revit mep getting started

8/12/2019 REVIT MEP Getting Started

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Revit MEP

Getting Started with Revit MEP


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Contents

Chapter 1 Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Menu Bar and Toolbar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Design Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Options Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Project Browser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Status Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4View Control Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4System Browser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

System Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Building Information Modeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Component Families. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

View Disciplines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Tab Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Snaps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Component Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Graphic Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Mechanical Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Preparing Mechanical Designs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Load Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Mechanical Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Creating Air Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Placing Air System Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Creating Ductwork for an Air System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Changing an Air System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Piping, Plumbing, and Fire Protection Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Placing Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Pipe Layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Piping Behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Electrical Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

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Preparing Electrical Designs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Creating Electrical Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Completing the Mechanical and Electrical Designs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

iv| Contents


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Getting Started

Welcome to RevitMEP 2009. We hope you enjoy learning and using this systems modeling tool. Revit MEP is designedto accommodate various ways of working, so that you can concentrate on creating systems plans rather than on adaptingyour methodology to the demands of the software. In this brief overview, you learn how to use the features of Revit MEPto design, change, and document the mechanical, electrical, piping, plumbing, and fire protection systems for your buildingprojects.

Introduction

Revit MEP provides tools and component families to help you design the systems in your building projects.

Air systems include equipment, such as Variable Air Volume (VAV) boxes, to move air through the system

and terminal devices (air diffusers, returns). Rigid and flexible ducts complete the system, providing the

paths for air distribution. Automated tools let you size and select a layout path and create the ductwork

in the systems.

Electrical systems provides common electrical components and lighting fixtures. You use automated

tools to create circuits for power, communications, alarm, data, and telephone systems, and assign them

to panels. Similar tools let you designate switches that control the lighting systems in a project.

Piping systems include equipment, such as boilers and fin-tube radiators with piping connecting

components and providing the paths for fluid distribution in supply, return, and other systems. The

layout path tools let you automatically create the piping in a project.

Plumbing systems include plumbing fixtures, such as toilets and sinks. You use automatic layout tools

to create piping to connect components in domestic hot and cold water systems, and apply slope to

piping in sanitary waste systems.

Fire protection systems provide a variety of sprinklers to help you design systems that meet NFPA13

standards. You can use the same automated layout tools for piping connecting fire protection components

to provide paths for wet and dry systems.

User Interface

The user interface window is displayed when you start Revit MEP.

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Menu Bar and Toolbar

At the top of the window is a standard MicrosoftWindows- based menu bar from which you can access

all Revit MEP tools. Many of the menu options are also available from the shortcut menu, displayed when

you right-click an object. Commonly used tools can also be accessed from icons on the Toolbar.

Design Bar

On the left side of the Revit MEP window is the Design Bar, which lists the tools available for the currently

selected tab. The available tabs are:

Basics

View

Architectural

Drafting

Rendering

Room and Area

Massing

Structural

Construction

Mechanical

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Electrical

Piping

Plumbing

Fire Protection

To hide or display a tab, right-click on the Design Bar, and click the name for the tab that you want to hide

or display (currently displayed tabs are indicated by a check mark).

Options Bar

Below the Toolbar is the Options Bar, which displays tool options for the current operation. For example,

if you click Wire on the Design Bar on the left side of the window, the Options Bar displays options related

to the Wire tool.

Type Selector

On the left side of the Options Bar is the Type Selector, a drop-down list of the different types of componentsthat are available for the currently selected component family.

Properties Button

To the right of the Type Selector is the Properties button , which accesses a dialog in which you can

change various parameters of a selected component.

Filter

This is a useful tool for refining the selection of objects in a plan to one or more specific types. You can

select a room and all of the components within it, then click to display the Filter dialog, in which you

specify the types of objects you want to include in the selection set. The filter dialog can also be openedfrom the filter button at the lower right corner of the window. The number of selected components displays

to the right of this button.

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Project Browser

The Project Browser, to the right of the Design Bar, is a hierarchical tree view that lists all views, legends,

schedules, sheets, families, reports, and groups in the project. Click the plus/minus symbols to expand/collapse

individual nodes. Double-click a view name to open the view in the drawing area.

Status BarAt the bottom-left corner of the drawing area is the status bar, which displays the status of a current operation

or the name of a highlighted component. The status bar also provides helpful actions that can be performed

with the current operation.

View Control Bar

At the lower-left corner of the drawing area, above the status bar, is the View Control Bar. The controls are

graphical shortcuts to various View menu options, namely scale, Detail Level, Model Graphics Style, Advanced

Model Graphics, Crop Region/Do Not Crop Region, Show/Hide Crop Region, Temporary Hide/Isolate, and

Reveal Hidden Elements. Some views, such as sheets, drafting, and rendered views, have limited controls.

System Browser

This feature is available from the Window menu, by using the keyboard shortcut F9, and as a tool on the

Mechanical, Electrical, Piping, Plumbing, and Fire Protection tabs of the Design Bar. It provides a hierarchical

listing of the systems for each discipline (Mechanical, Piping, Electrical). The System Browser opens as a

separate window that provides, in a single view, a listing, by discipline, of all of the components placed in

a project. The window can be dragged into the drawing area and the hierarchy expanded to serve as a useful

tool for viewing the components and systems in your project.



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Shortcut menu options for the column headings let you selectively display components for a particular

discipline sorted by system or room. Shortcut menu options from the table allow you to resize columns,

select and delete components, show the views where they were placed, open the Element Properties dialog,

and expand or collapse the hierarchy.

System Concepts

Systems are a network of compatible components. The systems in a project include air systems (heating,

ventilation, and air conditioning), piping, plumbing, fire protection, and electrical systems (power, lighting,

communications, security, data, alarm, and so on). The Revit MEP components that you place in a project

use objects called connectors that provide the intelligence that makes it possible for you to create systems.

Building Information Modeling

What you see in the user interface is the graphical representation of project information. Revit MEP stores

information related to every feature in your project as part of the building information model. The real

power in this technique is the ability of Revit MEP to create relationships and constraints and add intelligence

to the model. This intelligence is most evident in the creation of routing solutions for wiring runs, ducts,

and piping.

Component Families

In Revit MEP, several component families are used to organize and store the components that you will use

to design the systems in your projects.

System components are loaded as families by clicking File menuLoad from LibraryLoad Family.The connectors (indicated by the symbol ) on Revit MEP components make it possible to tie components

together and perform load calculations for a variety of parameters.When certain systems components such

as lighting fixtures and air terminals are placed in a room, they become factors in calculating power, lighting,

and heating and cooling loads for the room.

Templates

Project Templates:

When you create a new project, you can select one of several project templates provided with Revit MEP.

Project templates establish the initial conditions for a project. The new project based on the template

inherits all families, settings (such as units, fill patterns, line styles, line weights, and view scales), and

geometry from the selected template.

View Templates:

When you are working in a project, you can use view templates to apply a defined set of view properties

to specific views. A view template is a collection of view properties, such as view scale, view discipline,detail level, and visibility settings, that are common for a view type (floor plan, elevation, section, ceiling

plan and 3D view).

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View Disciplines

Revit MEP includes 2 additional view disciplines, Mechanical and Electrical, which are applied as view

properties and affect the view behavior as follows:

If a systems component is placed within the view range, then the component is drawn in the view. It is

not required that the component be cut by the cut plane to be drawn.

Architectural components are drawn as an underlay. This means that components that are not on thelist of systems components are dimmed in views that have their view disciplines set to Mechanical or

Electrical.

Sub-Disciplines

You can further specify the discipline for a view to arrange the views in the project browser according to

particular systems (Plumbing, Lighting, and so on). Once a sub-discipline is specified in the view properties,

it can be selected for other views.

Tab Selection

Pressing Tabmultiple times while highlighting a component of a system cycles through the different selections

available from the system. For example, if you highlight a component in an electrical circuit, tabbing first

highlights the circuit, followed by the circuit and panel, and then just the originally highlighted component.

For air, piping, plumbing, and fire protection systems, tabbing starts by highlighting the branch, then extends

to the branch and a branch fitting, then to the network up to a piece of equipment, and finally to the entire

network.

You can also use the Tabto highlight the path between components. When one component in a system is

selected and another is highlighted, pressing Tabwill highlight all of the components in the network between

them. Highlighting a panel and pressing Tabmultiple times will cycle through all of the circuits that are

connected to that panel.

SnapsSnaps let you position components to specific points on a host object. You can enable snaps to help you

precisely position components in a layout and to assure proper connections in systems. You configure snaps

in the Snaps dialog, available from the Tools menuSnaps option.



