The H-Factor

Reducing Entropy

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  • Sizing Armovers the Easy Way

    From a customer:

    Art, we are doing a hospital that has say 1500 heads per
    floor x 6 floors on armovers. When we go to tag the piping, the branch lines
    are say 1.5” the arms are 1” and the mains are 4”. Since the mains are on a
    different layer, they are easy to put tags on, but going through each piece of
    line making sure not to tag the arms with 1.25” piping is tedious and time
    consuming. And forget about having to retag them again if there is a water
    supply change or if your calc doesn’t work. Is there any intent in the future
    of possibly putting the armovers on a different layer so tagging them would be
    as easy as tagging mains and lines with no arms?

    My response:

    Yes, there is a plan for the future – but right
    now you have another option:

    1. Pick Size Pipe Setup
    2. Select 1” for the armovers
    3. Check Use Directional Filter and select the
      orientation of the armover pipe – Horizontal or Vertical. The Size Pipe routine
      will only size those pipes that match the selected orientation
    4. Note also that there is an option Do Not Resize
      Pipes Already Sized. This means that if there is a size already on a pipe, it
      will not get another size, even if it is selected. This, along with the
      Directional Filter should make it easy to size those branch lines and armovers

  • Where are the Hydratec data files?

    This question was posed by a customer and frequent blog reader. Here's the list

    HydraLIST:

    \HES\Hydlist\Ver50\Data\Setup – If you take the whole folder (not subfolders), you will always be safe. If you are the one doing the editing and want to copy these to another machine, then sort by date and just take the ones most recently changed

    HydraCALC:

    \HES\HydraCALC\Ver50\Data\Setup – The MASTER.DAT file in this location covers all the pipe types and equivalent fitting lengths. This file is usually all you need. If you create your own loss (backflow) curves, then take any *.HDT files that are dated when you created them

    HydraCAD:

    There are no files that need to be transferred unless you are creating your own overrides or listing instructions. Contact use for these file names of you need them

  • QNEW – Who Knew? When AutoCAD starts you in an aggravating template

    For the last six months I have put up with the fact that when I pick the New icon, I don't get the Start a New Drawing dialog, but instead get thrown into the 3D Land of Gray template. The only way around this for me is to pick the File pulldown then pick  New from there.

    Here is what is going on: The New icon actually starts the QNEW (Quick New) AutoCAD command. When you start a drawing this way, you get some default template as your starting point. This happens because somewhere down the line you checked (or unchecked) a checkbox in some dialog box.

    How to fix it? Well, I finally gave in and searched AutoCAD help for QNEW and found the answer – there is a setting in OPTIONS for this, as seen in the picture below. I went ahead and made AutoCAD now start with my own HydraCAD template:

    Template

  • Resending Emails in Outlook 2007

    I am sure everyone in the world knew this except for me, but if you want to resend an email to someone, just open it, and pick Other Actions off the Ribbon toolbar and pick Resend Message

    That is all

  • Getting Rid of a Bloated Scale List

    This one from Robert at Elite Fire who posed the question AND found the solution:

    Problem

    I have a problem with bloated scale lists when you plot
    which have ton of extra scales listed that look like

    " 1/8" =
    1'-0" XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_

    They seem to really bog down the
    drawing when attaching XREFS or copy/pasting from another drawing.

    From what I've read this looks like
    an Autocad issue, but I cant seem to get my arms around the fix for it.

    I've tried the scalelistedit
    command, but it usually doesn't work. It comes up with "Unhandled exception
    has occurred in a component in your application. Index was outside the bounds of the
    array."

    A new Hydratec DWG does not have
    these problems, untill you attach XREFs or paste from a "infected ?"
    file.

    Solution:

    The cure to my problems was to
    utilize the (-scalelistedit) command (note the dash in front of the command)
    select the reset option, and then the default scale list option.

    This cures several problems from
    slow loading xref files, slow copy/pasting, and the goofy scale lists when plotting.

    Turns out my mechanical contractor
    was sending me bad files, and once you paste from a bad file to a good file,
    you carry over all of the problems.

    Autodesk has some info on this, and
    appears to be a problem with 2008.

  • Using an Irregularly Shaped Window to Select Objects

    Way back since AutoCAD 2000 or something, it has been possible to select objects using a non-rectangular window. When you use MOVE, COPY or whatever, type in WP or CP (for Window Polygon or Crossing Polygon). You will be able to select using a selection 'box of almost any shape, juse pick as many points as needed to define the area and press Enter when done. This is especially handy when you have a building on a 45 degree angle.

    WP

  • CPVC – Internal Pipe Diameters

    Somewhere around 2003 the internal diameters of CPVC pipe changed, based on manufacturer.

    Prior
    to 2003 our database had CPVC dimension published by IPEX Blazemaster 
    (.884, 1.109, 1.4, 1.602)

     

    In
    2003 we updated the database to match data published at the time by Tyco, Spears
    & Harvel (.874, 1.101, 1.394, 1.598)


    Looking
    online today IPEX Blazemaster’s published data matches our new 2003 data.

    Our hydraulics data is not automatically updated on your computer, but we do publish new data files for download as they become available. To get the latest in valve and fitting losses along with new and adjusted pipe diameters, check our website regularly. New data files are always found in the Downloads-Data-HydraCALC section of the secure area of our support pages. The What's New page prior to that location always notes the last 12 months of data and program updates.



  • A Sordid Affair (or sorted, sort of)

    My coworker Paul noticed yesterday that his files were not getting sorted in Explorer like he was used to seeing them. Those that started with numbers were no longer in numerical order, at least not the way he wanted them. He dug around and found a Knowledge Base article on the Microsoft website.

    Sort Order in Newer Versions of Windows

    This requires some registry editing, so ask someone who has done that before if you are unsure about doing it yourself.

  • Submitting a 3D Model with Detailed Sprinklers and Couplings

    If you are requested to submit a 3D model that is highly detailed, there are two ways:

    Preferred – If you have NavisWorks, after you make the model of the sprinkler system, type NWDOUT at the command line to export a detailed NWD files

    -Or-

    Use the Make Solid Pipes command and choose the option to insert it into the original drawing. Then send the combined 3D model/Solid Pipes drawing to the architect/engineer

  • AutoCAD 2009 Subscription Bonus Pack 3

    Two subscription bonus packs have been uploaded to Autodesk website for AutoCAD 2009. These are available for all users who have a subscription with AutoCAD.

    The link is here: Subs Bonus Packs

    There are three videos explaining the contents of the bonus packs, which mainly cover PDF enhancements and 3D printing enhancements.