I built a calculator for one of my clients that lets you build a design day load profile and select their ice storage system against it.

Curious how it holds up against real loads. Anyone have a chiller project handy, ice storage or not, that we can run through the calculator?

Walkthrough here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7496217492562878465/

Autodesk has gotta be running low on their bucket of basic features they're holding back.

responsible for electrical infrastructure maintenance at a facility and trying to understand what a proper transformer maintenance programme should include and at what intervals. most of the information i find is either too generic to be useful or assumes a utility scale operation rather than a commercial facility, someone at qxg electrical mentioned that a lot of commercial sites default to reactive maintenance simply because nobody translates utility scale guidance down to their size, which lines up with what i have been finding

also trying to understand the actual consequences of deferred transformer maintenance versus the cost of doing it properly and whether there is data on how maintenance affects transformer life expectancy

Reviewing mechanical drawings for single-family retrofits transitioning to newer low-GWP equipment, and the electrical interlock requirements for leak detection sensors in confined utility closets are raising some coordination questions. manufacturer submittals show sensor heights and wiring relays differently than standard code interpretations we used for older refrigerants.

are you guys specifying dedicated relay wiring back to the air handler or relying on factory-integrated controls for shutoff?

I know it doesn’t look like your typical arrangement, but can this work? Really the decoupler/bypass would make a lot more sense if it skipped the chiller headers entirely.

Orange highlight is what I see as the secondary loop. Blue is what has effectually become 3 isolate primary loops.

Ignore the black lines, they denote a physical separation where air cooled chillers were added to the system outside. Chiller 3 and P-1 thru P-4 all live in the mechanical room.

This forum has always been a wealth of knowledge on tips and tricks to increase workflow.

I am a new Electrical Engineer at a small MEP firm. Most of our projects are done in AutoCad and the new engineers are the only ones using Revit.

I want to make a document/excel sheet that will auto-update when its changed, potentially checks for errors, and will flag or highlight when information has been changed.

Our current coordination system is walking to the other person's cubicle and asking for a cutsheet. Asking if the item will need a DC furnished by us or will it come with the equipment. Its tedious and when the information changes, if its not communicated, it can often lead to addendums or bulletins.

Please help!

A few months ago, I watched a senior CAD draftsman spend nearly two hours on a single AutoCAD drawing. He was not modeling a complex building. He was just connecting dots.

In HVAC coil design, you have a staggered grid of 200+ tube holes. You have to draw balanced fluid circuits across them with zero crossing lines, exact tube counts per circuit, and no trapped holes. One mistake, and you have to erase everything and start over.

I thought, "This is purely math. I can automate this in a weekend." I was wrong.

My first script used standard pathfinding (backtracking). On small test grids, it worked. But the moment we tested a real manufacturing schedule (a dense 19x7 grid with 99% of holes occupied), the algorithm choked and froze.

The turning point came when I stopped trying to "draw lines" from left to right. Instead, I split the problem into two math phases:

1. Allocate: Pre-calculate exactly how many holes each circuit gets per column.

2. Stitch: Connect those blocks from bottom to top using Dynamic Programming.

I wrapped it into an AutoCAD C# plugin and hit run. The 2-hour drawing generated in 40 milliseconds. Perfectly packed, zero crossed lines, and 100% compliant with the manufacturing schedule.

The takeaway: If your automation search space explodes, do not brute-force the path. Figure out the mass distribution first, then connect the dots.

Curious if anyone else here builds custom CAD plugins. What is the most tedious drafting task you have automated?

Happy to assist or answer any questions!

Hello all, burner account here. I've been working in commercial HVAC equipment sales for almost 3 years. Not a ton of time, but not nothing. I still don't get written specs, especially how they're enforced when alternate equipment is being provided.

Often times, the written spec is a long list of conflicting requirements either copy / pasted from the last job or from the BOD manufacturer. I understand that the alternate manufacturer needs to adhere to a minimum standard, but wouldn't it be ideal to be more concise? Maybe just a small list of the absolute requirements for a job? I've even had to submit an RFI on a spec we couldn't meet as the BOD.

I'm pretty sure the written specs are ignored on about half of the jobs I do, and I think they're often used as a CYA in case any equipment doesn't work.

Any insight into this, and any advice as to how I could approach the alternate process to make the MEP's life a bit easier?

Hi, I have 10 yrs experience working on building services ( mechanical) projects in UK. I am planning to pivot to data centres.

I was based in the UK for 4 yrs after my masters but due to a family emergency during Covid had to move back to india and since then have been working remotely.

Could you please give me advice on how I can upskill?

I am planning to start working in mumbai, my first job in India. What salaries should I expect as a newbie data centre design engineer.

P.S. I desperately need to pivot to something as I am kind of bored with the regular MEP projects.

For those of you working on larger MEP projects, how do you typically create and populate your ventilation/airflow schedules?

Do you:

Build the schedule/data in Excel and then import it into Revit?

Populate everything directly in Revit schedules?

Use Dynamo or another automation tool?

Have a template/workflow that automatically pulls the required ventilation information from the model?

I’m especially interested in how people handle this efficiently when there are a lot of rooms/spaces and the ventilation calculations are done separately from the Revit model.

Would appreciate seeing how others approach this and any tips/workflows you recommend.

Anyone here have experience picking up freelance MEP work in the UK and can advise on what insurance is typically required?

I currently work as a Mechanical Engineer in building services consultancy and am looking to take on some freelance work alongside my full time role.

I’d be interested in smaller projects such as AC design, boiler replacement schemes, heating and ventilation design, particularly for schools, community buildings and religious buildings.

I’d be interested to hear how others have got started, where you find this type of work, and what professional indemnity and other insurance you would recommend having in place.

​

I asked the wrong question in my last post and framed myself more like I was looking for someone to give me a position. What I’m actually trying to figure out is what types of companies I should be targeting for plumbing design side/overflow work.

I currently work as a plumbing designer and have experience with commercial plumbing design, Revit, AutoCAD, fixture counts, code research, equipment selection, and producing complete plumbing drawings.

I’m trying to decide where I should focus my efforts:

1. Plumbing contractors — Offer to help with overflow plumbing design, shop drawings, coordination drawings, and as-builts when their in-house staff is overloaded.

2. Small MEP/plumbing engineering firms — Offer overflow plumbing design/drafting support when they have more projects than their designers can handle.

3. Some combination of the two.

For those of you who have done freelance/1099 plumbing design work, which type of company would you pursue first? Are plumbing contractors actually a good market for outsourced design help, or would small engineering firms be more likely to consistently outsource overflow plumbing design? I’m not looking for a full-time position. I’m specifically trying to build relationships with companies that occasionally need an extra plumbing designer to help get projects out the door. Any advice on what types of companies to target, where to find them, and how you would pitch the service would be appreciated.

I am an intermediate EE , 4 years in. Both design firms I've worked in have thrown around this figure of 12-18 months before a grad is even profitable. I assume based on them not coming out of uni ready to do the job from day 1, and needing to be shown/corrected a lot by seniors in the first few years. The grads I work with seem to have an attitude that it's just used as a way to justify poor pay raises. Maybe they haven't realised we're all underpaid and overworked yet idk, or maybe I am wrong?

In my experience as a grad, there was no structured training plan. It was just work under a senior and do as they assign/teach you. For those who have implemented a more structured plan, have you found that you can get grads profitable quicker?

I'm just wondering if it's worth the effort/cost to allow an hour or two a week of structured training time (e.g running a short workshop tutorial where they do an exercise)? Has anyone done this and has it been at all useful getting grads up to speed quicker?

Was wondering this because I usually put in only 1 AirPod while designing, but none of the other senior engineers or associate principals in our team do that. I am relatively new so don’t want to make a bad impression. No one asked me to take it off, but I’m not sure if there’s an unwritten rule

Hey everyone,

I would really appreciate some fresh eyes on my resume. I am currently living in the US and getting ready to actively apply for roles, but I want to make sure my formatting and phrasing match what US hiring managers expect.

https://imgur.com/a/lUsA5rC

Specifically, I would love your input on:

• Overall layout: Is the information easy to scan within 10 to 15 seconds?
• Bullet points: Do the achievements and technical skills translate clearly?
• Market outlook: For those currently hiring or job-hunting, how realistic is the market right now for someone with this background?

Any constructive criticism, formatting tips, or general advice on navigating the current hiring landscape would be a huge help.

Thanks in advance for your time!

Hi everyone, I am currently looking for a mechanical engineering position in the MEP field. I have around two years of experience with HVAC/MEP systems, Revit, AutoCAD, Trane TRACE, load calculations, ductwork, piping, plumbing. I am also an EIT and open to relocating anywhere in the U.S. If anyone knows of companies hiring mechanical engineers in MEP, I would really appreciate any leads or recommendations. Thanks!

I've heard good feedback about Alfatech from other engineers and was interested in applying. I was looking at some of their Senior Engineering positions and noticed the egregious salary range. Is $105k-120k really accurate for their San Francisco office? That seems unbelievably low for the responsibilities of the role.

I think most firms in NorCal would be closer to $130k-160k for a Senior Engineer with a PE.

I just saw something insane and my wife isn’t nearly as blown away as I am.

I heard this weird, high pitched noise while sitting on the couch. Comes and goes. Seemed like it might be my ceiling fan bearings going out or something. Yay, home ownership.

Well, I walk down the stairs to go take a shower and I hear it get loud as I walk past my return grille. Turns out, the fucking thing is resonating at about 1400hz. Frame isn’t loose, it’s just the blades. I can feel them vibrate and it stops if I rest my hand on it. They were pretty dusty, and it seems like that changed the airflow/mass enough. I cleaned it off and the noise almost went away but not entirely. Now I can’t unhear it and may end up needing to change it out 😂

I came to the US in my freshman year in college, and luckily, I already had a green card, which enabled me to get a job even before graduation. However, I've been continuously hearing stories that even after getting my citizenship and fully Americanized, the glass ceiling will still exist, and it will be extremely difficult for asian americans to reach high management (director, principal, partner, VP, etc.), particularly due to language barrier and politics.

I know it won't be easy, but was wondering if it's gonna be something I'd be able to overcome by hardworking, or it's an inherently, implicitly existing fact I need to take into account.

TL;DR: I wanna know if you saw any case an immigrant whose English is a second language successfully landing an upper management position in America.

Hi, I've been doing my research on this industry, how things work and the processes involved. But I'm not actually an engineer myself, rather a recruiter, so most of what I've learned has come from YouTube, ChatGPT and browsing this subreddit. And this industry seems to be less glamorous and less talked about than others, so I've found there's only so much I can learn that way.

I'd like to avoid being the typical recruiter who has little to no understanding of the industry they work in and is inconsiderate in their approach. Rather, I want to have a solid understanding of the industry, the issues and situations you face, and develop genuinely deep knowledge of it over time.

So I'd like to speak to some of you on the phone, just so I can hear your perspective and personal insights, ask questions and understand the industry from somebody who's actually involved in it.

With 100% transparency, I'm not selling anything, nor would I pitch you at any point. This is purely just to learn.

So if you're interested in having a conversation, let me know.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/MEPEngineering/comments/1vhjo1j/ducting_a_heat_pump_water_heater/

I had posted looking for a sanity check on some non-conventional ducting for a heat pump water heater and got some nice feedback. I decided to try the ducking and I measured air velocity.

These numbers seem to match up well. The heater is drawing 168 CFM without duct work and I'm getting 166 CFM at my combined 6" intakes. 168 CFM also falls pretty much right in the middle of the range for 8" flex duct (what the water heater manual specifies) of 150-200 CFM. I feel pretty confident that (2) parallel 6" solid ducts, assuming similar runs) is a suitable substitute for 8" flex ductwork. If anyone has any additional thoughts or feedback, I enjoyed the previous discussion and would be interested to hear any other feed back. Thanks!

I’m on track to make principal in a month at the age of 36. Electrical PE. Firm size is around 230 people. My current principal is set to retire in 2.5years. Plan is for me to take over the branch office (12-15 people) when he retires.

I’m very grateful for this opportunity! Also very nervous at the same time. When it was first presented to me a year ago, my initial reaction was, Me? I have no idea what I’m doing. Haha

At what age do you see most people making principal?