Floor Heating

With Floor Heating you lay out a floor heating system in plan view (2D): you draw the rooms, LuaCAD derives the heated areas from them and lays the loops inside – as a counterflow or serpentine pattern, with supply and return, perimeter zone and the minimum bend radius of the pipe. On top come the manifolds with their outlets and the leaders from the manifold to every loop – automatically as an orderly bundle along the walls, through a leader corridor in the hallway, or drawn by hand. Room tags, loop texts, the loop schedule and the bill of materials come from the same data.

Everything is linked: when a room changes, its heated areas and loops are rebuilt automatically, and the leaders follow. Whatever you adjust by hand stays that way until you set it back to "automatic". The plug-in works in plan view only – there is no 3D.

#How this help is organized

From the big picture to the details – read only as far as you need right now:

The tasks follow the pages of the palette: Rooms, Heated areas, Loops, Manifold, Leaders, Editing with the tools and Output.

#Overview

This is how a floor heating system comes together, step by step:

1. Create the rooms – as a rectangular outline, from a polyline or corner by corner. Number, name and room temperature are set in the palette; the room tag comes along right away.
2. Generate the heated areas: the area is the room, offset inward by the edge distance. Use an exclusion area for a shaft or a kitchen counter, and divide large rooms.
3. Place the loops: click the heated area, choose the connector point – the counterflow or serpentine pattern is created automatically.
4. Insert the manifolds: the loops get their outlets ("1.03" = manifold 1, outlet 3).
5. Leaders: connect all loops of a manifold at once, add individual ones later, or draw them by hand.
6. Output: room tags and loop texts, loop schedule and bill of materials.

#The pages of the palette→

Open the palette from the ribbon › tab LuaCAD › Floor Heating; how a palette is laid out is explained in Getting started. Every page has an "i" at the top with a short explanation; "More in the online help" leads to the sections here. Every button of a page is listed in the Reference, every setting under Every setting in detail.

Highlighted buttons (in the color of the plug-in) insert something new into the drawing. The same Tools sit below every page. Values in the palette apply to what you insert from then on.

#Rooms→

Every floor heating system starts here. A room is a closed outline with number, name and room temperature; its heated areas and the loops inside are derived from it. At the top are the values for the next room, below them the three ways to insert a room and the buttons for editing.

Tasks on this page: Values for the next room · Rectangular room · Room from polyline · Pick room · Change room · Room tag · Insert / reposition room tags · Delete room · Check rooms

#Heated areas→

A heated area is the part of the room where the pipes lie: the room, offset inward by the edge distance. Exclusion areas (shaft, kitchen counter, built-in closet) stay free. You can divide a large room into several areas – each gets its own loops.

Tasks on this page: Edge distance · Generate heated areas · For all rooms · Divide area · Join areas · Exclusion areas

#Loops→

A loop is the pipe from the manifold (supply) through the area and back (return). At the top are the values for the next loop – pattern, on-center spacing, pipe, maximum loop length, perimeter zone – below them Place loop and the buttons for adjusting a placed loop.

Tasks on this page: Values for the next loop · Place loop · Maximum loop length · Choose connector point · Choose perimeter zone · Change loop · Delete loop · Loop automatic again

#Manifold→

The manifold distributes the heating water: one outlet with supply and return per loop, with or without cabinet. By default it gets as many outlets as there are loops on it. A new loop automatically gets a free outlet of the nearest manifold; Assign loops redistributes all of them so that nothing crosses.

Tasks on this page: Next manifold · Insert manifold · Change, flip, delete · Assign loops · Assign by hand · Manifold options

#Leaders→

Leaders carry supply and return from the manifold to the loop; their length counts toward the loop. By hand you draw them yourself, corner by corner. Automatically they run bundled along the wall or along a leader corridor and follow on their own when a loop is re-placed or the manifold is moved. Connecting never changes loops or heated areas.

Tasks on this page: Draw by hand · Single · Edit with grips · Move · Cross and swap · Insert leader corridor · Edit leader corridor · All loops of a manifold · Individual loops · Insulation layer

#Output→

The loop schedule (per loop: room, area, spacing, lengths; grouped per manifold with subtotal) and the bill of materials (heating pipe with coils, manifolds, edge insulation strip) as a table in the drawing or as a file, also across several drawings. Annotations are attached to the room, the loop or the manifold and follow it. The plug-in has no IFC export.

Tasks on this page: Loop schedule · Bill of materials · List options · Across several drawings · Update lists · Annotate · Annotate several · Loop text and coloring

#Tools (below every page)→

You see the footer at the bottom of every picture of a palette page: two columns of small buttons – Properties and Delete, Add vertex and Remove vertex, Move segment and Move corner, Automatic again and Check; the "i" next to the title explains them.

Properties, Delete and Automatic again act on the object you click (room, heated area, loop, leader, manifold). Add/Remove vertex, Move segment and Move corner apply to loops and leaders: corners get the bend radius, the partner (supply or return) follows at its distance where that is unambiguous; afterwards the loop is "by hand".

Tasks in this footer: Properties · Delete · Add vertex · Remove vertex · Move segment · Move corner · Automatic again · Check

#Keys at the cursor→

During a function the bar at the cursor shows all keys that apply right now – to click or to press. The same key means the same thing in every plug-in; the full list is in the Reference.

The Help button in the bar opens the help for the running function.