Revit MEP - Conduit Run Schedule is Biased

I think it is a Reviteristic (read quirky or bizarre) that a Conduit Run Schedule will only see types that are created based on Conduit without Fittings. I'm pretty sure we'd all like schedules to include runs that use Conduit WITH fittings too. I understand that the fittings make it harder to provide a summary of a run but that's kind of the point isn't it, to do the things that are hard for us?

If we follow the help documentation advice to add a shared parameter to conduit and conduit fittings we can create a schedule that summarizes runs via a Multi-Category schedule. Unfortunately the very desirable and important Length parameter dies to us in that context, no joy there.

Two Minutes with Rolling Offsets

Revit doesn't let us quickly create rolling offsets for piping or conduit, at least not in an uninterrupted process as we are sketching consecutive segments. In the past I wrote about a related concept called a Conduit Kick. It isn't that they don't want us to do it its just that Revit is biased toward creating vertical and horizontal runs. This means sketching a run of pipe and changing elevation usually creates something like this instead. The example on the left is good while the right is bad.

This video shows how to create a rolling offset for both pipe and conduit. The Routing Solutions tool works for pipe (and duct) but not conduit. We can also use the option Ignore Slope to Connect for pipe, duct and conduit. The resulting rolling offset does not abide by any rules for specific angles or slope. It's easy to create a sloping section between two elements as long as they are in the desired location, offset from one another correctly and at the elevations you need. The rolling offset just can't be created as we sketch from segment to segment. We need to place the two lateral runs and then return to create the rolling offset section.

Btw, there have been a few tweets on this subject focused on creating an app to help us cope with rolling offsets. Jeremy Tammik (The Building Coder) has written about it and wrapped up his posts with THIS ONE. Harry Mattison (Boost Your BIM) also inquired about it via Twitter but I don't think he's put anything to code about it yet.

Two Minutes with Two Kick Conduit Results

I wrote and created a video about this while Revit 2012 was current. A comment on that video asked if it still works for 2014. I find that it does but it appears to matter which direction we sketch the conduit. If we start at a horizontal conduit and sketch down to a vertical conduit we get this result. The transition from vertical to horizontal slopes up to the horizontal conduits.

If we start at a vertical conduit and sketch up to a horizontal conduit we get this result. The transition from vertical to horizontal only slopes at the sweeps of the conduit, remaining horizontal as long as the conduit can.

Your results will likely vary depending on the top elevation of the vertical conduit compared with the location of the ends of the horizontal conduits. You should note that I've assigned a bend radius in my example video. This video just contains captions, no audio. The original video contains audio that explains what I've done if you're interested.

Conduit Connector Gone Rogue

I created a conduit connector "disc" that let's me attach conduit to any surface. I place the connector and then add conduit, easy. It's based on the other connector families that Revit provides in the library, these:

When I loaded the connector into a project and select it I find a bizarre value offered. I get the same value no matter what size I enter. This image is after trying 3/4", 1", 1.5" and finally 2".

I tried creating the parameter as a Common/Length as well as Electrical/Conduit Size. Doesn't matter...same bizarre result. The connector's size changes when I change the parameter in the Family Types dialog so it works. You can't enter value on screen. Fwiw, it happens to pipe connectors too. I added a pipe connector to a transformer (I know it's probably a bad idea to put water in a transformer, unless it is water cooled?)

Weird, just weird...looks like a bug that needs some squashing!!

Conduit from Face Gotcha!

The other day I made what I thought was a simple distribution box, the kind that is really a "junction" box that sits in a ceiling to provide some wire management access. A pull box with a nice door. No problem. To test it out I tried to run some conduit to it. I expected the surface to highlight when I put the cursor over the edge of the box. Nothing. I selected the box and saw the conduit connectors, right-click > choose Draw conduit from face...nothingness. A blank stare from Revit...me staring blankly at Revit. Huh?

Time for a break...

After some dinner I fired it all back up and some clarity returned. Ahh, I used visibility settings on the "box" and un-checked the Plan option.

I used Symbolic Lines to show the box in plan instead. That was the gotcha...if the solid form/face that is the conduit connectors host isn't visible in the plan view the Draw Conduit from Face tool says, "huh?!?". It's kind of like the Spot Elevation tool not finding a floor or ceiling when the view is using Wireframe. The tool can't "see" the connector even though Revit manages to display the connector fine. I just needed to restore that setting and rethink when I wanted things to show up...back on track.

Conduit Kick

I got a question via a tweet the other day.

Q: "Is it possible to model a parallel kick conduit run in Revit"

The tweet on its own wasn't enough for me but I also saw the same question at AUGI. Same person or not I find that this sort of thing happens often enough, similar questions percolate up into the internets. The description "kick" was what lost me as I haven't heard that term used before. I've mangled plenty of conduit in my past but apparently didn't get out enough for that.

The description offered up at AUGI helped me get a sense of it though.

It read:
...snip
I have a run of (3)3" and (4)1" conduits parallel to each other. They go up the wall, parallel to the wall, then transition to going across the the ceiling. BUT this is where it gets tricky. If you are looking at the wall, facing the conduits. When the conduits get to the ceiling rather than bending towards you, they actually bend to the right and end up parallel to the ceiling. So each conduit is going to have multiple bends to make this work.
...snip

The responses varied from, "too hard to bother", "why worry about that level of detail", "sure, here's a video" and a couple from me taking advantage of the 2012 "Ignore slope to connect" option. The original post was asking about 2011 and the responses that suggested that it was too hard or not worth doing are closer to the truth perhaps for pre-2012 versions. It is definitely a "labor-of-love" to pull off in 2011.

Here's a few images depicting what I thought was being asked for.

Here's a Video and a Video.

I also ran across some useful installation information at this site when I was curious about the term "kick". After reading through I'm not convinced my images or video are really "on-point" since the vertical conduits use 90 degree angle bends to turn across the ceiling and the "kick" is the bend to change direction parallel to the wall. The layout described on this site would be much easier to accomplish in either Revit 2011 or 2012. We just need to sort out where to start and stop so the angles and layout is neat and consistent with what this site suggests. Perhaps it would look more like this then: