Crawlspace Vents?

Richard_Morrison

By Richard_Morrison,
in General Q & A

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HumbleChief

HumbleChief

Posted
Posted

No, it's not that easy, because unless you put them in the bottom section of a pony wall so you can display the upper section in plan, they will show up on the floor plan and be very confusing. Not sure yet where the sq. ft. is coming from, but you are right that it does seem wrong. Certainly for a louver vent with reduced NFA.

Ah, slow to catch up sometimes. I see that was probably the reason for dragging it up in the first place?

 

Square footage is 1'4"(16") x 4" = 64/144 = .6667 or /.67 SF (not 14" x 4" = 56)

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Kbird1

Kbird1

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Posted

The Library Foundation Vents are a mess 

 

- their auto labels report the wrong size, at least to me, report it all in inches the 14x4  reports as 1406VT in the schedule so 1'4"x6" , which is wrong anyway it's symbol size

- the 14x6 vent should size at 16x8 with the 1" frame around them , same as the 14x4 sizes at 16x6

- they seem to calculate the opening from the symbol size not the opening size   ie they calculate the 1" frame of the vent so 16x6  on a 14x4 vent opening (even if you change the opening for the symbol)

- RO is listed as 16x6 too on the 14x4

- the Library Vents "find" the wall surface in whatever wall you place them and fixes there, hence when you slide a foundation wall vent up it cuts a hole in the siding and plywood

- not sure why they default to 74" above the floor ?

- they auto add Headers ...cos they are " special windows"

- as Richard said they make the floor plan ugly with cutouts in all the walls that look like windows (confusing)-- the pony wall appears to be the only way around it

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HumbleChief

HumbleChief

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All true, and sad, they could actually be a pretty useful tool given a little more thought. Or as I think Scott suggested, make 'vent' an option in the window drop down dbx. then they would have the options of a window plus you could drag them from the foundation floor into the 1st floor without having the first floor plan messed up.

 

Or just label windows/vents as vents then all should be OK? I wonder. 

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Joe_Carrick

Joe_Carrick

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Here are a couple of macros:

%Foundation Vents% ---------------- Make this the Label of the Vents in your Plan
%Foundation Vent Totals% --------- Put this in a Text Box

Create a Window Schedule that only contains "Vents" with the "number" field included. and uncheck Group Similar Objects
Make Sure "Vents" is not checked in your regular Window Schedule.

Note, I used owner.width*owner.height to calculate the areas. If you are using a 1" frame around your vents then the macro would need to be changed to (owner.width-2)*(owner.height-2)

Foundation Vent Macros.zip

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Kbird1

Kbird1

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Hi Joe , thx for the Macro , I am seeing the same problem (whatever it is) as Richard.

 

The 1" frame around the library items is just the metal Flange of the Vent  ie the 16x6 Vent actually vents a hole 14"x4" , though CA is reporting the Vent as 16x6 ,and even reports the RO at that size. (unless I am misunderstanding something?)

 

post-315-0-47154500-1432591719_thumb.jpg

M.

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builtright3

builtright3

Posted
Posted

I would love it if CA could have an "in house" spread sheet or a way the we can export excel into it and still have the working calculations. In addition to the macros to work with the spread sheet would be nice. I think it would be easier then using the schedules for some of the things we do.

 

Does that make any sense or do we already have something like that or am I just nuts?

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Joe_Carrick

Joe_Carrick

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Mick & Richard,

I would not rely on the Chief Library Items as far as dimensions are concerned. The calculated values should be based on the "Window" dbx. So if the "Window Frame" is 3/4" on all sides, the opening (vented area) would be 1-1/2" less in both directions. To get a full 16"x6" vent the Frame needs to be set to 0.00" on all sides - which would be the standard nail-on vent purchased as a 16"x6". OTOH, a vent with a frame for installing in a Foundation Stem Wall would have less vented area.

I have modified the macro to indicate the true vented area - but you have to make those "Frame" changes to the Vents.  Set all Frame Sizes to 0". That will cause the "Vent Schedule" and the output of my macro to be the same (within 0.01 Sq. Ft.). The difference is that I calculate each vent area in sq.in., then add those together and divide by 144. Then I round the result to 2 decimal places.  The output of my macro will be the true vented area.  Chief's Schedule only provides the area encompassed by the outside of the frame.  IMO, that's a bug in the way Chief calculates the "Area, Actual. (Sq.Ft.)".

Foundation Vent Macros.zip

post-47-0-16416600-1432597986_thumb.jpg

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Kbird1

Kbird1

Posted
Posted

Hi Joe , thanks for updating the Macros , and after messing with the Frame sizes etc as you described the Foundations Vent macro is working great for me , however I can't figure out why your Foundation Vents Total Macro is reporting the true vent area at about 1.6 X it true value   ie one 14x4" vent and one 14x6" vent total = .98sqft vented  while the macro is reporting 1.62sqft. even higher than the "actual area" figure.

 

CA's area actual is bugged as you say , it is reporting the Window (or symbol) size area not the vented area but is reporting that rounded at 1.56sqft . I used the Component List to change some of the info in the Vent Schedule and used the SHGC value to indicate the (True)  Vented Area ( as I calculated it)  but that column doesn't total unfortunately. 

 

post-315-0-14078000-1432679754_thumb.jpg

Apologies for taking up more of your time.

 

***Update  I opened a blank plan , nothing drawn and imported the macros and the total vent area is still 1.62 sq.ft ....with no vents in this plan .... so now I am not sure if it's the macro Or I'm doing something wrong?

 

M.  

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Joe_Carrick

Joe_Carrick

Posted
Posted

Mick,

There is a Global Variable $Vents which contains all the Vent Areas from every Plan that you open in a Chief Session. Each one is numbered so that they do not get duplicated. However, if you had a Plan with 4 Vents and the 4th Vent is 2 sq. ft ---- and then open another Plan that only has 3 Vents, That 4th Vent is still in the list so it's 2 sq. ft is included in the total.

There are 2 ways to deal with this:

1. Close Chief so that the contents of the variable are cleared
2. Close the 1st Plan, Open the 2nd Plan then open the Ruby Console and type $Vents = [] which clears the list.

I have not been able to find a way to make this process automatic yet, but I have some ideas for the future. BTW, you could put that command in another macro which you could access via Text Macro Management but I think the Ruby Console is easier.

The other thing you should do is select all the Vents, open the dbx and in the Frame Panel set everything to 0 - you can also uncheck "Has Frame". The Calculations depend on getting rid of the frame.

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Kbird1

Kbird1

Posted
Posted

Thx Joe once again appreciate your time and expertise on all things Macro.

 

I was wondering at the end of my playing if it was a global total but didn't think to close Chief to clear the memory out , it seemed like the more things I tried the higher the total went but didn't come back down even when I deleted vents but I'll play a bit tomorrow with it again.

 

In these instructions below , in No# 2 , what is the letter/symbol after =       as I don't think it is a zero?

 

There are 2 ways to deal with this:

1. Close Chief so that the contents of the variable are cleared
2. Close the 1st Plan, Open the 2nd Plan then open the Ruby Console and type $Vents = [] which clears the list.

 

 

Think I saw a thread with a Ruby Handbook mentioned, guess I better take a look for it...
 

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Kbird1

Kbird1

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Posted

The letters after the = are the left square bracket "[" and the right square bracket "]"".  These should be just th the right of the "P" on you keyboard.

 

 

Here is an new set of macros.  This one will recognized deleted vents as well as update when you open a new Plan - providing the new Plan has any Vents and their Labels are displayed.

 

- Thanks Joe ,  the [] looked like one letter  , I thought perhaps it was a keyboard ALT character like ° .

 

- looks like you forgot to  hit Attach with the new Macros.

 

M.

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jbaehmer

jbaehmer

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Posted

Here is an new set of macros. This one will recognized deleted vents as well as update when you open a new Plan - providing the new Plan has any Vents and their Labels are displayed.

 

I imported them on top of the prior macros and my vent now says "evaluation error".  Not sure if I am missing something.....

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jbaehmer

jbaehmer

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Posted

I imported them on top of the prior macros and my vent now says "evaluation error".  Not sure if I am missing something.....

 

Nevermind....jumped the gun posting that before I checked.  Working good now.

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