Pipe insulation nightmare

[Anonymous]

It appears that when you change the insulation thickness of a pipe fitting, the sizes of the fittings change also. I have drawn a bunch of piping at the default 0" insulation thickness. I then went back and changed it all to 1.5" thickness to verify I had proper pipe to pipe clearances and all of my fittings increased in size (larger radius on elbows for example). So I tried to go back and adjust all of the pipes so that they connected to the fittings again. However, when I drag the end of a pipe over to the fitting connection point, the fitting reverts back to 0" insulation thickness. Then when I change the fitting back to 1.5" insulation, the fitting increases size again and I have to adjust the pipe again, and the process repeats itself. Please tell me I'm doing something wrong because that is ridiculous.

[dbooze]

What your probably seeing is the dimension of the pipe with the insulation. Once you've applied your insulation thickness to an elbow, go to a section view and hover your mouse over the fitting. You should see the outline of your pipe "within" the outer visual boundary of the fitting.

[Anonymous]

I think that I am familiar with what jayspot is referring to. When you draw a pipe system with the insulation set to 0" then select the pipes and fitting and set the insulation thickness to say 1.5" what seems to happen is, the elbow changes pipe size and the pipes are no longer connected to the elbow. In other words if you select the pipe on either side of the elbow it becomes "highlighted" and the end of the pipe is actually beyond the beginning of the elbow, if you then connect the end of the pipe with the end of the elbow the insulation thickness for the elbow get set back to 0". If you then change the insulation thickness of the elbow to 1.5" you get the same result as mentioned previously. Any Suggestions???

[JacobJBB]

Yes! I knew it wasn't just me. I thought it was a weird anomaly on my part and I was just imagining it but I guess its a real issue. What I'm trying to say is... yes I have the same problem. Sorry that doesn't help much.

[Anonymous]

Well Jacob, I'm glad that we could prove that you're not totally INSANE. Though some times I do think that I am heading that way my self when crazy stuff like this occurs. I'm actually aa little nervous right now 4:05 EASTERN time, I am trying to open a project that has recently crashed on me due to splitting a duct and the file will not open, it is stuck on 52% while trying to import an AutoCAD pipe model. WISH ME LUCK!!

[Anonymous]

The only way to fix this at the moment is to use the Trim command with the Trim/Extend Single Element option enabled. Once your insulation thicknesses are set for both your pipe and your fittings follow these steps.

1. Start the Trim command.

2. Select the face of the fitting.

3. Select the pipe.

4. Repeat.

Unfortunately, I do not think that there is any faster way to do this, but this will allow you to at least make your drawings look right.