16.0 Known Issues

Issue: When Calculating Solar Loads in the Building Manager, results do not appear or take a long time to process.

Solution: Please Sign Out and Sign back into the application. (The License token may periodically expire if the Stay Signed in is not checked. Expired license tokens will prevent the application processing results). Use the icon on the bottom toolbar to Sign Out as shown below. Re-launch the application and the Sign in window will appear. Please enter your credentials again to proceed (your email and password).

Note: If you have curtain walls in your project, the panels must be a curtain panel family in Revit. This can be confirmed by selecting a curtain panel and going to Type Properties. If any panels are wall type families, analysis will not be possible. Please see the Section on Model Preparation for guidelines on other criteria for auditing your Revit project before analysis.

No results can also happen if glazing elements do not have analytical properties. Check under Type Properties in Revit if glazing families have analytical properties. Warnings will display in the Facade Navigator for Facades/Surfaces without properties. Internet connection issues can also result in no results being sent back to the application.

Fully glazed door families in Revit will not usually contribute to glazing percentage since their VLT value will typically be zero. There are a few workarounds for this.

1. Option 1: Change the door family into a window family. You may select the door family and open Type Properties in Revit.  Then duplicate the family and edit the name if required.

2. Select the element and open this family in the Family editor.

3. You can make this a window family instead of a door family. Once in the Family Editor, go to Family Category and Parameters.  Change the category by highlighting windows in the list. Save the family and load into the model.

You cannot simply replace a door with a window family by changing the type using Type Properties in Revit (since it will not appear under the door types), you will have to place the window element on the model instead of the door element.  This widow element can then have its glass type modified by going to Type Properties in Revit or by using the Glass Database in the application.

If you choose to change the family back to a door family, the glass type will remain in the family with its properties for u-value, SHGC and VLT. If you change this construction type to another in the Type Properties list, it will be lost however, since glass types are not available for door families in Revit.

Option 2: Define analytical properties for the family. You may also hard-code values into the Door family by using the Family Editor and entering values for each parameter.  These values will then always display in Type Properties, even if a different construction type is selected. Only parameters which are not hard-coded will change as different construction types are selected.

Select the family type in the model and open the Family Editor in Revit. Open the Family Types dialog and enter values after the equals sign for each parameter. You may copy properties from a known Guardian Glass type. Then save this family with the Guardian Glass Type name so that it is easy to identify.

Note: changing the construction type in Revit will not affect these values now, since they are hard-coded into the family.

When using Linked Elements/Files, they should be set as Room Bounding. These will then contribute to model enclosure (they may be Roof, Floor, Wall elements etc).

Analytical Properties in these elements will not be read by the application however and Glazed Families that are links or are hosted on walls which are linked into the project, cannot be modified by the application. Glass Types in these linked elements cannot be accessed or substituted. Glazed Elements need to be in placed the host project. Rooms or Spaces will also need to be in the Host model (instead of in the linked files). Generally is is best if all elements are accessible in the Project rather than being linked in.

The building enclosure is required to be in the Host model (not linked in). Other solid elements may be linked in (Roofs, Floors, Walls) and if set as Room Bounding, they will help enclose the model and the application will produce results for the glazed elements. Solid elements that are linked into the project, will not provide results or display analytical properties under the Performance tab however, even if these have been set in the linked file.

A separate Revit file may be required for Energy Analysis by binding the links or copying and pasting the linked elements into the Host project. The Model Diagnostic Tool currently will not provide information or on linked elements or display them in the viewer. Surrounding Masses linked into a project, will also not create shading effects on the model which would normally affect the outputs for Solar Loads and Daylight.

Open Building Manager and calculate the Solar Loads again.  This will populate the latest results for the model in its current state. Possibly, the model was modified or there was an error contacting the web server to get the solar data.

For Conceptual Mass Models – check that a glazing percentage has been applied to the model.  This may be done in Performance or in Revit’s Energy Settings. For Conceptual Mass models – make sure that there is a glazing percentage assigned to the model in Performance.  This can also be set in Revit’s Energy Settings.

