Advanced WrightSoft HVAC Designs
Budget: $15 – $150 USD
I'm looking to hire an expert with a deep understanding of WrightSoft for manual D duct and mechanical designs. This project will focus on sophisticated designs for complex, multi-million dollar custom residential plans. High expectations are set for this project so only professionals who can handle intricate and elaborate HVAC plans are encouraged to bid.
Ideal skills and experience:
- Proficiency in WrightSoft for both manual D duct designs and mechanical designs
- Extensive experience in advanced residential HVAC layout
- Demonstrated ability to meet high expectation and deliver quality work within deadlines
We are seeking an experienced HVAC duct designer who can create high-quality designs using WrightSoft. These designs will be used for client presentations and during installations. The ideal candidate should have a strong understanding of HVAC systems and be proficient in using WrightSoft software. Attention to detail and accuracy are crucial in creating designs that meet industry standards.
Our projects are primarily high-end (multi-million dollar) residential custom homes but also sometimes light commercial. We primarily do geothermal heatpump package units but also sometimes split systems and air-source. Most projects have multiple AHUs and multiple zones on each AHU. Aesthetic, mechanical, and construction considerations are extremely important and must be kept top of mind.
We need turnkey designs.
Skills required:
- Strong knowledge of HVAC systems
- Sophisticated understanding of construction
- Proficiency in using WrightSoft
- Attention to detail
- Ability to meet deadlines
Duct Design Scope of Work
EcoMech partners with independent Duct Designers to procure world-class, zero-defect Mechanical Designs on a turn-key basis that meet its extremely strict quality standards. The following is a description of EcoMech’s processes and standards related to this work that must be met perfectly.
Process
1. EcoMech internal team finalizes load calculation in WrightSoft (includes equipment selection, duct preferences, set points, zoning, equipment location).
2. EcoMech sends WrightSoft file to Duct Designer to complete Mechanical Design.
3. Duct Designer double-checks geographic location & high-level project information, double-checks materials for walls, floors, ceilings, windows, doors, etc.
4. Duct Designer completes Mechanical Design:
a. Places vents in appropriate locations
i. Mechanical considerations (e.g., supplies on exterior / returns on interior, returns in every bedroom, air-flow appropriate, no returns in bathrooms, no vents in broom closets, placed in areas that are actually accessible by ducts running through the floor systems of the physical structure, etc.)
ii. Aesthetic considerations (e.g., vents placed symmetrically in rooms, vents centered over windows/lights/doors/etc., vents hidden as much as possible from view, no vents directly over/under beds or behind curtains and the like, etc.)
iii. Construction considerations (e.g., vents placed so that required duct can physically get to them from unit with chases/soffits/dropped-ceilings minimized and LVLs avoided, vents sized and split so that required ductwork will fit in available space, etc.)
b. Joist system accurately reflected
i. Red double-half-arrows are drawn to indicate joist direction in various spaces of house.
ii. Joist type and size (e.g., ‘16” Open-Web’ or ‘12” TJI’ or whatever the case may be) is clearly labeled on the drawing.
iii. Impenetrable beams (e.g., LVLs, steel beams, etc.) are indicated with thin orange, black outlined rectangles.
c. Draws ductwork in clean and workable design
i. Duct designs must be workable, clean, organized, and usable. EcoMech requires 100% finished, zero-defect duct designs that our teams can install.
ii. Ducts should be runs such that 1-2 zone dampers (1 in 99% of cases) can supply or close off each zone.
iii. Zone dampers must be indicated with bright-colored arrows at duct near equipment plenum. Colors should be unique per zone (e.g., all blue arrows should be dampers for a single zone, all red arrows damper for a different single zone, etc.)
iv. Ducts must be run at right angles to joists (immediate connections to boots/vents must be parallel with joist direction; duct can run perpendicular to open-web floor systems but must turn to be parallel before meeting the final end-point vent; likewise in TJIs—except that perpendicular duct-runs require that holes be cored in the center 1/3 of the joist to pass through).
v. Ducts cannot pass-through LVLs, steal beams, and other impenetrable structural barriers.
vi. Ducts must be split sufficiently so that they will fit in the available ceiling/floor system with 3” of insulation added to diameter (e.g., a 10” R6 flex duct, requires 13” of floor system space to fit with insulation included); this is particularly important with return ducts.
d. Notates other mechanical aspects outside of forced-air ducting
i. When necessary: required chases are labeled and drawn in available space with green boxes to get from one floor system to another.
