Plumbing & hot water
Loading units in, pipe sizes out.
Draw the distribution, mark the network, and engiCAD converts loading units to design flow, sizes each leg and reports the index run — under the water code you work to.
Demand codes
Four demand methods, one model.
The conversion from fixture units to design flow is a code decision, so it is a setting rather than an assumption. Change the method and the whole network re-solves.
- BS EN 806-3 — the European loading-unit method, and the default profile.
- AS/NZS 3500 — the Australian and New Zealand plumbing method.
- CIPHE / BS 6700 — the older British institute method, for work that still calls for it.
- Hunter / US (IPC) — Hunter curve conversion with flush-tank and flush-valve columns, detected from the fixtures you placed or set explicitly.
- Fixture archetypes — each fixture carries its demand units under whichever method is selected, so a basin is a basin in any code.
Sizing and analysis
Sized on the network you actually drew.
Pipe sizing
Loading units converted to flow, then friction and gravity pressure drop resolved leg by leg along the connected network.
Index run
The critical route reported with pressure drop, alongside a summary of the whole network.
Risers and verticals
Vertical runs propagate loading units and elevations between levels, with riser cross-sections and stack handling.
Isometric view
A 2.5D isometric projection of a network, filtered by level, for the drawing set.
Hot-water return
Circulation loops, solved to a pump duty.
Mark a loop by its outlet, inlet and turning points and engiCAD resolves the circulation, its heat losses and the head the pump has to deliver.
- Loop tagging — walk the loop — outlet, inlet, then turning points — and the spine, supply and return legs are tagged from that.
- Heat losses — circulation heat loss accumulated along the loop, driving the required circulation flow.
- Pump head — spine friction pressure drop plus the worst branch, so the duty comes from the network.
- Common paths — legs shared between loops cascade automatically instead of being tagged twice.
- Storage and draw-off — hot-water storage sizing from a first-principles draw-off curve, and a reservoir-emptying peak calculator.
Related
Where to look next.
See it on your own project.
engiCAD is in active development and we are onboarding a small number of practices. Tell us what you work on and we will arrange a walkthrough against a drawing you recognise.