6.5. Editing pipe feeds<br>

## 6.5. Editing pipe feeds

### 6.5.1. Inserting pipe feeds in the drawing

After placing heating zones and manifolds in the drawing you can proceed with arranging pipe feeds. The routes of pipe feeds should resemble the actual layout of the system. This makes the drawing more useful as an aid in constructing the system and improves the accuracy of calculations.

It is advisable to draw pipe feeds from the manifold to the heating zone, not the opposite direction. In all usual cases, when the supply pipe feed runs parallel to the return line, a pipe feed pair should be used. The AUTO and ORTO modes are also helpful.

Before editing pipe feeds plan the assignment of manifold ports to individual HZ’s to avoid crossings.

When a HZ is being automatically connected to the manifold, by default the first leftmost unoccupied port of the manifold is taken and the pipe feed is connected to it. You can change this setting when drawing pipe feeds: in the “Manifold outlet no.” field in the data table indicate the “any” option instead of “first free” or specify a number of outlet pair. Then the pipe feed can be connected to any port or, when outlet number has been specified, the pipe feed will be automatically connected to that outlet.

¨ To link a HZ to a manifold using a pipe feed:

1. Select appropriate viewing scale. The optimum scale is such, that enables distinguishing the individual ports of the manifold and existing pipe feeds and at the same time displays the entire area across which the pipe feed should be laid.

2. Select the “Pipe feed pair” component by clicking on the button on the “Radiant” toolbar. The mode of inserting a pipe feed pair is enabled.

3. Position the mouse pointer on the manifold at the point where the port for the pipe feed is located. In the AUTO mode crosses indicate the port to which the pipe feed will be connected:

4. Press the left mouse button. The pipe feed is connected to the manifold. The mode of inserting a pipe feed (its first segment) remains enabled. Each subsequent single click of the left mouse button inserts a point of bend of the pipe feed. The current route of the pipe feed, which depends on the current position of the mouse pointer, is represented by a grey line:

5. To complete editing the pipe feed you have to connect it to the HZ. Position the mouse pointer on the border of the HZ to be connected. In the AUTO mode suggested points of connection are displayed:
a all you have to do is press the left mouse button: the pipe feed is connected to the HZ and the mode of selecting is enabled

6. If the AUTO mode is disabled, you have to position the mouse pointer on the edge of the HZ exactly at the desired point and then press first the left mouse button (to connect the pipe feed to the HZ) followed by the right mouse button (to complete connecting and enable the mode of selecting).

Making connections with the AUTO mode disabled may be necessary when in the AUTO mode the last segment of the pipe feed is placed incorrectly. The best solution in this case is to disable temporarily the AUTO mode by pressing the Shift key and make the connection.

A pipe feed may consist of any number of segments (in the drawing). These segments may be connected by means of an empty diamond symbol, which indicates a point of bend, or by means of a solid square symbol, which indicates a point of connection of pipe feeds (connection in the drawing, not in real terms) – a pipe feed with a solid square in the middle is treated by the program as two separate pipe feeds. This is admissible and has no effect on calculation results, but it makes editing of pipe feed data more difficult (one real pipe feed is divided into several parts which results in more rows in the pipe feed data table). If this situation occurs, use the function of combining pipe feeds (see next item).

Note the difference between the spacing between pipes in a pipe feed pair in the drawing and the actual spacing that is taken into account in calculations. When using the pipe feed pair component, they are drawn spaced apart at a distance. You can change the pipe spacing in data table when inserting a pipe feed - that distance, however, is not taken into account in calculations.

The actual distance between pipe feeds adopted for calculations may be specified by the user (in the data table in the field “Across HZ ...”) or it can be determined by the program. This, however, does not change the spacing in the drawing after calculations!

The length of the entire pipe feed and lengths of its fragments running across individual HZ’s are taken from the drawing – no matter how many segments there are in the drawing.

! Pipe feeds cannot be branched.

! Before making calculations, the program checks connections in the system. Therefore there should be no unconnected HZ’s or “blind” pipe feeds.

Each HZ requires two connection points – for the supply pipe feed and the return pipe feed. One exception is a HZ heated by pipe feeds - it has no connection points.