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Component Controls

Many Revit MEP components have controls that let you adjust their orientation or location within a system.

You can drag a connector control ( ) to connect and disconnect duct or pipe segments.

You can use the rotate control ( ) on fittings to spin a fitting 90 degrees around its connector or click

to flip a component 180 degrees.

Duct and pipe fittings have a dynamic dimension size control that you can use to adjust the size of the

fitting; you click the control and enter a size.

Some fittings have plus (+) and minus (-) symbols that allow you to upgrade or downgrade the fitting.

For example, consider a tee fitting connecting 2 duct segments at 90 degrees with its third leg not

connected to a duct segment. In this case, the unused connector would have a minus sign beside the

connector. Clicking the minus control removes the connector and the resulting fitting becomes an elbow

between the 2 ducts. Clicking the plus sign for an elbow will convert it to a tee fitting.

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If you remove an unused connector that results in a straight transition, the fitting is completely removed,

and the 2 ducts are merged into a single segment.

Whenever you begin sketching lines or drawing ducts or pipes, Revit MEP activates a feature called

listening dimensions, enabling you to enter a value for the length of the component.

Graphic Controls

You can show your plans plotted as either single-line or double-line layouts. Single-line layouts show the

paths for pipes and ducts as a single line. In single-line layouts, fittings can be shown at actual size, showing

their center line true to scale, or they can be shown at annotation size. When plotted at annotation size,

fittings are sized according to the scale of the layout to make them more easily interpreted. Set the Detail

Level to Coarse on the Graphics Control Bar to draw your plans as single-line layouts. The following

illustration shows a duct plotted as a single-line.

Double-line layouts plot the outlines for pipes and ducts as parallel lines. This works well for ducts because

of their larger size, but a double-line layout for a pipe often appears to be a single bold line. Revit MEP

compensates for this by allowing you to specify mechanical settings to draw pipes at a specific size (Annotation

Size). Setting the Detail Level to Medium on the Graphics Control Bar plots ductwork as double-line and

piping as single-line. This allows you to show ductwork as double-line and piping as single-line in the same

layout. Setting the Detail Level to Fine plots both piping and ductwork as double-line. The duct plotted as

single-line above is shown plotted as double-line below.



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Mechanical Systems

Mechanical systems are created by placing components and then using automatic layout tools to determine

the best duct and piping routing scheme to connect the system components.

Preparing Mechanical Designs

This phase of designing mechanical systems starts with a detailed load analysis of the spaces in the building

that the system will support. Once the load analysis is completed, you can specify parameters for how your

mechanical systems will be created. Duct and piping settings are specified in the Mechanical Settings dialog.

After defining these parameters, you create specialized views for the systems and select the component

families that you will use in your plans.

Revit MEP uses the Space component to maintain information about the area where it is placed. Spaces store

values for a variety of parameters that affect the heating and cooling load for a project. An effective energy

analysis can only be accomplished if all the areas in your model are defined by space components in the

building model.

Load Analysis

Load analysis for Revit MEP is accomplished using either the integrated Heating and Cooling Loads tool or

by exporting the building model as a gbXML (Green Building XML) file that can be used with an external

third-party analysis application.

Using the Integrated Heating and Cooling Loads tool:

Revit MEP integrates a heating and cooling load analysis tool that lets you evaluate loads. This tool opens

a Heating and Cooling Loads dialog, allowing you to adjust building parameters, perform an energy

analysis and produce reports showing heating, and cooling loads for a project.

The calculated values from the heating and cooling load analysis are automatically applied to the properties

for the spaces in your project.

You can export a building model, including the manufacturers lighting fixture data to IES using the button on the Heating and Cooling Loads dialog, or by

clicking File menuExportSend Model to IES . You can then use the full capabilities of IES to create an analytical model from the current building model and produce a variety of reports.

Exporting a gbXML file:

The gbXML open schema was created to help building designers get information about the energy

consumption characteristics of their building projects. (You can learn more about the gbXML schema

at www.gbxml.org.)

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Creating Air Systems

In much the same way that power and lighting loads are associated with the rooms in your electrical plans,

the parameters and information associated with the air terminals become factors in calculating loads for the

spaces (rooms) in your air system plans. The rooms track how much supply, return, and exhaust air is being

put into or removed from a room, making it possible to select the correct sizes for air terminals.

