy

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Recently our previous blog service (Typepad) ended their business – so, we have a new home. It will take a bit to get images back and displaying properly, but we are working on it! Final pageview count of original Typepad blog: 387,232

by art October 20, 2025May 21, 2026

Using a Non-Standard Pipe Type in HydraCALC

A customer called today asking how to enter a 1″ black plastic underground pipe for the calc. This particular situation sounded unique enough that I did not tell him to add that pipe type to our database, as I would have if he expected to see this pipe type used repeatedly. I told him to…

by art May 6, 2025May 21, 2026

Using the Hydratec Software Download Area

Hydratec uses ShareFile to distribute our software installs and updates. New customers, or those without access, must request access to be able to get at these downloads. Access is only available to customers with a Hydratec subscription or those on an update plan. You can access the download area and request access by picking the…

by art November 11, 2024April 6, 2026

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A Couple of Tips on Preparing a Drawing for Plotting

October 29, 2008

HydraCAD has had a couple of pretty useful commands on the Cleanup toolbar that many are not aware of:

1. Change Item Colors: If you have a need to differentiate piping as New or Existing , you can do it with this command. Run Pretty Pipes first, then pick the color or linetype you want and Apply it to various parts of the drawing. The pretty pipes, the sprinkler heads, hangers, pipe sizes, etc will all change to the color applied.

2. Select Plot Layers: This command is used to turn layers on and off for plotting. It is fully aware of which HydraCAD layers are meant to be turned off and which are meant to be turned on for a final plot. You can choose from Center-to-Center lengths or Cut lengths. You can even choose your own layer file based on one you have saved using the HcadTool->Layer Control->Save On/Off Status

Posted in HydraCAD