Have you ever found yourself painstakingly adding insulation to Revit MEP models? Whether it is for drafting, coordination, or fabrication, adding Pipe Insulation in Revit manually can be a chore. If left undrawn to be called out in sheet notes later, there is an increased risk that insulations are missed during installation. Missing insulation can cause inspection delays and building performance issues in the future—sometimes even water damage!
As a continuation of last week’s video post where we applied insulation to Revit Mechanical Systems, we will once again use Dynamo to apply Revit Pipe Insulation to Pipe Systems. In this script, we will use each pipe element’s diameter to determine the thickness of insulation to be applied, as a way of further automating the workflow.
Like the Duct Insulator script, we take as input the System Type, the Insulation Type, and Insulation Thicknesses. The key difference here is there are now two sizes for Insulation thickness: one will be applied to pipes & fittings of Diameter A or smaller, while the other insulation thickness will be applied to pipes & fittings of Diameter B or larger. We also need to input these pipe size thresholds into Dynamo in order to determine pipe insulation size per pipe element.
This framework of insulating pipes based on a schedule is incredibly handy if you are looking for an automated way to add insulation to systems in Revit. Instead of applying insulations to a single system at a time, this script can be edited and reorganized to apply all insulation to all systems at once—it would just need more rows of user inputs to cover all system types and their insulation sizes, just like you would see in a Pipe Insulation Schedule.
Modeling “low hanging fruit” items like insulation with Dynamo is a surefire way to increase the quality of your drawings and coordination models with minuscule time investment.
Want to see more? Reach out to us at evolvelab.io!
About the Author
Paul Bracchitta
Senior Construction Technologist
Paul joins us from the construction side of the industry as a Senior Construction Technologist and passionate BIM proponent. Having spent the last 5 years working for multiple general contractors’ BIM departments across the nation, Paul brings with him MEP coordination, Dynamo scripting, laser scanning and contracting experience. He received the Associated General Contractor’s Certificate of Management in BIM in 2017 and has leaned into implementing process changes ever since. Pursuing his life-long goal of becoming an architect, Paul spent half of his Carnegie Mellon University education as an Architecture student before switching to Civil & Environmental Engineering. The idea: be a better designer by knowing how to engineer and construct buildings. Once he saw the inefficiencies between design, construction, and ownership, Paul knew a better solution was out there and found his niche in BIM, combining data from all stakeholders into a virtual building environment. A 7th generation Vermont native, Paul has enjoyed exploring our nation, having lived in Pittsburgh and Maryland before moving to Colorado (after a single weekend visit!) for its beautiful terrain and weather. He may be found doing a range of activities, from fishing for trout in the Rockies, enjoying concerts, to a rigorous evening of strategy games with friends.
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