Placing Air System Components

You can add a variety of air terminals (supply, return, and exhaust) and equipment to move air, such as

VAV (variable air volume) equipment, to the spaces in your project. The various air system components are

placed using tools from the Mechanical tab on the Design Bar. In the following illustration, 2 air terminals

and a VAV unit have been added to the plan.

Creating Ductwork for an Air System

In air systems, rigid and flexible ducts tie various system components together. Air systems are converted

into permanent ductwork using the tools on the Layout Paths tab on the Design Bar, activated from the

Layout Path button on the Options Bar when an air system is selected.

The Place Base tool lets you add a temporary component to provide an outlet, or source that establishes a

flow direction needed for some layouts. The base also lets you create subsystem layouts that are useful when

creating a large design.

The Solutions tool on the Layout Paths tab offers several different layouts. You can modify a layout solution

or cycle through the proposed layouts on the Options Bar to select the routing solution that is best suited

for your design.The specific types of ducts used to complete the solution are specified by the conversion

settings in the Mechanical Settings dialog. You can also access these settings from the Settings button on

the Options Bar.

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Changing an Air System

After creating an air system in your project, you can move its components and duct segments as desired. As

you move a single component or duct segment, the remaining sections are lengthened, shortened, and

moved as necessary to maintain connections. The other pieces of the system will update themselves to

maintain connections whenever possible. Revit MEP reports an error when you attempt to make changes

that result in disconnecting components.

Piping, Plumbing, and Fire Protection Systems

Except for some sizing methods, many of the tools and techniques used to create air systems are the same

for piping, plumbing, and fire protection systems. The following sections highlight the differences between

ductwork and piping.

Placing Components

Just as the ducts and air handling equipment are available for air systems, a variety of pipes, fittings, fixtures,

and sprinklers are available for your piping, plumbing, and fire protection designs. The various components

are placed using tools from their respective tabs on the Design Bar.

Pipe Layout

Pipe layout differs from duct layout in that pipes are sometimes drawn with a slope, which is a requirement

of sanitary waste systems. You can use slope tools to apply slope to sections in a piping system or an entire

piping system. Revit MEP lets you define the slope without having to add reference planes; instead you

simply specify the slope rise and run. A slope control in the drawing area lets you easily edit the slope

for existing sloped pipes. The slope control indicates a reference end, shows the direction of the slope, and

the value of the slope for a given length. You can click the value and enter a new value to adjust the slope.

You can learn more about slopes in the Mechanical Tutorial and online Help.

Piping Behavior

The movement of components in a system with sloping pipes differs from air systems. When moving

components connected to a sloping section of pipe, the resulting movement is both horizontal and vertical.

The component being moved follows a path along the sloped segment.

Electrical Systems

When you use Revit MEP to design electrical systems, the workflow is similar to creating your design manually.

Preparing Electrical Designs

In this phase of the project, you specify electrical settings that define the parameters for your electrical

systems; create specialized views for the power, lighting, and other systems in the building; apply templates

to your views; and select the component families that you use in the plan.



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Electrical Settings

Electrical settings are available from the Settings menu. You use the electrical settings dialog to specify

voltages, power distribution systems, wiring, and demand factors. You can transfer electrical settings and

standards between projects.

Electrical Component Families

Revit MEP provides a library containing families of common electrical components that you can include inyour project. Electrical components families include Devices, Electrical Equipment, and Lighting Fixtures.

As you develop more advanced skills working with Revit MEP, you can customize components and expand

the library of electrical families.

Creating Electrical Systems

With preliminary planning done, you can start designing the electrical systems by placing components in

your project.

Placing Lighting Fixtures

You can add a variety of lighting fixtures to the rooms in your project. On the Electrical tab of the DesignBar, click Light Fixture and select a fixture from the Type Selector. The example below shows a ceiling-hosted

fixture being added to a ceiling plan. Revit MEP displays a preview of the light fixtures as you move the

cursor over the view. You place the fixture by clicking once.

After you have placed lighting fixtures, you can add switches and create circuit groups to connect the resulting

circuit to electrical equipment. You can also designate a switch to control the fixtures in a lighting system.

Placing Devices

Electrical devices in Revit MEP can be placed as hosted or non-hosted components. Devices such as receptacles

and switches are typically wall-hosted components. On the Electrical tab of the Design Bar, click Device,

and select a device from the Type Selector. Move the preview of the device into the drawing area, and click

to place the device.

