New User - Creating a Piping System

[Anonymous]

Good afternoon,

  I am a brand new AutoCAD MEP user, with only classroom based AutoCAD experience prior, and am looking for help with creating a piping plan of a hydraulic room. This hydraulic room contains a currently open system, that is to be transformed into a closed system by installing a fan heat exchanger at the opposite side of the room. The inlet/outlet of the existing system is to leave its current location and turn through 90 degrees in the horizontal plane while also dropping down into a trench to travel the length of the room. Once reaching the opposite site of the room the inlet and outlet will rise up out of the trench and connect to the fan inlet/outlet through two separate 2" SAE Code 61 Ports. 

  I have read numerous articles on here and have watched some videos, but have not yet been successful in achieving my desired goal. I have gotten errors about there being no such pipe available to connect to my created block part (the fan heat exchanger) or when it does there is a reducer introduced. There are no flow requirements stipulated as of yet, the design is simply to provide distance estimates for the piping.

  Could anyone help me to attach these two object across a room via a trench? The inlet and outlet pipes will travel the same route in parrallel (where the inlet starts at the top and finished bottom, and the outlet vice versa).

  Thank you for your time,

Tom

[CADmonkey_UK_Building_Services]

Hi there,

Short version: Always start with the right Template.

Long version:

1. I think you might have your Pipe Objects mixed up with your Plumbing Objects. You have no Pipe Styles or Routing definitions loaded except Standard. You have all kinds of Plumbing Object definitions loaded, though, but I wouldn't use them for your purposes. You need Pipe systems.

2. Because the MVparts aren't in my Catalog, I can't edit them directly.

I opened up a new DWG with a "UK AECB Model" Template, then pasted your bits in. I drew some Pipe, but it kept adding awful custom flanges. The reason for this is that your Connectors are sized at 50.8mm. The pipe "Size" is 50mm, so this is the size your connectors need to be. Never mind OD & ID, that is set up somewhere else and should be written into the Pipe definitions.

.

So you need to fill in some of the blanks here. Top Tip:Don't EVER modify the Standard definition of anything in Acad, always make a copy first, on pain of death.

There's no need to re-invent the wheel. Here's the Style Manager from one of the Default Templates:

[Anonymous]

Thank you CADMonkey_UK.

My colleague and I fear that we may be in over our heads trying to design this simple piping system. In all honesty, as clear as your instructions were, I am struggling to make any headway at all with our project. Sadly its leaving us dejected and disappointed.

We are using AutoCAD MEP 2017 in MidWest America (with the metric system, however, as hailing from Newcastle, England). Its a new program to our Engineering Department and we had hoped to use it to route pipe from an existing hydraulic system at one side of the room, into a trench, and into a to-be-installed heat-exchanger fan at the other side of the room.

Is there anything else you could offer in terms of advice/instruction? Without us trying to steal your professional skills for free.

Thanks again for your response,

Tom

[CADmonkey_UK_Building_Services]

If you have a bog standard installation of Acad MEP then this should be all you need (if not you'll need to sort that out first):

1. Start a New drawing from scratch with a suitable template (.DWT file). These templates should have been installed by default when Acad was installed. The one I use is "UK AECB Model" but there are others, perhaps you'd do better with "International metric". This should install a nice selection of Pipe Styles and Routing Prefs. These should get you started but editing Styles is not so scary once you get used to it. Golden Rule:NEVER edit any definition named 'Standard' without copying & renaming first.

2. Your MVparts need editing so the Connection Diameter is the same as the Pipe 'catalogue' size ie 50mm not 50.8mm. Only you can do this because the parts reside in your catalogues.

Good luck evangelising the Metric system. Get them to sort out their date formats will you're there. yyyymmdd FTW.

[Keith.Brown]

Where at in Midwest America are you located?  You wouldn't happen to be in the Chicago area would you?

[CADmonkey_UK_Building_Services]

"...hydraulic system...heat-exchanger fan...."

Why don't you send me the Make & Model of the 2 bits of plant and I'll have a look at them? I'll knock you up something half-decent and join it up with a couple of pipes which you can route to your trench or whatever. I promise not to make any Toon Army gags.

You'll still have to get to grips with the MVpart editor. Quickest and dirtiest way is to right click any block, and tell it to "convert to MVpart" and then add your connectors to it. If you look around you can get 3D DWGs of dumb blocks for Manufacturers. Mitsubishi and Daikin "Webcaps" have a huge range of CAD stuff. A lot of it is Revit but still loads of 3D DWGs out there - you shouldn't need to pay for it.

[Anonymous]

Mr. Brown, yes, I am. North West Indiana/Chicagoland area.

[Anonymous]

The Town are their own best joke right now...

I could do that, I'm out at lunch right now but when I get back I'll set up a zip file. Thank you.

We've been working on MVParts, we actually created our fan in there but the reason for our custom sized inlet/outlets was that we found our parts to be 2" diameter after looking at our datasheets. That's awesome.

Thank you

[Keith.Brown]

I live right in the city on the lake in Lincoln Park.  I used to teach AutoCAD MEP and would be willing to help/share parts etc without compensation.  I enjoy working with the software.

[Anonymous]

CADMonkey_UK please find attached a .zip file of some of our files. Given some are more delicate that's the most I could comfortably share. I'm confident you can see our dilemma/challenge with these, though. Again, thank you. Sizes of the room/trench I should be able to modify. The inlet/outlet of the larger piece of equipment is to be modified and determined but I should be able to do something there.

I have seen the libraries of common equipment and they all look fantastic. All the tutorials I've seen are great, but...typically "my" pieces seem to be "less standard"

Cheers

Tom

[Anonymous]

Attached a little more info

[CADmonkey_UK_Building_Services]

Are you using Metric or Imperial? The HE measures in feet.

Can you find a file on your system called something like "AECB Model Imperial.DWT"?

[Anonymous]

I'd typically use metric but these guys currently are mixing both. I prefer to use metric templates and adjust where needed if a drawing using them mixed as this one does.

I've seen that template file, yes.

[CADmonkey_UK_Building_Services]

This is scaled to Metric sizes. Any changes and you'll just have to rebuild it from scratch because it's not in any catalogue.

PS I'd stick to one unit system if I was you before you start having to deal with pounds per metre or somesuch,

Go to the Autodesk site and try to find some Pipe Libraries Extension Bonus Subscription Enhancement Freebies, even if they are from a previous version.

[briansik]

i have been looking on manufacturer sites for MEP blocks.  ALL of them are Revit.  Where do you find Autocad MEP parts?  i just assumed that no one at all uses Acad MEP for real piping and HVAC drawings because I never see any real life examples.

What am I missing?

Brian

[CADmonkey_UK_Building_Services]

What kind of equipment are you referring to? If it's standard plant you should just build your own from whatever the Manufacturer offers. It needn't be complicated even for installation/coordination. So long as the LxHxW and the Connectors are right what else would you need?  You can simply trace over a 2D PDF if you have to.