It is a good idea to extend the panel to the side and leave open the General Tab which will display any errors.  You may check there to see if there are any messages about your internet connection or issues with the web server.  A poor connection may not allow the application to calculate the Solar Loads or display the Charts.

When creating a Curtain System, they should be created separately on each orientation and for each wall of the project. If Curtain Systems are placed on several orientations and on several different areas of the model at once, it will be read as one object and separating these out into Facades and Surfaces will not be possible.

Creating multiple curtain systems at once in Revit, provides information to the application for one system with a number of grids. The application will get an average orientation across all grids. This could lead to unexpected orientations and results. It is best therefore, if 'Select Multiple' is not used during Curtain System creation.

Curtain System creation is most compatible when the glazed walls are modeled in separate editing sessions in Revit.

If some Surfaces are not highlighting on the model, this may be due to model issues or missing properties for glazing elements.

Please ensure that model issues are reviewed before launching the application and that all glazed elements have thermal properties assigned. You might try to place Rooms in spaces which do not have any. If you are unable to place rooms, this will indicate that there are issues in the model - walls/floors etc may not have a 'room bounding' condition. You may select a wall element and check in the Properties Palette in Revit if this is set.

Please see this article for model preparation issues and for how to assign analytical properties to glazed elements.

https://fenestraguaprd.wpengine.com/knowledgebase/2-0-1-model-preparation/

This is due to the Energy Analytical Model (EAM) being recreated in Revit. While this is happening, it will prevent the application from updating.  Please be patient while the Energy model recreates or go to the Analyse Tab in Revit and delete the Energy Model and Create a new one.  You may also close and reopen the application which will initiate a new Energy Model.

If the model is changed substantially while the application is open (glazing is created or deleted or geometry is altered), you may need to go back to the Building Manager to Calculate Solar Loads again. In some cases it may be prudent to close the application, make the changes in Revit and then reopen the application to start afresh.

In the Facade Navigator, each Facade should have a list of Surfaces with the same orientation. For example, Facade 1 South, should list all South Surfaces under that Facade.

If you expand an item such as Facade 1 South, and you notice some North Surfaces in this list, this may be due to building enclosure issues. This is where floors, walls, roofs or glazing allow significant gaps in the model. Shafts may penetrate floors or roofs and compromise the enclosure when Revit's Energy Model is generated. There may be issues with parts of a project at an angle to the rest of the building, where bounding boxes are not aligned.

If you notice that Surfaces under a Facade orientation have a mixture of different directions, this may also be due to elements that have have been placed inside out.

If elements such as Curtain Walls and windows are placed facing inside out, this can also affect the orientations in the list. When creating a Curtain Wall, this should be placed in a counter-clockwise direction to ensure that it faces outwards. Windows also have a toggle arrow to flip their directions if necessary.

This happens if the setting in Options for including ‘Surfaces smaller than..’ is set to a higher value than is appropriate for the project.  This setting will filter out Surfaces which have areas below this value. In some projects, these may add up significantly.  Try setting this value to a lower figure or even zero.

If you have already calculated with Shading Factors on and then calculate Solar Loads without Shading Factors, results may remain at the lower figures.  The application may need to be re-launched to reset the results and allow the results to update.

 If changes are made to the model geometry, Solar Loads will need to be recalculated in the Building Manager to update any modified orientations. By opening the Building Manager, you may notice that an orientation has gone grey and has reverted to zero. The application has identified that modifications have been made and Solar Loads will need to be recalculated.

If the model is changed substantially while the application is open (glazing is created or deleted or geometry is altered), you may need to go back to the Building Manager to Calculate Solar Loads again. In some cases it may be prudent to close the application to make the model changes in Revit and then relaunch the Add-in to start afresh.

It will be necessary to close the application and re-launch if True North is modified during a session.  The Energy Model will need to be recreated and the Solar Loads will need to be recalculated in the Building Manager to update the results to the new site condition.

Please see Section 12.2 for more details on setting True North.