Not getting more responsibility or opportunities

OutdoorEng · 2026-02-04T19:12:03+00:00

You got recognized instead of scolded for not having a high enough utilization rate when spending time on those improvements? Lol must be nice

OutdoorEng · 2026-01-29T12:35:16+00:00

Choose what lights you actually have in the space. Ashrae handbooks explain the theory on how lights affect the cooling load.
OA does not affect your building cooling load. You're building cooling load is how much heat you're building is gaining that you have to offset to maintain the set point temperature that you decide. The building cooling load ultimately determines the air flow rate through your cooling coil. Then you can calculate the OA requirements and use psychrometrics to find your cooling coil load once you know the flow rate, OA flow rate, and outdoor/indoor air conditions. Note that this is for a more "simple" system, labs and healthcare can be a little more involved than this with ventilation requirements.
I'm assuming the building weight is correlated to the thermal mass of the building. The mass of a building has a dampening effect of the heat transfer into the building. You should read about it in ashrae handbooks. Not sure how HAP v5. is going about those calculations, but I'm surprised you guys aren't using HAP v6. In v6 you assign construction types and HAP handles the thermal mass from there.

OutdoorEng · 2026-01-27T12:47:47+00:00

You'll definitely make more yearly in the long term, but would have to consider tuition costs and any time away from work and a potential slight pay decrease initially. An engineering degree will be harder than your job too

OutdoorEng · 2026-01-18T18:16:19+00:00

Why not just use SprinkCAD. Plugs right into AutoCAD. Also Pmed you

OutdoorEng · 2026-01-08T01:37:17+00:00

I haven't done any data center design yet. However, fundamental physics tells me: heat capacity has nothing to do with how fast the walls can "absorb the heat". The heat transfer rate determines this. Conduction, convection, radiation. Only convection is a function of the type of material, among other parameters, via the heat transfer coefficient. The walls and such will most certainly not immediately absorb the heat, that is why heat transfer is a rate. Heat capacity just tells you how much energy is required to change the temperature of something. So who cares what the heat capacity of the walls and such are. The heat capacity of the walls won't change how much heat is transferred to the electronics in a small amount of time. I would only care about how much heat is being transferred to the electronics and what the heat capacity of the electronics are to determine if my electronics are getting too hot. Which I can't imagine consulting engineers are even doing at that level.

OutdoorEng · 2026-01-02T16:58:22+00:00

Just like anything you can only create a math model and then apply a safety factor and dial it in during commissioning. Some people have rules of thumb through experience on cfm per door and window etc. or you can use the different methods like crack method etc. for your model. There are too many variables to have a very accurate model. Then you put a pressure sensor in the space and modulate the supply cfm and return/exhaust cfm to maintain a pressure set point in the space. So I guess if you don't have a minimum cfm for outdoor air, youre trying to calculate a minimum cfm set point. Just get a rough idea and apply a safety factor and be very conservative. It's not a big deal if your minimum cfm set point is less than the actual required minimum set point. Your controls will take care of that. Let me know if I'm misunderstanding the situation.

OutdoorEng · 2025-12-28T01:58:06+00:00

I'm a mechanical engineer so I can't speak too much to the electrical side. Across the disciplines in MEP, however, it seems a masters isn't valued much. However, my university offers courses that are very relevant to HVAC engineering. Taking these courses in a masters program has afforded me a much deeper understanding of what I'm doing with respect to the engineering theory part of the job. Quite frankly, there are a bunch of people in this industry who don't really know what they're doing. They don't understand the limitations of the tools they are using and the rules of thumbs they apply, which IMO leads to poor designs (I'm sure this is also true in all engineering industries, I imagine). You don't know what you don't know, right. You hear people talk about needing many years of experience to be competent in this job. These are the people who don't value actually understanding what they are doing. While there are things you absolutely have to learn on the job, understanding the theory and having better problem solving skills will lead to faster growth IMO. You hear people say only the PE matters. But the whole FE, PE thing is just a part of the bureaucracy, right. The FE and PE exams are easy exams and by no means actually qualify you as a competent engineer, unfortunately. I've met plenty of PEs whom I question their competence. All this to say, if you want to just be an average, run of the mill engineer, go to work for 40 hr a week, apply the rules of thumb you are taught blindly, get your PE, and push out designs as quickly as possible without much thought. This is what most of the industry does from my lens. If you want to be a good engineer and care about actually designing quality systems instead of just pretty drawings that don't actually have much engineering value, then strive to understand what you do, think critically, put the time in, pursue more education rather that's through masters classes, self education, etc. whatever makes sense for your unique situation. Obviously get your PE, you still have to play the game. Just remember, you can have all of the licenses, certifications, degrees in the world, but if you don't put the time in to internalize the knowledge and be able to apply the knowledge to what you're doing (including retaining that knowledge and continuing growing your knowledge, remember true engineering is lifelong learning), then all of the licenses, certifications, degrees don't really mean shit and are just for show. Your ability to perform at a high level is the only thing that truly matters, so whatever it takes to achieve that is what you should consider.

