simplest design software

keyote

Need to work up a heat loss and design for my 4 floor house. doing radiant heat, indirect hot water. have only taken a short course years ago on autocad, down loaded 30 day loopcad and watts radiant works. cadloop seems like a steep learn curve and watts weak and geared to sell watts. my 30 day trial of heatloadpro expired before i looked at it, its about $300 is it going to be easier than figuring out loopcad? or is there an entirely better option? im only doing my house. I am sort of in the business im an HVAC guy mostly tinside on big commercial jobs but have built several houses from ground and am gut renovating this house myself. so plenty of plumbing experience including a little radiant.

SWEI

Watch the first few Loopcad videos -- it goes pretty quick if all you need is a heat loss.

keyote

Thanks I have been having trouble with heat loss because its not a typical house. its 1910 3wye brick which after i gutted i did metal studs and closed cell foam, and put in triple panes with krypton gas and for the floor i made my own warmboard out of 3/4 ply and alum flashing over 3/4 sub and under 3/4 hardwood FF. most heat loss dont give those input options so i guesstimated when i put in the loops and built the floors. [1/2" tubing 11" OC and each house floor has 4 loops 175'-225" ea.[heating about 1050 sf total interior space per floor] back to 1" ss manifolds and 1"copper risers down to cellar.- yeah i know i know do the heat loss properly.
So can i ask once i have the precise heat loss is loopcad the best to design the boiler and trim controls? I am ok with spending the money for the heatloadpro since its reasonable and i wont have to rush a 30 day trial period cadloops too expensive for a one off.. will any of them size circulators or will i need to figure that math all out on the side.

keyote

loop cads really nice wish it were cheaper

hot_rod

Here is my go to program. It does a good job with loads, but much more for the design of the entire system.

https://www.hydronicpros.com/software/index.php?id=20

Watch the tutorial and try the demo. Or you can look at just the load calc version.

keyote

ah thats seigenthaelers I have his bible, for some reason i thought heatloadpro was his .... wait i just checked i was right heatloadpro is the demo version of hydronics design studio 2.0 which expired before i could check it out.
Well that was my intention I just wasnt sure if i should pony up the cash or try to get it done with the 30 day cadloop which after watching the videos is pretty nifty. are you familiar with both how do they differ?

keyote

Thanks I did find he put one intro video up which showed this is the tool for piping pump etc design unfortunately he never put up the followup videos he promised would explain all the features and show how it worked . Is it easy to learn to use?

SWEI

HeatCAD costs less then LoopCAD if you don't need the loop design capabilities. Siggy's stuff is dated but great. It would make a fabulous phone/tablet app...

gennady

check out these
http://www.taco-hvac.com/products/gridview.html?cat=designtools
Great stuff and free.

Tinman

The written format of Manual J is cheap and easy but you'd have to have access to the tables as well.