ii. When necessary (this should be extremely rare and limited): required dropped ceilings and soffits are labeled and drawn with red boxes to get ductwork from one area to another when a path is completely blocked or ceiling space is insufficient.
iii. Thermostats (one per zone) are indicated in intuitive locations that would make sense to an occupant, be discrete and work aesthetically, and effectively register temperature in the relevant zone—with a black T inside a black circle.
iv. Ventilation (e.g., circle for kitchen hood exhaust, square for bath fans, rectangle for drier vent, etc.) must be indicated with turquoise shapes and arrows drawn showing route to outside of house (exterior ventilation penetrations should be discrete, on the sides or back of house, as hidden as they can be).
v. Useful construction elements including attic access, kitchen range location, washer/drier location, fireplace location, etc. are drawn and labeled in black.
vi. When necessary: required holes cored in TJIs are drawn in the center 1/3 of the joist with parallel red lines on either side of any duct running perpendicular through TJI joists.
vii. Gas outlets (e.g., kitchen range, fireplaces, bbq-grilles, gas-lanterns, gas-furnaces, gas-water-heaters, gas-pool-heaters, gas-generators, etc.) are drawn with red circles and labeled appropriately.
viii. Outside units (if conventional air-source split system) are drawn in discrete, reasonable locations out of view of high-traffic parts of the house, and lineset routes are indicated.
ix. Non-standard vents (e.g., toe-kicks, cabinetry vents, wall-stack, etc.) are drawn, indicated, and called out.
x. All other mechanical considerations are notated.
5. Duct Designer sends Mechanical Design (exact deliverables listed below) to EcoMech for review.
6. If Mechanical Design is not 100% complete and perfect and zero-defect, EcoMech will return with comments and edits to Duct Designer for revisions at no extra cost until Mechanical Design meets EcoMech’s standards.
What’s Provided
EcoMech will provide Duct Designer with the following (if and as available) to complete Mechanical Design:
1. WrightSoft File with load, zones, set points, equipment, duct preferences, etc. completed
2. Architectural Drawings
3. Structural Drawings (when available)
4. Joist Layouts (when available)
5. EcoMech proposal with scope description (when available)
6. EcoMech notes about the project and the design (when available)
7. Correspondence with Client (when available)
8. EcoMech material takeoff sheet (to see what materials we regularly purchase and/or stock)
Ideal skills and experience:
- Proficiency in WrightSoft for both manual D duct designs and mechanical designs
- Extensive experience in advanced residential HVAC layout
- Demonstrated ability to meet high expectation and deliver quality work within deadlines
We are seeking an experienced HVAC duct designer who can create high-quality designs using WrightSoft. These designs will be used for client presentations and during installations. The ideal candidate should have a strong understanding of HVAC systems and be proficient in using WrightSoft software. Attention to detail and accuracy are crucial in creating designs that meet industry standards.
Our projects are primarily high-end (multi-million dollar) residential custom homes but also sometimes light commercial. We primarily do geothermal heatpump package units but also sometimes split systems and air-source. Most projects have multiple AHUs and multiple zones on each AHU. Aesthetic, mechanical, and construction considerations are extremely important and must be kept top of mind.
We need turnkey designs.
Skills required:
- Strong knowledge of HVAC systems
- Sophisticated understanding of construction
- Proficiency in using WrightSoft
- Attention to detail
- Ability to meet deadlines
Duct Design Scope of Work
EcoMech partners with independent Duct Designers to procure world-class, zero-defect Mechanical Designs on a turn-key basis that meet its extremely strict quality standards. The following is a description of EcoMech’s processes and standards related to this work that must be met perfectly.
Process
1. EcoMech internal team finalizes load calculation in WrightSoft (includes equipment selection, duct preferences, set points, zoning, equipment location).
2. EcoMech sends WrightSoft file to Duct Designer to complete Mechanical Design.
3. Duct Designer double-checks geographic location & high-level project information, double-checks materials for walls, floors, ceilings, windows, doors, etc.
