Hanger Rod Sizes

[ksperopoulos]

I know there is an option to automatically adjust the hanger rod diameter per the pipe size as opposed to the hanger size. This "hanger rod specification" is applied to the individual ITM as shown below.

This is not a good solution when you try to apply the same hanger ITM to two different types of material.

For example:

• Pipe #1: 4" steel pipe, filled with water, no insulation = 4" clevis hanger with 5/8" diameter rod
• Pipe #2: 2" copper pipe, filled with water, 1" insulation = 4" clevis hanger with 3/8" diameter rod

     (These rod diameters are based off MSS-SP-69, which is a widely accepted standard guide for pipe supports.)

Since the "hanger rod specification" is applied to the individual ITM, you would have to have one clevis hanger ITM for steel material and another clevis hanger ITM for copper material. If you multiply this one example by all the hanger manufacturers and different types of hangers, our libraries would have multiple copies of the same ITM file that would have to be managed.

My suggestion is to apply the "hanger rod specification" to the service template conditions area similar to how support specifications are applied. Or even better yet, the support specification could be an all-encompassing specification that would control the spacing and the rod diameter. Then this specification could be applied to any ITM file based on its button code.

[Dave_Mangham]

This is a great request.

However, taking this one step further.

We need the ability to 'swap out' hangers for pricing analysis.

Also, there may be occasions when site conditions dictate that some areas could use soffat mounted hangers & other areas require floor mounted supports.

An option to isolate objects by system / area / zone & then apply the hanger specification would be beneficial.

[Anonymous]

I think this is where developers get pulled in 2 different directions.

As a guiding principal, there should never be more than 1 piece of content that represents the same physical item.  Currently, that is not the case, often we need to make multiple pieces of content that represent the same physical item for the sake of functionality.  Not always possible, but they should drive toward this direction.

Where the problem comes in, is specific vs generic content.

Cast Iron....Copper fittings are perfect examples. Cast Iron is the same regardless of Mfgr, Copper is pretty much a commodity and the supply house may send you Mueller, Elkhart or Nibco regardless of what you order. From a coordination perspective, it;'a the same, from an extimating perspective, it's not.  There's really no good way to swap content just to get comparible pricing for different vendors. (No, Design-Line isn't acceptable unless it fills 100% al lthe time).

In the case of Hangers, I'm perfectly OK managing multiple hanger ITM's that represent different manufacturers and hanger types. Others may not and want a more generic "clevis" because it doesn't matter, they need to hold the pipe and they need the total station point.

I'd really like to see content such as this looked at in the bigger picture to address these types of issues.  Allow content to not multiple in quantity just to leverage desired functionality, yet make it flexible so it can conform to the situation at hand.

To leverage the functionality of sizing rod and clevis independently based on pipe, insulatio etc., we do need to create seperate "libraries" of some of the same hangers for this purpose and apply different support specs to them (MSS 69 Copper, MSS 69 Steel, etc.) Not as bad as when we use to have a seperate ITM per rod diameter years ago.

I think there's other similar situations like this all over the place.

Ideally, the abiltiy to leave all the content a little less "Specific" at the ITM level, and auto select those settings based on a "Rules" engine that allows you to build what ever consitions you want based on whatever combination of services, materials, sizes, options, connectors, insulation, seams, etc. tghat you pick.