I totally agree,
I've had to draw manually around 900 flex pipes to connect 150 geothermal probes to the corresponding HDPE manifolds... it has been such a nightmare that I finally had to say to the client that it was "impossible to do with Revit MEP (in the given budget)".
Besides the fact that I haven't found any manufacturer family for those geothermal HDPE components & fittings, routing so many flex pipes by changing their routing elevations and trying to correct their bending radius to avoid the clashes with the borehole or the pile/cap fundations was nearly impossible.
The fact that it's not possible to slice or connect (with tap or tee) in the middle of a flex pipe or to control the resulting bending radius make it even worse ! As far as I know, there's no way to benefit from the auto-routing functionalities or from the pipe placeholder tools to generate flex pipes... so sad !
I expect it to be as difficult when I will have to route all the sanitary and heating PEx pipes and try to get proper upright bends into the screed at their ends.
As asked in this thread and in an other one about PEX pipes,
I think the flex pipe tool should be completely reworked to let us work this way :
In an "automatic routing" mode :
- first : we define the min & max allowed bending radius (type parameter)
- then : select start and end connectors (pipe, fixture, equipment...) or start/end height offsets and directions (vertical/horizontal) if no connectors are selected.
- then : choose a routing elevation (offset from level and/or face/refplane for sloped route e.g. along a sloped road, raft or terrain).
- (optional) : choose pipe crossing options :
- jump below/above (offset elevation, bending radius)
- connect with pipe (= place cross, double wye,...) or pass-through for fixture/accessories (= connect on both ends)
- avoid clashes with other elements (everything not of the same pipe system, concrete, trees...) by giving a minimal clearance distance.
- force some "pass-through" points and/or a desired length if required (for equal presure drop) .
- click "Run" to generate a "best fit" path.
- click next/previous to choose the one we desire and finally click "Accept".
Or in a "sketch" mode :
- first : we do exactly as above but for point 5 & 6 or edit the result of point 7.
- then : we draw in 3D a multi-planar multisegment model line.
- and finally click "Accept"
That would be the perfect flex-pipe tool !