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AutoCAD Based Calculations (Ribbon/Toolbar/Location)
Description:
During the AutoCALC process, it gets hung up at step 5a.3b.
Re-Ordering Pipe Paths - Phase 2
Flowing sprinklers are connected to a looped main or grid lines drawn in the SPRNKDAT1 layer.
Change that portion of the main (SPRKDAT1) into the branch line layer (SPRKDAT2)
DO NOT draw branch lines in the SPRKDAT1 layer!
This will cause problems in BOTH AutoCALC & AutoLIST. Fabrication type and material for the stock list do not matter.
Process hangs because a pipe in the system has around than 0.001 gpm of flow and the program cannot determine the direction of water flow. It's trying the calc from both directions and cannot determine flow direction and getting stuck in a loop.
One trick is to increase the amount of flow from your remote area. For example, bump the density up for the AutoCALC process only, then when the file gets to HydraCALC, lower your density back to its intended value
2. pump reference points backwards.
3. mismatched pipe sizes and pipe types
4. vertical pipe attached to a sidewall sprinkler
5. Set up Drops as Equivalent K-Factors
6. No caps on the mains
7. Using Add Calculation Fittings - with pressure curves on multiple pipes.
8. New layer ArmOver is being used.
9. Minimum pressure block inserted at sprinklers
10. corrupted backflow
11. sprinkler head inserted on top of itself
12. in some cases using a different head block in the same remote area
13. The K-factor and start pressure generates a flow that is so small there are one or more pipes with 0 psi friction loss. The AutoCALC process uses the pressure differences at each end of a pipe to determine the water flow direction. (Flow towards the lowest pressure) The problem pipe is tagged as Ln-S or Mn-S (straight feed pipe - not a loop). The program only allows flow in one direction in a tree system. (When there is a low flow resulting in no friction loss - the pressures are equal at both ends of the pipe. Flow could possibly go in either direction. The program thinks the flow is going backwards and it just hangs.
2. delete and reinsert the water supply. PI is closest to the hydrant.
3. user has selected a pipe type that isn't made in the size that was chosen. Change the pipe type.
4. edit drawing to place sidewall on a pipe, not a hydrapipe.
5. Check off Set up Drops as Equivalent K-Factors.
6. Add caps.
7. Update to latest HydraCalc
8. Change arm overs from SPRKDAT4 to SPRKDAT2 and riser nipple type from "arm over" to "line" - will be fixed in 52.03 Rev2.
9. User had a 30PSI pressure block at a sidewall on end of branchline and an 12PSI pressure block on a pendant closer to the main. Removing the pressure block allowed the calc to run through. Remove the pressure block then adjust accordingly in HydraCALC. Known issue, still being looked at. See [Card #2] regarding this issue as to WHY it's happening.
10. Check for backflow preventer (or other loss curve) in Dwg. Remove from Dwg and re-insert once in Hydraulics
11. User inserted the same sprinkler head on top of itself, but the rotation angle was different so checkups/overkill didn't catch it. Will most likely be a flowing sprinkler head so start with those. I replaced all existing heads with a HEAD5 to quickly find the bad ones.
12. (i) Close the 'AutoCalc' setup window
(ii) In Hcad, replace the sprinklers so ALL flowing sprinklers are the **same** block.
(iii) run AutoCalc again. When you get into HydraCALC, fix the density/k-factor/area/pressures to match the original sprinkler values.
(iv) When you get back to HydraCAD, make sure to reset the sprinkler heads back to their original blocks. This issue only happens occasionally when sidewalls are involved but has happened with uprights
13.This happened with a standpipe calculation using a single K=5.6 to build the hydraulic input.
Try a larger K-factor (25 or 50) and higher minimum end head pressure (100 psi). This should generate more flow so that there is "some" friction loss in each piece of pipe and therefore a pressure difference at each end of the pipe.
Then the program can determine the flow direction in all pipes and continue to create the HydraCALC input.
Although it doesn't actually hang up this step (5a.3b) can take so long that it seems like it's hung up. The cause was a set of steps included in a particular version of HydraCALC:
Just wait a long time for the data to complete its setup or better yet:
Update from version 50.52.2 to HydraCALC V50.55 Rev4 or later.