Design Master HVAC is separated into two distinct parts: building load calculations and ductwork design. There are some features that integrate these two parts, but for the most part, the work you do in one does not affect the other.

This is intentional because of the large number of customers who use our software for ductwork design but not load calculations. Before using our software, everyone had software for load calculations. Rather than forcing everyone to switch to our load calculation software, we made our ductwork design software useable by itself. Many customers have continued to use their previous load calculation software rather than switch to ours. Often, the differences between the two programs are not large enough to convince them to switch. Other times, they never even look at our load calculations, because they are happy with what they have. And, occasionally, there is something another program can do that we cannot.

Future “HVAC Features of the Month” will highlight various parts of the load calculations, so we wanted to remind everyone that this feature still exists.

The biggest benefit to using our load calculations is the improved quality control. All of the areas and lengths are taken directly from your AutoCAD drawing, rather than being input by hand. You draw your rooms in Design Master and it calculates the area. You specify which walls are exterior walls and it calculates the length and the facing. When you modify the walls, all of these values are automatically updated. These automatic calculations help prevent data entry mistakes in your load calculations.