Design Master Plumbing

clean out

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 09:46:07 +0000

i was just wondering is there any option in dm plumbing to insert the CLEAN OUTS?

Plumbing Calculation Wish List

Thu, 27 May 2010 11:55:25 +0000

I know you are working on DM doing pipe sizing calculations. If possible please allow a way to choose a report format to print out the calculations for submittal to plans reviewers, Owners, etc.. Possibly it could be similar to the HVAC set up for calculation reports.

Vent Fixture Unit Calculations

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:24:48 +0000

I noticed recently that the venting calculates fixture unit values in the wrong direction in terms of connecting to the DW lines and in having the values calculate out to the end of the vent line. Is there any way to quickly fix this calculation or to change how the venting connects to the DW lines?

AutoCAD 2010 Ribbon

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:46:08 +0000

I just finished putting the finishing touches on the first pass at DM Plumbing ribbons for AutoCAD 2010. The CUIx with the ribbon is attached. To install it, put this file in your DM folder and use the CUILOAD command to load it into AutoCAD. It should automatically create the ribbons for you.

Give it a try and post back here what you think about it. This will eventually be included in the official release, but I thought some people might want to take a look now.

dm_plumb2010_ribbons.zip (53.53K)
: 2

how do you overlay the isometric on an xref

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:45:05 +0000

I tried to overlay a DM isometric over one of the xrefs we got from a client. I simply rotated the xref until it roughly matched up however the scales seemed to be off. Is there a specific scale that I should change the xref to? Any help would be greatly appreciated or maybe this is something that cannot be done.

p-traps

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:00:02 +0000

Is there anyway to change the size of the ptrap on the isometric. There are several cases where the P-Trap looks to be within the 2 pipe diameter of the trap weir on the isometric and I know that it is not. This becomes difficult to explain to a building official that my program incorrectly draws the size of the P-Trap. We even have a detail that we place on our drawings specifically showing the required distance of 2 pipe diameters because this has become such an issue with code officials. The biggest place it is a problem is with sinks, toilets and other fixtures located relatively close to a wall, but still far enough away to clearly have the trap distance. It would be nice if the trap distance varied with the corresponding pipe size or it could be set manually by the user to a value.

Thank you,

Zach

DM Plumbing 64-bit Beta

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:59:38 +0000

We are going to start the beta test of the 64-bit version of DM HVAC in the next week. If you are interested in participating, please send an email to david@designmaster.biz. In particular, I am looking for people who are willing to install the software in the next week. Please include in your email if that is something you will be able to do or not.

Layers and Names

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:46:30 +0000

I have a suggestion for the way layers are created in design master more to the point the types such as existing, new or . It would be wonderful if you could place a single letter before the WW or CW in the line type. So this way you have a color and new label. I was hoping for something like this instead of making an entire new pipe type called ECW for Existing Cold Water Supply.

I feel that creating the new pipe type is just a round about way to get where I want to go to. This way could also readily propagate changes made to the CW pipe type to all the different layers, so if the name changed to CWS then the existing would go to ECWS. In addition being able to auto create a Legend to explain the pipe types would be extremely wonderful. This would help with coordinating drawings if a pipe type is added late in the project, the legend would update on a coordinate drawing and database.

Thank you,
-zach

Gas Pipe Sizing

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:22:14 +0000

Design Master doesn't seem to like to do gas pipe sizing. The total length feature works backwards of how one would size a gas line. The distance is considered the run from the meter to the point you are using the gas. Design Master seems to want to take from the point you are using and work backwards. If you reverse the lines, then there is no way to show the total CFH at the entrance.

Not sure how to fix this problem since it would change completely how the functionality of the other plumbing lines would work.

Venting wish

Mon, 18 May 2009 19:31:26 +0000

It would be wonderful if you could specify certain drainage connections to have vents, too. This is especially helpful when wanting to show, the venting and drainage isometric together, so that building officials can do their checks.

New toilet plumbing

Wed, 13 May 2009 20:28:15 +0000

I am adding an upstairs master bath in a small room connected to the master bedroom. There is a wet-wall containing plumbing for an existing upstairs bath and existing downstairs bath. The existing upstairs and downstairs toilets each have their own wastepipes to the main drain in the crawlspace. Can a new toilet connection be added to the vented vertical wastewater pipe that serves the downstaires toilet or would this be a no-no? If not, can a 2-way toilet arrangement (one on each side of the wet-wall) be installed on the vented upstairs vertical wastepipe?

Standard Connections?

Tue, 12 May 2009 19:58:19 +0000

I started to notice that the connections are not standardized. You can pick and choose where the pipe connects to the plumbing line. This can be a rather large problem for something like back to back bathrooms, sharing a common drainage line. The lines will end up not matching and this can cause a lot of confusion and then frustration explaining to a building official how your drawing program does not line up just so.

It would be nice to have a set of 'sanitary' connections meant for the drainage lines. These lines are vastly different from the supply piping and it seems that the beta has addressed some of the issues but the connections not having standard 45 or 90 distances can be annoying.

Long waits after modifying one pipe

Mon, 11 May 2009 14:07:58 +0000

Is there some way to make it so that when I change the size of one pipe it does take 2 minutes for AutoCAD to then do its modifying pipe procedure.

-Zach

45 to 45 connections for Waste & Sanitary

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:31:26 +0000

Waste / Sanitary pipe contains solids. Solids will build up in waste pipe when the pipe takes a sharp turn.
All state codes require that sanitary pipe make 45 degree connections at every turn.
Could you guys develop a 45 to 45 connection for fixtures. The 90 to 45 connection looks great in plan view, however the isometric shows a 90 degree connection at the base of the drop. The 45 to 45 should look the same as a 90 to 45 in plan view, but the isometric view should show the 45 degree connection at the base of the drop.

Architect coordination

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:54:42 +0000

The dm model is created in a construct file and is then x-refed into a sheet file for all to use. This has always worked fine for the ductwork. When my architects open up the sheet file to print or whatever, they are getting nothing more than a blank floor plan. How can others view the dm objects w/o the software?

Data Base

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:44:38 +0000

Could a database such as an Excel Spreadsheet be used with lookup functions to size pipe? That way anyone could customize their pipe sizing. I have an Excel workbook that has pipe sizing data for a number of different types of piping if you would like to see it.

multiple scales

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:41:09 +0000

It would be helpful if we could assign a drawing scale to a north arrow. This way we could draw our enlarged plans on the same drawing. I could imagine if the main floor plan was 1/8 scale it may be possible to assign a north arrow to cut the dimscale in half for anything inside its boundry. A lot of my drawings run pipe into a restroom on the large view at 1/8 scale and then show it 1/4 scale for the enlarged view. This would be good for DM electrical too. It would probably be a programming nightmare but maybe not.

suggestions

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:25:42 +0000

First off, I would like to say thanks to Bob for giving me the introduction to DM Plumbing. I do believe it will be a great new tool for our business. I am only using the trial version so I don't seem to be able to create blocks. Some of my suggestions may be remedied using this feature.

1. It would be great if we could make assemblies such as lav, wc and even entire restroom banks or half baths that could be entered as a block and edited by stretching the different components to match placement of plumbing fixtures. Also assigning fixture tags to each fixture block so we could build our plumbing fixture schedule through DM would be convienent. I suppose this could be done with the pipe symbols feature and make the tags blocks but it would be nice if it were automated similar to diffuser callouts like on DM HVAC.

2. If the vertical must be manually drawn each time or even if it isn't, a toolbar for building them would be helpful. We would need to have p-traps and 45 degree connections that are in the vertical so it would be easier to build the assemblies without having to draw them in side view.

3. When creating blocks it would be good to be able to make the block either automatically align to the pipe in the pipes direction or choose to rotate it for the case of an assembly that needs to attach at an angle to the pipe direction. It would be nice to have the option of a highlight on blocks so you could show the grid in a floor drain without it looking like a blob.

3. It is great how the plan view puts a 45 where the pipes connect, but it isn't carried over to the riser unless the 45 is drawn manually.

I hope this feedback is helpful.

Sizing Pipes

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:31:58 +0000

For this first release of Design Master Plumbing, we chose to not include automatic pipe sizing. We struggled with implementing a universal sizing solution that would cover all of the various pipe sizing methods. Rather than delay the release of DM Plumbing six months to include a sizing method that didn't work very well, we chose to leave it out. We hope that we made the right decision.

In the future, we intend to include automatic pipe sizing as a feature. But before we do that, we need your help. Specifically, we need to know how you size you pipes. What codes do you use? What is your process for actually using the codes? What documentation do your plan reviewers require? The more information you can provide, the better.

We'll take feedback in whatever format you are most comfortable providing it. You can leave a message here, email me directly (david at designmaster.biz), or give us a call.

Thanks for your help making our software better!

Plumbing Wish List

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:21:07 +0000

This topic is a very incomplete list of features that have been requested by customers on this forum. As new suggestions are made, we will add them to this list. New suggestions should be made in a separate topic, not in this one. We don't mind if you make a suggestion that is already listed here. We would prefer to get two requests for a feature rather than zero.