Does anyone have any idea which of screen 13 or 14 in the DD wizard overides the
other?? I am using zone group definitions to give dtail on how individual zone
space is allocated (screen 14 of 25), but that does not seem to affect the
activites area allocation, (screen 13 of 25).
Anone have any thoughts or experience to share?
Thanks!?
Hi Paul,
These screens were an anomolie (sp?) to me until just this year thanks to a
younger fellow simulator who uses them quite efficiently. In fact, I always
skipped out of the wizard when it came to these screens until I took the
time to learn how to readjust & reallocate the % space inputs on these
screens. After learning to do this I now spend less time on the back-end
(ddedit mode) adjusting my HVAC system assignments... Yay!
Here's my attempt to explain what I've learned. I'll call out my colleague
Dan W. for help on this one if I mess it up...
Screen 13 is your % space based on the WHOLE BUILDING floor area. When you
move to screen 14 this is where you actually assign HVAC systems to your
zone groups. A zone group is a group of zones that can be assigned to the
same HVAC system. (NOTE: at this point you will want to have created your
basic HVAC systems types already in the wizard. This was a backward step
for me at first, but it works for when you switch to ddedit mode.)
So in screen 14 the % space for zone groups is based on the total floor
area of all the zones you want to group together. (at this point you should
also have a basic take off of floor area for your thermal zones.) Now after
you have "grouped" your zones that you want together you need to revise the
% space numbers in the top of the screen. (I've included a screen shot of
one of my models where I used the zone groups.) Note how I have zeroed-out
some of the % space input for other zones that I have not grouped into my
specific group I'm calling "Conference Center." With the revised % space
numbers make sure that they add up to 100%.
So to answer your question, when you use Screen 14 correctly these inputs
will override screen 13. If I should clarify anything better let me know.
Pasha
Thank you so much.? YOur description is how I thought things would/should work,
but, as Ronnie said many years ago "Trust, but verify"!
I am again a happy camper for now.
For completeness, for those learning or re-learning these wizard
screens, let me offer a related caution:
I always end up defining my own zone groups to be sure everything has
the occupancy scheduling that fits best, however there's a hidden
danger: DO NOT delete the default zone groups before first creating a
new one. You will otherwise potentially crash out your wizard model and
be unable to move forward. I've done this twice (fool me once...), so
it's pretty well ingrained in my active memory - but hopefully this will
help others avoid a headache!
NICK CATON, E.I.T.
I have been living on the edge,
I have deleted all default zones and not crashed....yet.? However, I have
multible shells, wonder if that is what is saving me?? Might make a nice
experiement,,,,,,
Thanks for the warning!
?
Since I'm still learning and experiencing this wizard tool for zone groups,
how or where do you assign different occupancy types/schedules to different
areas? Let's say for example i had a building with retail on the ground
floor and residential on the upper floors, how or where do I select two
different sets of operating schedules for the two different types of
spaces? Or can this even be done from this function.
Before I knew how to do this zone grouping thing in the wizard I would have
input these two different spaces as separate shells so that I could classify
them with different schedules...
am I missing something or not?
thanks,
Pasha
Allow me to second Nick's recommendation...
Many a midnight oil can and angry boss could have been spared...
Gary Schrader
as a general warning for avoiding crashes in the wizard mode i find it
best not to jump around between shells, hvac systems, site info, and
water heating. it has been best for me to only work in a shell, or
shells, then save & exit equest, back up.pd2 file, re-launch equest,
then edit hvac systems, etc... for water heating & site info also. this
way not only have i had a stable equest (no crashes doing it this way
about 3 years) but i get regular valid backups of my wizard .pd2 file.
I would assume oyou have to do that in the Detail edit mode.? I am not that far
yet.......
Sorry, time is short today for me so this is quick:
Wizards allow for X number of different occupancy types per shell
(however many rows are on that first screen). If you can define as many
occupancy types as you need for the whole building on that screen (keep
it simple!) with X slots, then you're golden and you can define your
retail spaces on the first floor distinctly from the others without
having to fall back to multiple shells.
Fewer shells is ALWAYS preferable, but if you have a large number of
occupancy types you need to account for, this may require you to split
up 1 large shell into multiples to account for everything.
My general understanding is, when all is said and done, equipment/people
loads coming out of the wizards are assigned to each zone in quantities
(Watts or people per SF) exactly as you've grouped/defined/weighted them
in these screens. The wizards will take a kind of weighted average of
all zones and their assignments, also considering your seasons and
similar project-level inputs to determine a fractional "building
occupancy schedule" & "building misc equipment schedule" unique to each
shell - if you have zone-specific occupancy schedules you'd rather use,
you'll still need to define those in detailed.
NICK CATON, E.I.T.