Quick start: your first floor heating system

This page shows the shortest way from an empty floor plan to a connected loop, and the two most common changes afterwards. Every step has a picture; the details are in the linked tasks.

#1. Open the palette and prepare the room

Ribbon › tab LuaCAD › Floor Heating. The palette opens at the edge of the drawing, the first time on the Rooms page.

1. Enter a number, for example 1.01 – it applies only to the next room and is empty again afterwards. Empty = the room has no number.
2. Enter a name, for example Living (default "Room").
3. Leave the room temp. at 20 °C – it is a value shown in the room tag and the list.
4. The check box Insert room tag right away is on by default: the room gets its annotation right away.

#2. Insert a room

1. Click Rectangular room.
2. Click the first corner (1), then the opposite corner (2) – best with object snap on the inside corners of the walls.
3. The room appears with its room tag (3); the command line shows area and perimeter. The next room follows right away; Enter finishes.

Rooms with angled walls are inserted from a polyline or corner by corner – see Room from polyline and Pick room.

#3. Generate the heated area

1. Open the Heated areas page. The edge distance is 100 mm by default.
2. Click Generate heated areas and click into the room.
3. The heated area (1) appears: the room, offset inward by the edge distance (2). The command line shows its area.

#4. Place a loop

1. Open the Loops page. Defaults: counterflow pattern, spacing 150 mm, pipe 16 x 2, maximum loop length 100 m.
2. Click Place loop .... The dialog box with these values comes first – click OK.
3. Move the cursor over the heated area: the loop is already visible. Click into the area.
4. Click the connector point at the edge of the area (2) – supply and return leave there – or press Enter for automatic (on the side toward the manifold, without a manifold toward the center of the building).
5. The loop is created (1); the next area follows right away, Enter finishes.

#5. Insert a manifold

1. Open the Manifold page. By default the number of outlets matches the loops ("to match the loops").
2. Click Insert manifold …, then OK in the manifold dialog box.
3. The manifold hangs at the cursor. R rotates it, W aligns it with a wall (two clicks). Click at the wall (1).
4. The loops without a manifold get their outlet right away; their number now reads 1.01, for example. Enter finishes.

#6. Connect the loops

1. Open the Leaders page and click All loops of a manifold at the bottom.
2. Enter = all loops of the manifold. If there are several manifolds, click the manifold.
3. If there are several sensible routes, the cursor shows one solution in color – Tab switches, Enter accepts.
4. Supply and return run as a pair along the wall to every loop (2, 3). The command line shows the lengths.

#7. Change a room with a grip

1. Click the outline of the room – the GstarCAD grips appear.
2. Click a corner grip (1), drag it and click at the new position.
3. At the end of the command the heated area and the loop are rebuilt (2), the leaders and the room tag follow (3). One U undoes everything in one step.

More in Editing rooms with GstarCAD.

#8. Change a loop

1. Click Properties in the tools at the bottom (or Change loop ... on the Loops page) and click the loop.
2. In the dialog box set, for example, Spacing to 100 mm or Pattern to serpentine – OK.
3. The loop is re-placed with the new values; the leaders follow.

More in Changing a loop.

#What next?

• Spots without heating (shaft, kitchen counter): Exclusion areas.
• Divide a large room into several areas: Divide area.
• Tighter spacing at the exterior wall: Choose perimeter zone.
• Leaders through a hallway: Insert leader corridor.
• Annotation and lists: Output.
• Esc cancels any function; another button in the palette cancels the running command and starts the new one. One U undoes the last step.