ᐅ Floor plan design with cooling load calculation

Hello,

As a client, I want to participate in designing the floor plan for a passive house myself. Besides being able to illustrate basic furnishings (stairs, kitchen, WC, bed, etc.) in the plan, I especially want to perform at least an approximate cooling load calculation. The motivation is to estimate the effort required for surface cooling (on the ceiling) in selected rooms.

For a start, the software mh-BIM Starter, formerly TGA-Tools, seems to be a good choice. However, in the basic version, I miss both the mentioned interior models and especially the cooling load calculation.

- Can anyone recommend free and well-organized DWG / DXF libraries to add basic interior elements?

- What options are available for cooling load calculations besides the commercial extensions of mh-BIM?

Thank you
Andreas

Frosti42 schrieb:

As a homeowner, I want to help design the floor plan for a passive house myself. Besides the option to illustrate basic furniture (stairs, kitchen, toilet, bed, etc.) in the plan, I especially want to be able to perform at least an approximate cooling load calculation.

I suggest you proceed in two steps and "unfortunately design the floor plan twice." If you need a furnishing simulation to get an idea of room dimensions, then
1. you are still at a very early stage in your design skills and, to put it mildly, you won’t do yourself any favors by starting with software;
2. you are definitely not a typical user of BIM software.
BIM software is practically used only in the professional sector—so even architects mainly use it for clients like developers or the real estate industry. Therefore, I expect that such software generally does not exist for the target group of “ambitious self-planners,” and even a “basic version” is usually aimed at professional users who want to test it first before investing heavily into the full capability.

What is the reason behind co-designing the floor plan (and why do you want to do this directly in an electronic format that can be handed over to the main designers)?
Professional designers can certainly read and understand 2D paper sketches. They also won’t appreciate having to remove the furniture decorations from the plans you hand over. In professional CAD software, all this colorful “home planner” extra stuff only takes unnecessary storage space and degrades performance.

Take your first steps in floor planning like the professionals, that is, without “professional tools.” Only after your grid paper sketches are ready, transfer the result into professional CAD software (but as mentioned, professionals can read and understand hand-drawn plans).

Regarding the cooling load calculation, you can similarly use heating load calculations: one kelvin is the same in both directions, also with respect to the effort involved in achieving it.

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Sorry, I actually combined two questions in a way that doesn’t quite fit, although my main concern is the calculation. Regarding the cooling load, I don’t think the heating load calculation can be used, as it particularly does not account for the effect of diffuse or even direct solar radiation on the respective rooms.

Frosti42 schrieb:

I actually have two questions that are somewhat unrelated,

Yes, and unfortunately, nothing was said about your project or at what stage of planning experience you would need to be “picked up.”

Frosti42 schrieb:

Regarding the cooling load, I don’t think the heating load calculation can be used because it especially does not take into account the effect of diffuse or even direct sunlight entering the respective rooms.

Of course, the effect is exactly the same: sunlight entering to the same extent causes the same additional effort for cooling as it facilitates heating, and vice versa.

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11ant schrieb:

To put it politely, you’re not doing yourself any favors starting with software like that;

I also gave up planning with a €130 (about $140) software (Good luck with my thread on house planning software...). It’s not worth the effort since the architect won’t be able to use the data afterward. Sure, you could use BIM software that costs around €70/month (about $75/month), but you will need weeks to learn it and still won’t be certain that anyone can continue working with the results. If anything, ask your architect beforehand about the software they use and whether it makes sense for a (complete?) beginner to do preliminary planning with it.

Frosti42 schrieb:

DWG / DXF

I used to think DXF files would work across different programs, like PDFs or similar. But that’s not the case... I’ve already wasted €100 (about $105) on freelancers for this reason.

11ant schrieb:

(...)
Of course, the effect is exactly the same: solar radiation to the same extent also causes additional cooling effort, just as it makes heating easier, and vice versa.

Yes. But in winter, you simply don’t have the same level of solar radiation. It is significantly higher in summer.
Therefore, you cannot just take the heating calculation and reverse the sign of the solar radiation, he is right about that.