The H-Factor

These instructions assume that the drawing in question already has sprinklers defined and/or piping drawn.

1. Start new drawing using one of our templates
2. Insert the background drawing
3. Define one HydraCAD sprinkler for each sprinkler in the background drawing
4. Insert one of each of these heads some on the drawing that is easy to get to
5. Use Change Block (CHB) to replace existing sprinklers with HydraCAD sprinklers, one for one. Use the Change Circle option if that is how the heads are drawn. Otherwise, use Change Block. The current version of HydraCAD (V50/51.7 Rev 4 will match the scale of the existing heads
6. If the background piping is constructed of Polylines, exlpode them to turn them into lines
7. Isolate the piping layer and put the branch lines in SPRKDAT2 and the mains in SPRKDAT1. Underground goes into SPRKDAT3. Use Match Properties if you find that handy
8. If the mains do not end at each line intersection, use Automain (AUM) to break them up. No gaps can be left between pipes
9. Connect the sprinkler heads to the branch lines using grips, if necessary. No gaps can be left between pipes or between heads and pipes
10. Add elevations
11. Run Checkups from the Calculations toolbar (HCH) to look for and correct drawing errors
12. Go to 3D and look for errors

If you are on the support plan, we can often help you figure out what to do with a background that you would like to convert. Just let us know.

Here at Hydratec we support users on all versions of AutoCAD, but primarily on AutoCAD 2007 or newer. When a user sends me a drawing I don't want to have to worry about whether I should open it in V50 or in V51 (both work the same for all usual support purposes). But, I don't want to send it back to them in a newer drawing format that they cannot read, either. So I have configured both 2010 and 2011 to automatically save all drawings in the 2007 format. You can do this in the AutoCAD OPTIONS dialog box:

Pick the Open and Save tab and set the Save As: to the AutoCAD 2007 format

Version 51.07 has two new hanger features – Create 3D Hangers and Create 3D Seismic Bracing.

How to use these commands?

Create 3D Hangers takes your 2D hangers (inserted the same way as forever) and converts them to 3D. This requires two things: That the piping has been elevated at least once (to generate elevation information) and that the piping is sized (to create hanger rings). It can be use din either 2D mode or 3D mode.

The Create 3D Seismic Bracing will create these braces from scratch. It also requires that the piping has been elevated at least once. You add these braces while in 2D mode.

A complete help document for both commands can be found by picking the Help button in the dialog box for the Create 3D Seismic Bracing command.

What is a Proxy Object? From AutoCAD Help:

"A proxy object is a
substitute for a custom object when the ObjectARX application that created the
custom object is not available to AutoCAD or other host applications. Later,
when the application is available, the proxy object is replaced by the custom
object."

What does Show Proxy Objects mean?

"When you open a drawing,
you might see a Proxy Information dialog box. The dialog box tells you the total
number of proxy objects in the drawing (both graphical and non graphical) and the
name of the missing application and provides additional information about the
proxy object type and display state. You can use the dialog box to control the
display of proxy objects."

Applications such as AutoCAD MEP create proxy objects. HydraCAD also creates Proxy Objects by its use of Visual Lisp (VL), a standard AutoCAD programming language. It has long been our opinion that AutoCAD's own tools should at least be understood by AutoCAD itself and no proxy notice displayed because of them. We have reported the issue to Autodesk. They have acknowledged the problem but not fixed it.

That being said, you can turn off all proxy notifications by setting the PROXYNOTICE setvar to 0 (zero). Type in PROXYNOTICE and then type in 0 at the ensuing prompt. The downside? you won't be notified that proxy objects exists, instead they will be displayed anyways (the default even if the proxy notice is shown), so no real downside as far as I am concerned.

Need a list in a hurry? Don't care about assembly or weld-instructions or sorting? Then try these two:

CPVC List (CPVC)- Yeah, I know you aren't using plastic, but so what? CPVC list will give you a complete listing of fittings, piping and heads in a simple text document. Just do a Replace and change the CPVC to Steel or whatever and use that. Be sure to set the Diameter setting (CDL) high enough to include your main size. Find CPVC List on the Listing toolbar. The Set Diameter command is on the same flyout as CPVC List.

Dry Volume (DV) – Dry Volume will give you a list of the total length of each pipe size. Fittings and heads are not included, but some people use this to order pipe. Find it on the HydraTools pull down menu, under the Tools-> sub menu.

Setting a hanger up to hang from bottom of steel is fairly straightforward. What is not straightforward, however, is what happens next.

Setting it up simply consists of checking the Bottom option in the Hang From area. This turns on the Steel Depth option where you can enter that value.

Hangers using a Steel Depth value are colored differently in the drawing. In the drawing below, the hanger on the left is hanging from Bottom of steel. The one on the right is not:

Ok, so say a week goes by and you don't remember the steel depth stored in the hanger. To check it, you need to look at the XDATA of the hanger since this depth is not stored as an attribute. To check the XDATA, pick the Express pull down menu. then pick Tools->List Object Xdata

Then pick the hanger text and press enter. This will write the Xdata to the text screen. If you cannot see the lines below, press (F2) to display the text screen:

The Code 1010 field has the left (minus 1 foot) in it. This is the Steel Depth.

Now say you have a bunch if different steel depths and want to use the same five or six lengths over and over again. What I would do is draw a pipe off to the side and insert a hanger for each depth. I would label them for easy reference and then copy them as needed to the pipes they fit:

Our friends in New York asked us for a tool to cut piping up into a given length (usually 7') so that it can fit in a jobsite lift.

The command for this is Cut Into Pieces (CIP). It is on the coupling toolbar on a fly-out with Custom Coupling:

The dialog box is:

The tolerance is there so that you do not end up with a 1" piece of pipe because a piece 7'1 was sliced up.You will then be asked to select which pipes should be cut.

In earlier (2008 and older) versions of AutoCAD, when you started the MTEXT command you would get a toolbar popping up that had all the formatting options that applied. In 2009 and newer – no toolbar. Instead you would get a ribbon panel for MTEXT editing.

This was something that was bugging me all along, but because of a customer problem, I had just dealt without it.

How to fix it? Set the MTEXTTOOLBAR setvar to 1 (just type it in)

From the AutoCAD help: