Leaders

Leaders carry supply and return from the manifold outlet to the loop – always as a pair at the center-to-center distance. The page is ordered from top to bottom: connect by hand, edit, leader corridor, connect automatically.

#Draw leader by hand

Goal: draw supply and return of a loop yourself from the outlet to the loop – corner by corner.

Steps

1. At the top enter the center-to-center distance – the distance between supply and return, center to center (default 50 mm, allowed 20 to 300 mm). It also applies to automatic connecting.
2. Click Draw leader by hand. Before the first click the insertion help shows the procedure with a picture.
3. 1 of 2: click the manifold at the outlet – supply and return hang at the cursor right away. (Or click the loop; if it has no manifold yet, the command line asks for it. If the outlet is still free, you choose the loop to connect there.)
4. 2 of 2: click the corners. By default the pipes run in 90° increments, aligned with the manifold.
5. Arriving: a click on the loop (heated area, heating pipe or the cross at the connector) connects – so does F at any time. A click into another heated area connects to its loop; that loop gets the outlet where the run started. The bar at the cursor names the loop ("connect to loop 1.03").
6. Enter or Esc before the loop = stop here: the pipes get an open end. The command line gives length and "connected to the loop" or "open end" for each pipe.

Keys at the cursor

Options

If the loop is already connected, the plug-in asks: Redraw by hand (the pair is drawn anew and stays as drawn) or Recalculate as bundle (the loop runs in the bundle of the manifold again, updated automatically).

#Single (supply or return only)

Goal: draw only one of the two pipes – for example to continue at an open end.

Steps

1. Click Single (supply or return only).
2. 1 of 2: click supply or return – a leader (at the open end it continues), an occupied outlet on the manifold, or a heating pipe of the loop.
3. 2 of 2: click the corners up to the cross at the loop; a click on the loop or F connects. Enter or Esc = stop here.

The other pipe stays as it is. In a running run by hand, I does the same.

#Edit with grips

Goal: adjust a leader with the GstarCAD grips.

1. Click the leader – the grips appear.
2. Drag the midpoint grip of a straight segment: the whole segment moves sideways, the bends next to it keep the bend radius. Drag a corner: the corner moves, the segments next to it follow.
3. Hover over a corner grip: in the GstarCAD menu Remove vertex takes the corner away (at the loop the pipe gets shorter and an open end), Add vertex makes a new corner.

The partner (supply or return) follows at the measured distance where that is unambiguous; otherwise the command line says so. Afterwards the leader is by hand. Automatic again in the tools recalculates it in the bundle.

#Move

Goal: move one or more straight segments of leaders sideways.

Steps

1. Click Move. Before the first click the insertion help shows the procedure.
2. Click straight segments (they stay highlighted, clicking again deselects) – or click next to the pipes and drag a window. The bar at the cursor offers "Select / deselect segment", "Drag window" and "Finish – move".
3. Enter or Finish – move.
4. Click the new position – or press A and type a distance. Supply and return move together.

Every segment is moved as with the midpoint grip, also the first and the last one: the end stays at the manifold or the loop, and two corners are added. Only segments parallel to the first one are moved. The moved leaders are by hand afterwards.

#Cross and swap

Goal: let supply and return change sides at one end – or swap their tracks.

Steps

1. Click Cross or Swap. Before the first click the insertion help shows the procedure.
2. Cross: click a leader – at the end nearest to the click supply and return cross: near the loop just before the loop (1), near the manifold right in front of the cabinet (2). Again at the same end = crossing removed.
3. Swap: click a leader – supply and return swap tracks, the loop stays. Because outlets and ends stay, they cross at the ends for that. Again = back.
4. One step per click; the command line says where they cross now. Enter = finish, Esc = cancel.

#Insert leader corridor

Goal: draw a corridor – for example in the hallway – through which the automatic leaders run to the manifold.

Steps

1. In the section Leader corridor (for automatic connecting) enter the width (default 1000 mm, allowed 100 to 5000 mm) – or pick it with the pick button next to it: two points, their distance in plan becomes the width.
2. Choose the edge: whether the clicked line is the center, the left or the right edge of the corridor (flush left/right). Optionally Spread across the width: the pipes then lie spread over the whole width instead of close to the edge.
3. Click Insert leader corridor. Before the first click the insertion help shows the procedure.
4. Click the corridor point by point – roughly is fine, it is a sketch.
5. Enter = finish, the corridor is created. Esc discards only the segment at the cursor; the placed segments stay as the corridor.

Keys at the cursor

Options

• If the run starts or ends on an existing corridor, it becomes a branch of that corridor; at the end of a corridor it extends it.
• A width typed in the palette applies to the running run only after Enter or the check mark next to the field – until then the field is highlighted.
• If the corridor touches heated areas, the plug-in asks: Adapt heated areas (they are rebuilt and leave the corridor out with the edge distance) or Keep heated areas. With "Remember answer" it no longer asks; reset under gear menu › Heated areas at leader corridors.

#Edit leader corridor

Goal: change a drawn corridor – surface, heated areas and leaders follow.

Below Insert leader corridor are the corridor tools:

If loops are connected automatically through a changed corridor, the plug-in asks: Re-route (the leaders follow the corridor) or Keep (by hand). GstarCAD grips on the centerline of the corridor work the same way. Change the surface through the centerline – a deformed surface snaps back ("The surface of a leader corridor follows its centerline …").

#All loops of a manifold

Goal: create the leaders of all (or selected) loops of a manifold at once – as an orderly bundle without crossings.

Steps

1. Click All loops of a manifold. Before the first click the insertion help shows the procedure.
2. 1 of 3: click loops (again = deselect) – or press Enter right away = all loops of the manifold. A click on a manifold takes all its loops.
3. 2 of 3: click the manifold – skipped if it is unambiguous.
4. 3 of 3 (only if there are leader corridors): the matching corridor is preselected. A click on another corridor switches (only one at a time), Enter accepts, the option NoCorridor connects without a corridor.
5. If there are several sensible solutions, the cursor shows one in color: Tab or a digit switches, Enter accepts, Esc discards.
6. The command line shows the result ("V1: 6 loop(s) connected, leaders 48.3 m, 0 crossing(s) among them.") and the length with leaders for every loop.

What happens: supply and return run together along the wall or in the leader corridor and branch off square to their loops. With all loops of a manifold the outlets are reordered so that nothing crosses ("3 loop(s) moved to other outlets …"). With selected loops only these are added; the others keep their outlet. Afterwards the pipes follow automatically when a loop is re-placed or the manifold is moved.

Options

If the manifold has too few outlets, the plug-in asks: Extend outlets to n (the manifold gets enough so all loops fit) or Without these loops (the command line names them). For large manifolds a progress window shows the status; Esc there cancels – nothing changes.

#Individual loops

Goal: connect only the clicked loop – the leaders of the others stay as they are.

Steps

1. Click Individual loops. Before the first click the insertion help shows the procedure.
2. 1 of 2: click a loop.
3. 2 of 2: manifold and leader corridor are preselected; the command line names both. Click another manifold, corridor or loop = switch. Enter = connect.
4. Then the next loop right away; Enter = finish, Esc = cancel.

If the loop lacks an outlet, the manifold gets one more without asking ("Manifold V1 now has 7 outlets …"). The outlets of the other loops are never reordered; if the new loop crosses others, the command line says so – "All loops" reorders the outlets.

#Leaders in the insulation layer

Goal: set whether leaders may run under a heated area.

The setting applies to this drawing. When you change it, the leaders are recalculated (one undo step). The line below shows the status per manifold ("V1: 6 of 6 loop(s) connected, leaders 48.3 m.").