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Receptacles are included in calculating the power load for a room. The power and lighting load calculations

for the rooms in a building can be added to schedules to show power usage throughout a building model.

Placing Electrical Equipment

Electrical equipment includes panels, transformers, telephone terminal boards, and certain data equipment.

The Options Bar lets you select an appropriate Distribution System for the equipment, depending on the

type of equipment, the connector information, and the distribution systems that were specified for the

project.

Creating Circuits

When an electrical device is selected, the buttons on the Option Bar allow you to create, edit, and view theproperties for electrical circuits. For lighting and power circuits, Revit MEP only allows connections between

compatible components (components with the same voltage and number of poles).

After placing components in the views for your project, you can create circuits. Begin by selecting components

that will be connected in the circuit. Do not be concerned if you cannot select all of the components that

make up the circuit at this time. You can edit the circuit later to add components. On the Options Bar, click

to create the circuit.

Click , and select a panel from the Panel list on the Options Bar to connect the circuit to a panel.

With a connection made to the panel, a home run is added to the circuit.

A circuit preview indicates the logical connections between the components in the circuit.



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If you change your selection or click in an empty area of the view, the preview disappears, but the circuit

remains. You can view the circuit by highlighting one of the components in the circuit and pressing Tab,

then clicking the circuit.

Revit MEP also lets you create circuits for data, telephone, security, fire alarm, nurse call, controls, andcommunications. While the compatibility of components in these systems is not enforced based on voltage

and the number of poles, the components must still be of the same type.

Wiring

The circuits that you create can be converted to display permanent wiring. The following tools for converting

circuits to permanent wiring become available when a circuit is selected in a view:

Click in the layout or on the Options Bar to create arc wiring, which is used to represent

wiring that is concealed within walls, ceilings or floors.

Click in the layout or on the Options Bar to create chamfered wiring, which is used to representwiring that is exposed.

Once converted to permanent circuits, the wiring remains visible in the view. On each wiring run in the

circuit, tick marks are displayed to indicate the number of conductors. The 3 conductors in the example

represent 1 hot conductor, 1 neutral, and 1 ground. Plus and minus signs allow adding and removing

conductors.

Creating Electrical Systems | 15


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When you select a wiring run, controls display at the ends so that you can disconnect a wire from a

component and reposition the end of the wire. A wiring run that is not connected to a component is assumed

to be a home run, and an arrow appears at the unconnected end. The solid control at the tick marks lets

you reposition them on the wire run. A vertex control at the mid point of a wire run can be dragged to

change the shape of the wire run. Use the wiring shortcut menu to add or remove a vertex, or press Ctrland

click a point on the run to add a vertex.

Editing Circuits

When you select a single component in the circuit and click , the Edit Circuits tab on the Design Bar

provides selections for adding and removing components from the circuit, viewing circuit properties, selecting

a panel where your circuit will be connected, and viewing panel properties.

When you have finished editing the circuit, click Finish Circuit to apply your changes, or click Cancel Circuit

to dismiss the Edit Circuits tab without changing the circuit.

Balancing Circuit Loads

Circuit loads can be automatically balanced to distribute, as nearly as possible, an equal load to each phase.

Balanced loads reduce neutral current and prevent an excess voltage drop due to one phase being overloaded.The Edit Circuits on Panel dialog lets you easily balance loads at the panels in your project. Open this dialog

from the Options Bar when a panel is selected in a view.



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Click Rebalance Loads to adjust the loads automatically.

Completing the Mechanical and Electrical Designs

Once you have completed your mechanical and electrical designs, you can create and print sheets to document

your design.

Creating Sheets

You can create new sheets by right-clicking the Sheets folder in the Project Browser and clicking New. In

the New Sheet dialog, you can select the sheet style. To add a specific view to a sheet, you simply drag it

from the Project Browser into the drawing area of the new sheet. Sheets can be configured to show details

Completing the Mechanical and Electrical Designs | 17


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of your mechanical views, including schedules and a revision history. You can edit the properties for a

schedule to specify the format and fonts that appear on sheets.

Where To Go from Here

Now that you have had an overview of the features and tools available with Revit MEP, you can expand

your skills by working through the exercises in the Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection

Tutorials available from the Help menu.

revit mep getting started

Documents