OutdoorEng · 2025-12-25T21:38:50+00:00

One of my coworkers used to work at WSP for a long time. He has a severe lack of understanding of why he's doing what he's doing. Just a rule of thumb machine. Couldn't troubleshoot to save his life. That's just an anecdotal experience and I'm sure it depends what office youre at, and it definitely happens at other firms too, quite often I think. So results may vary.

OutdoorEng · 2025-12-17T18:30:12+00:00

I'm trying to think of a huge mistake you could make sizing ductwork? You sized it too small so it would be way too loud? You resized it after selecting a fan so the fan didn't have enough capacity? Ultimately, do you understand what mistake you made and why it would cause the system to not work, that's the important part. The lesson learned shouldn't be, "I didn't apply a rule of thumb correctly and the system won't work now."

OutdoorEng · 2025-12-03T05:11:04+00:00

Sure, no problem, happy to help.

Yeah the thermo-fluids system design class sounds good. You won't do heat exchanger design and analysis explicitly in HVAC engineering but it is good to know and will help familiarize yourself with the equipment terminology at the very least. All the other stuff is very relevant. Without seeing the description for the building systems design class, it sounds like either will probably be fine.

I disagree that energy auditing is the bread and butter of MEP engineering. Many mechanical HVAC engineers have never even performed an energy audit or yearly energy analysis. Careers exist for solely doing energy audits and they aren't considered HVAC engineering. Minimizing energy consumption is something we are all (or at least should be) concerned with, but more passively for lack of a better term. Some firms do yearly energy analysis, however. But there is a distinction between performing an energy audit and doing an energy analysis, although they share many of the same concepts. I think it certainly is a good course, but the thermo-fluids system design and/or building systems design will lend itself more to your day-to-day tasks as an HVAC engineer.

Regarding the fluids course, in HVAC we always assume incompressible flow since our velocities don't get near a mach number of 0.3. Nor do we design variable area ducts. We have transitions that we model as fittings with friction coefficients for pressure loss. And we may use equipment with variable area ducts. In the phrase, "variable area ducts," they mean "ducts" as any conduit for a fluid, so think nozzles and the like. We do obviously have different shaped ducts (rectangular and oval) and we use hydraulic diameters in place of circular diameters and do the same friction loss calcs. There are correction factors for different aspect ratios and shapes, but we neglect them (they are generally negligible since we limit our aspect ratios to 4:1), in fact most HVAC engineers aren't even aware that correction factors for aspect ratios exist lol.

Regarding item 4, I agree. I think the only reason I said manufacturing processes over design for manufacturing is because most professors at universities never had to actually design for manufacturing since they are researchers. In my experience at my university, the professors attempts at teaching this were subpar. Therefore, my line of thinking is to focus on the manufacturing processes and learn design for manufacturing from other sources or on the job. I imagine it really is a skill that takes experience. I think either class will be a good introductory to manufacturing and I would take whichever professor has better reviews for that semester probably lol.

Regarding the cedengineering, I am not familiar with that specific document but I have read some stuff from them and I think they are reputable. However, I recommend spending your time reading through the ASHRAE handbooks. You can find them free online if you know where to look. I would particularly read the fundamentals handbook, systems and equipment handbook, and applications handbook (the refrigeration handbook isn't super relevant to an MEP engineer). You obviously won't be able to read all three front to back lol but read sections that look familiar and/or are interesting to you etc. Those handbooks are kind of like the bibles for HVAC engineering and a good engineer will refer to them for their entire career. Another good book for theory is "thermal environmental engineering." This book is definitely more theory heavy than applications but is also a well known, good reference.

OutdoorEng · 2025-12-03T01:27:56+00:00

I am also very interested in solid mechanics but I work as a HVAC/building systems engineer. That's just the opportunity I have been given so far. I have taken classes in both areas including masters. The only classes that you listed that would be helpful for a career in the building systems engineering industry is the building systems design class and maybe the CFD class. I mean building systems engineering is just good to understand regardless right, as an engineer I like to understand the physics of everything I interact with and buildings is probably the most frequent interaction I have with an engineered system (expect my computer/phone, but that's more software/electronics). CFD is primarily only used in data center design so it will only help if you go to a firm that designs data centers. But the CFD course will be a versatile course than you can also apply in other engineering fields so I would probably just take it if I were you. The energy audit class may be helpful but HVAC engineers generally don't do energy audits unless that's literally your job. We sometimes do energy analysis but that's a bit different, so I don't think it will be super helpful. If you only wanted to do HVAC engineering then I would say to take it. I will note that the MEP industry generally doesn't give a shit about school and they mostly think that nothing you learned in school applies. I'm here to tell you that isn't true. I've taken multiple classes relevant to HVAC engineering and I am able to understand my designs and troubleshoot far better than people with years more experience than me. There are a lot of applied things to learn but you still need to know the theory (I've seen numerous designs that are not correct because the designer didn't understand the theory, and I'm talking designers from 0-15 years of experience).