4. Duct Designer completes Mechanical Design:
a. Places vents in appropriate locations
i. Mechanical considerations (e.g., supplies on exterior / returns on interior, returns in every bedroom, air-flow appropriate, no returns in bathrooms, no vents in broom closets, placed in areas that are actually accessible by ducts running through the floor systems of the physical structure, etc.)
ii. Aesthetic considerations (e.g., vents placed symmetrically in rooms, vents centered over windows/lights/doors/etc., vents hidden as much as possible from view, no vents directly over/under beds or behind curtains and the like, etc.)
iii. Construction considerations (e.g., vents placed so that required duct can physically get to them from unit with chases/soffits/dropped-ceilings minimized and LVLs avoided, vents sized and split so that required ductwork will fit in available space, etc.)
b. Joist system accurately reflected
i. Red double-half-arrows are drawn to indicate joist direction in various spaces of house.
ii. Joist type and size (e.g., ‘16” Open-Web’ or ‘12” TJI’ or whatever the case may be) is clearly labeled on the drawing.
iii. Impenetrable beams (e.g., LVLs, steel beams, etc.) are indicated with thin orange, black outlined rectangles.
c. Draws ductwork in clean and workable design
i. Duct designs must be workable, clean, organized, and usable. EcoMech requires 100% finished, zero-defect duct designs that our teams can install.
ii. Ducts should be runs such that 1-2 zone dampers (1 in 99% of cases) can supply or close off each zone.
iii. Zone dampers must be indicated with bright-colored arrows at duct near equipment plenum. Colors should be unique per zone (e.g., all blue arrows should be dampers for a single zone, all red arrows damper for a different single zone, etc.)
iv. Ducts must be run at right angles to joists (immediate connections to boots/vents must be parallel with joist direction; duct can run perpendicular to open-web floor systems but must turn to be parallel before meeting the final end-point vent; likewise in TJIs—except that perpendicular duct-runs require that holes be cored in the center 1/3 of the joist to pass through).
v. Ducts cannot pass-through LVLs, steal beams, and other impenetrable structural barriers.
vi. Ducts must be split sufficiently so that they will fit in the available ceiling/floor system with 3” of insulation added to diameter (e.g., a 10” R6 flex duct, requires 13” of floor system space to fit with insulation included); this is particularly important with return ducts.
d. Notates other mechanical aspects outside of forced-air ducting
i. When necessary: required chases are labeled and drawn in available space with green boxes to get from one floor system to another.
ii. When necessary (this should be extremely rare and limited): required dropped ceilings and soffits are labeled and drawn with red boxes to get ductwork from one area to another when a path is completely blocked or ceiling space is insufficient.
iii. Thermostats (one per zone) are indicated in intuitive locations that would make sense to an occupant, be discrete and work aesthetically, and effectively register temperature in the relevant zone—with a black T inside a black circle.
iv. Ventilation (e.g., circle for kitchen hood exhaust, square for bath fans, rectangle for drier vent, etc.) must be indicated with turquoise shapes and arrows drawn showing route to outside of house (exterior ventilation penetrations should be discrete, on the sides or back of house, as hidden as they can be).
v. Useful construction elements including attic access, kitchen range location, washer/drier location, fireplace location, etc. are drawn and labeled in black.
vi. When necessary: required holes cored in TJIs are drawn in the center 1/3 of the joist with parallel red lines on either side of any duct running perpendicular through TJI joists.
vii. Gas outlets (e.g., kitchen range, fireplaces, bbq-grilles, gas-lanterns, gas-furnaces, gas-water-heaters, gas-pool-heaters, gas-generators, etc.) are drawn with red circles and labeled appropriately.
viii. Outside units (if conventional air-source split system) are drawn in discrete, reasonable locations out of view of high-traffic parts of the house, and lineset routes are indicated.
ix. Non-standard vents (e.g., toe-kicks, cabinetry vents, wall-stack, etc.) are drawn, indicated, and called out.
x. All other mechanical considerations are notated.
5. Duct Designer sends Mechanical Design (exact deliverables listed below) to EcoMech for review.
6. If Mechanical Design is not 100% complete and perfect and zero-defect, EcoMech will return with comments and edits to Duct Designer for revisions at no extra cost until Mechanical Design meets EcoMech’s standards.
What’s Provided
EcoMech will provide Duct Designer with the following (if and as available) to complete Mechanical Design:
1. WrightSoft File with load, zones, set points, equipment, duct preferences, etc. completed
2. Architectural Drawings
3. Structural Drawings (when available)
4. Joist Layouts (when available)
5. EcoMech proposal with scope description (when available)
6. EcoMech notes about the project and the design (when available)
7. Correspondence with Client (when available)
8. EcoMech material takeoff sheet (to see what materials we regularly purchase and/or stock)