Bad building component

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Hi all- I just finished inputting a ton of HVAC systems and trying to run calculations and I?m getting a bad building component error- but nothing is showing up in the BDL errors and it?s not trying to run so I?m not getting a DOE2 report with an error.

Do you have any ideas on how I can find what is stopping the calcs before they even start? I?m not sure where to look to find what is causing the error? I?m not even what to look for in the inp file to find what?s not work.

I?d appreciate any ideas you have to help me push through this error to get it to calculate?

Thanks for your thoughts on this.

Pasha
Ph: 308-763-1593

Pasha Korber-Gonzalez's picture
Joined: 2011-09-30
Reputation: 600

Hi Pasha,

A couple things come to mind, but this can be tough to diagnose without knowing the steps you took when adding the HVAC inputs. Did you only work in the eQuest user interface, or did you work in the .INP file as well?

I just had this one recently and it was coming from a single-zone system that had an incorrect thermal zone specified as it's control zone (incorrect in that the specified control zone was a thermal zone under a different system).

I recommend troubleshooting by opening the file back up with 'pause for errors' selected. That usually does a good job.

You can also open the .BDL file and search (ctrl+F) "error".

_______________________________________________
Ethan Seaman
Sustainable Design Analyst
SMMA
t: 617.520.9288
www.smma.com

eseaman413's picture
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Joined: 2019-05-07
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I'm rusty on this stuff but Ethan is absolutely on the right track!

"Loading" occurs both when you first open a project with eQuest, and as well each time you simulate the file - in each case you normally see a "loading" bar. When you have parametric runs, the BDL is "loaded" separately with the prescribed differences being implemented for each run.

I highlight/add this perspective re: when "loading" occurs to help clarify Ethan's suggestion regarding the BDL file. In each case of "loading" there should be a text file generated at that moment (timestamp), and for large projects with lots of versioning/parametric runs you may find a corresponding number of different BDL files in your project directory. You'll find warnings/errors that pop up in the loading the file will sometimes prevent simulation from happening, and sometimes won't prevent simulation. If/when you can find an ERROR in the BDL file and it isn't immediately obvious what the issue is, you can often learn a lot by considering the exact line/position of that error relative to the last-loaded model component and/or keyword, and thinking about what else in the model references that component.

Hope that's helpful!

~Nick

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Nick Caton, P.E. (US), BEMP
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Energy Manager, Yokota Airbase
ESS - Energy & Sustainability Services
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Nicholas Caton2's picture
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Joined: 2019-03-25
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Ethan- Thank you! I worked only in eQuest interface to set it up-- buy
your reference of the wrong control zone might be likely. I'm doing a VRF
system in DOE 2.3, and I don't have a good step by step reference to make
sure I have set it up correctly. I;ve been able to get through this
initial error that I first referenced, but now I have some errors in
running the file that I think is specific to the VRF units. The error I'm
able to "see" is a convergence error- I've never gotten anything like this
before, and it appears differently in the SIM file than we are used to
seeing. I am grateful for any insight the rest of you have.

[image: image.png]

Pasha Korber-Gonzalez's picture
Joined: 2011-09-30
Reputation: 600

Hi Nick! Yes this is certainly helpful, and I am going to work through the
Loading- advice right now...hopefully I'll get to the next space of info
that will give me direction on what to correct so I can get some numbers
generated and then calibrated.

Thanks so much for your input!

Pasha

On Mon, Oct 10, 2022 at 10:36 PM Nicholas CATON
wrote:

Pasha Korber-Gonzalez's picture
Joined: 2011-09-30
Reputation: 600

Pasha, no problem ? thank you for including the screenshot below. Did you maybe set the flow/capacity to 0.0 cfm/ton, or the coil-BF to 0.0? eQuest could be trying to divide by 0 somewhere which is never good. I have a feeling the issue is coming from the flow/capacity input (or related inputs that it gets it?s values from). After it says ?convergence failure:1?? it says 1/1/1 which means the failure is on the first hour of the year which is a clue (no auto-sizing can take place if the flow/capacity is zero).

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~ ~ ~

P.S. Here is a reference for the VRF system. This youtube video is by Douglas Maddox who helped to develop the VRF systems for DOE 2.3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZlcEXa4tHQ

_______________________________________________
Ethan Seaman
Sustainable Design Analyst
SMMA
t: 617.520.9288
www.smma.com

eseaman413's picture
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Joined: 2019-05-07
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Thanks Ethan for that feedback- what you stated makes sense. I was able
to move past the error in another copy of the file and recreating all the
systems one-by-one to make sure nothing was stopping the calculation run,
but I'll go back to the original file with the error and see if I can find
where that is happening. And thank you soo much for sending the VRF file
too. This will be helpful. I don't think I've seen this before, so I
really appreciate this additional information.

Cheers,
Pasha Korber
Ph 308-763-1593

Pasha Korber-Gonzalez's picture
Joined: 2011-09-30
Reputation: 600