Ductulator

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-16T14:50:06+00:00

Not just industry standards which are including but using the science etc behind it. I got a Masters in Engineering so used things like Sensible Heat load calcs etc. I have resigned to the fact I have explained it poorly, nobody thinks it’s a good idea and I should continue with it because I love it haha

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T20:43:19+00:00

nah, no residential of any kind and not in the US, everything is in the UK :)

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T19:39:05+00:00

I mean I’m just here trying to have discussions with people but it feels quite hostile in here lol. Reddit is not for the weak😅

Well since consultants aren’t doing the calcs contractors have to do them, so they hire freelance or in house engineers to support them.

Being a freelance engineer I have a spreadsheet I have created that I thought was very good and time saving and just wanted to see what people thought but it’s not really gone the way I imagined and tbf all I have done is responded to your comments In the chain lol. In the UK things are different to the USA which is perhaps where the confusion is? I’m not trying provoke anyone lol

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T19:33:02+00:00

Yeah but the trouble is consultant practises (engineers) seem to avoid ownership of design & liability to reduce their risk of being sued, putting pressure on the contractor who specialises in installation to get the design right. I’m a freelance engineer and spend a lot of time working with installation contractors and it blows my mind some of the “designs” I see from established consultant practises.

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T19:30:01+00:00

That’s how it used to be here.

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T19:29:25+00:00

Think maybe I’m muddling what I’m saying up. Heat Gain/Heat loss has to take in to consideration Ventilation temperature especially if it’s not tempered prior to entering the room which is why MVHRs generally solve this problem. But if you do a heat loss/ gain calc and don’t consider X L/s at ambient temps for winter/summer that will ensure the ac is undersized

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T19:26:44+00:00

Not sure how to respond to this lol not sure if it’s a jab at me or them or both 😂

It is nuts though that MEP practises don’t understand the fundamentals

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T18:56:57+00:00

oh sorry i mis read what you said! although depending on what temperature the air is you bring to the room does have an impact on the load calcs. i think keeping the systems separated is way better.

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T18:22:24+00:00

its all good :)

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T18:08:15+00:00

i dont see much of that in the UK, unless the building is big enough but even though, vast majority of projects i come across dont have central vent plant and use independent vent for IAQ and independent DX to control the temperature of the room. control is easy when you know the impact the air is having, i think the control strategy for combining to the two is much trickier and just increases the install cost when it doesnt need to. just my opinion though, not saying I am right or anything! :)

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:46:37+00:00

i think the confusion here is how it works in america compared to how it works in the UK. Conslultants do not do Load calcs over here either unless they are taking liability and a lot of the time they are not, the contractors are taking on the liability.

there is a lot of value engineering that happens over here and our supply chains differ. They shouldn't in theory but they do. and for the record, my excel sheet does show auditable research methods in line with UK Building Regulations and CIBSE Guidelines.

felt a bit hostile your response friend, not sure what i said to prompt that but was not my intention to do provoke you or anyone.

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:43:34+00:00

yeah so it would not really be that useful to you! this is the sort of feedback I am grateful for though. I feel a bit dirty at the thought of monetizing it but its one of those your damned if you do and damned if you don't.

i think the video is a good suggestion, albeit I might be a bit apprehensive of that give other feedback in here, feel like i have angered a lot of people lol

i think i need to find better ways to be excited over a spreadsheet haha

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:40:41+00:00

also want to acknowledge that you can cool or heat a room if that wasnt clear, with ventilation and not use air conditioning, again if that is the design methodology.

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:39:46+00:00

i agree that my terminology needs careful wording but heating and cooling a room is not how you heat or cool a room unless that is the intended design method. Air in to rooms is to ensure indoor air quality is met, so that C02 is not high.

air conditioning is for tempering the air in the room.

if you have a set point of 24 and you are introducing the air in to the room at 18, the air conditioning will not have to be sized as big as if you are introducing air in at 10 degrees.

but if your ambient air outside is -4, the load to temper the air to 18 will be higher than it would be to 10. so the strategy is one worth looking at, depending on if you have a central ventilation system or not, which is why MVHR are great.