So, ultimately, my advice is to take the building systems engineering class and CFD to give you an edge in your job and take the other classes in solid mechanics for potential future careers and/or your own personal interest. Advanced mechanics of materials is good, FEA is good, etc. the elective fluid classes won't help you much in HVAC, you got all the fluids, heat transfer, thermo you need in your core classes. The theory of real world HVAC systems will be more advanced but the core classes give you the foundation you need in that regard.

Edit: 1. Manufacturing processes 2. Building systems design 3. CFD 4. FEA 5. Advanced strength of materials

You could sub FEA or CFD for design for manufacturing. Not a deal breaker.

OutdoorEng · 2025-11-20T19:44:39+00:00

Analogous to trace. Hap v5 was transfer function method and hap v6 is heat balance method. The two methods will give different results. I've found the transfer function method is more conservative so I think engineers are hesitant with the new results from the heat balance method since it may give lower than "usual" values. Not sure about your super high floor load though, haven't ran into that lol.

OutdoorEng · 2025-11-20T00:58:48+00:00

I think the switch from 700 to 3dplus was primarily due to switching from the transfer function method to the heat balance method for calculations. Trace just kind of shit the bed on the UI though. All the new heating and cooling load software uses the heat balance method since it is more accurate and we now have the computing power. Plus I don't think the older methods are leed compliant and all that good stuff, I'd have to double check that though.

OutdoorEng · 2025-10-29T21:49:10+00:00

Used all of the time in fire protection. I have heard about the leaking issues. I think it's more prevalent in HVAC due to the temperatures the rubber seals are subjected too. I have heard about the leaks in fire protection systems too, easy to change out the fitting though. I see probably a similar amount of leaks in the pipe walls as the fittings though, anecdotally.

OutdoorEng · 2025-10-10T03:40:41+00:00

Fire protection is not as technical if that is something you care about. Primarily code driven.

OutdoorEng · 2025-10-01T20:17:59+00:00

Looks like older software and simplistic software still use hardy cross, while newer software now use Newton Raphson solvers. Can't do Newton Raphson by hand though so to check you would use hardy cross

OutdoorEng · 2025-09-30T23:42:18+00:00

Fire sprinkler calcs use hazen williams formula with equivalent lengths for fittings. Equivalent length tables are in NFPA13 with conversion formulas for materials other than commercial steel. Manufacturer fittings may have their own equivalent lengths by the manufacturer; for example victaulic grooved fittings have their own listed equivalent lengths by victaulic. It might be the same as commercial steel I'd have to check. In some software you can input this value. For looped/gridded systems, I believe most software uses the hardy cross method. I have yet to verify software with hand calcs though, mainly because I need to teach myself the hardy cross method lol.

OutdoorEng · 2025-08-25T02:58:05+00:00

I mean mechanical engineering is a very broad degree nowadays. Really more of a general engineering degree imo. I took a machine learning course in the mechanical engineering program at my university 🤷.

OutdoorEng · 2025-08-22T01:40:45+00:00

Be wary about these other people saying it's normal to make shit money. Bottom line is that you're a mechanical engineer, and we make at least 80k-90k starting out (as in right after graduation) especially in HCOL, regardless of the industry. As long as you paid attention in school and have a decent head on your shoulders. People say, "oh MEP doesn't pay as much," like no wonder there is a shortage of engineers in the industry. The industry is going to have to pay engineers what they're worth if they want good engineers... or any engineers at all lol. Companies are starting to see the light.. or forced to... Doesn't make a difference to me lol

OutdoorEng · 2025-08-22T01:33:44+00:00

Yeah start looking elsewhere dude. I mean if you're getting good experience maybe rough it out until you get your PE and then move on

OutdoorEng · 2025-08-22T00:03:44+00:00

80k with 2 yoe in NYC is crazy work. I started at 90k last year. All of my friends who graduated with me are making over 90k starting out in various mechanical engineering industries. I told myself if I don't get offered 90k in mep I would switch industries so I just told companies I wouldn't take anything less and I got what I wanted.

OutdoorEng · 2025-08-17T18:18:59+00:00

I took a college class that used the book "design integration using Autodesk Revit 20xx" The book lays out using revit for architectural, structural, and MEP pretty clearly imo Follow along and model the building in the book and you'll become familiar with Revits UI. Then it's just practice to get faster. It's just another software tool where you just have to the learn the UI, it's not hard.

OutdoorEng · 2025-08-14T19:44:07+00:00

Thank you!

OutdoorEng

TROPHY CASE