Lately I’ve been having to write a number of specifications for content creation for Revit MEP families.  As I’m not an MEP Engineer of any sorts, I rely on feedback from others.  When I do this, I don’t like to take the approach of near enough if good enough.  I’d prefer to do things perfectly!

Specifically HVAC including:

Dampers, Air Terminals, Evaporators, Condensers, Packaged AC Units

I’d love to get some feedback on what the users are after in these families?  Types of questions I have:

1. Is there standard symbology for any/some/all of these elements, or does each company have their own symbology?
   1. If the latter, would you like to see some symbology included?  If so, can we agree on some standard symbology?
   2. Would you prefer no symbology so you can just embed your own?
2. For things like fire dampers, would you prefer them hosted or Duct Accessories with the “break-in” ability?  Obviously we can have Slab or Wall Fire dampers, but in most cases as an MEP engineer you are working on linked architectural/structural models so I would assume make them wall or floor hosted would be pointless.  Making them face hosted is a possibility but which workflow would you prefer as there are Pro’s/Con’s of face hosted and break-in.
3. What are the most critical parameters you’d like to be able to schedule in each of the family types?
   • NominalCoolingCapacity_ANZRS
   • SensibleCoolingCapacity_ANZRS
   • EquipmentNominalHeatingCapacity_ANZRS
   • TotalCoolingCapacity_ANZRS
   • TotalHeatingCapacity_ANZRS
   • NoiseLeveldBA_ANZRS
   • Operating Weight_ANZRS
   • Refrigerant_ANZRS
   • Height_ANZRS
   • Width_ANZRS
   • Depth_ANZRS
   • MinimumAirFlow_ANZRS
   • MaximumAirFlow_ANZRS
   • EquipmentAirFlow_ANZRS
   • ApparentLoad_ANZRS
   • PowerFactor_ANZRS
   • NumberOfPoles_ANZRS
   • Voltage_ANZRS
   • StartingCurrent_ANZRS
4. What is your preference for connector settings?  Below is my attempt at a starting point:  (Please comment!)