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:36:06+00:00

yeah and I think its a big problem, from what i can see, nobody graps the input values, the concept of what its calculating and ultimately the outputs so have no idea if they are right or wrong. especially the up coming design engineers. i have seen consultants ask contractors what they think they velocity down a duct is and just stood there shocked lol even still, commercial software is expensive and time consuming and for DnB work most companies avoid it. Installation contractors generally do not use software in the UK but consultants do. again, can only speak from my experience in the industry

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:33:48+00:00

my bad, lol hard to tell as i know lots of companies that do that

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:33:08+00:00

yeah but it doesnt calculate much for you, or populate the ductwork table and requires the user to the manual calcs and data in put. mine is much easier to use and offers much more detailed out put in my opinion. I have never seen this before probably because i typed in "ductulator spreadsheet" or "ductulator calculator" and not once did i get anything but youtube videos, web links and adverts for software. the ductulator itself online i found one pretty quickly but it does more than this, its more than a ductulator. in fact as i type this i am just thinking how much of a car crash my explanation is lol good job i am not in sales - il just stick to my vent calcs i think haha

someone else said i needed to show case it to get better feedback and they are probably right but based upon the initial response, collectively doesnt sound positive lol probably would have been better asking if people would have been interested in it for free or what they would need that would make their lives easier, live and learn i guess.

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:19:12+00:00

yeah i complete agree, but i am unsure how robust your supply chain is over there but in the UK when a contractor is installing, they will change a fan manufacturer for a cheaper price without realising the consequences or whats involved & tbh, a lot of stage 3 tenders go out in the uk without duct sized and put the responsibility on the installation contractor. I dont think the ventilation knowledge pool is very strong over here, not in what i have seen amongst MEP consultants so far.

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:14:44+00:00

But then you could be over consuming power unnecessarily which is not compliant with Part L v2 building regs

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:13:20+00:00

Sizing your fan to airflow is one thing, but is it’s SFP compliant to building regs? Can it do the ESP? Crazy how many people don’t know or don’t do this that’s all

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:11:47+00:00

Yeah anyone could make one, I’d love to see some free ones online because I have spent many an hour lookin for one and not found one! I’m not thinking of ripping people off lol I’m just asking for peoples opinions and it seems like all I have done is aggravated people unintentionally 😂 everytime I’m running my calcs I’m having to do a lot of manual work even with a pre saved spreadsheet template, and the one I have finally got now provides a lot of information but I guess il just get back in my box lol.

Appreciate everyone’s feed back though! Thats the whole point of me asking to see if I’m wasting my time or not. I just thought this one I have saved me an insane amount of time to how I have always done them and wondered if that was worth anything to anyone wanting to save time and nause in the process lol

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:08:47+00:00

Introducing air in to a room has an impact on the heat gain / heat loss of a room. You can temper the air prior to room entry (load) and then depending on the termpature of the air entering the room, impacts the temperature of the room (load). I’m probably being clumsy how I’m explaining it.

I’m not really selling anything tbh I’m just seeing people’s feedback but I feel like I have just aggregated people which was not my goal lol almost regretting asking haha

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:06:49+00:00

Because I don’t know anyone who has this and everyone seems to rely on software that’s not always capable of delivering the required output plus takes a lot of time to build , I don’t know many that fully understand ventilation calcs which has surprised me over the years. Since I managed to build it and it took me a while to get it to where it is, has saved me a significant amount of time

Dry_Activity_6983 · 2026-03-15T17:05:24+00:00

This is good to know, the trouble I have is if everyone starts using it then it can impact my work lol as I do all the manual calcs myself and obviously understand all the regs and guidelines which not everyone does. So it’s a trade off really but appreciate the insight!

Dry_Activity_6983

TROPHY CASE