QUICK TUTORIAL ON FREESHP by Alan Ashfield 24th January 2013 1) After you have downloaded AAINFO.

EXE, run it and select FREESHP, then locate it on your computer (default is C:\AA3PROGS), double click on FREESHP.EXE 2) On the first run only, it will prompt for your company name and address - you can type in any information you want to appear on the results printouts (or even leave it blank) - nothing is transmitted to me nor anybody else 3) You will see the list of recent changes, a blue panel that stays on the left and one across the bottom that shows helpful prompts - you can click on it to view the pipes / fittings / sizes database 4) I suggest you begin by clicking on "Demos" and then the first option "Starter" 5) An isometric view of a little 2 branch lines scheme will be given in the drawing area 6) Just click on the 3 x 3 grid of buttons to see the other plan, elevation and isometrics 7) If you move your mouse + cursor near the centre of any pipes, then the information about that pipe is shown along the bottom 8) I will expand on the data required in [20] 9) If you click on "Node ids" on the left, you can choose many other options to shown on the drawing - try "Length m" 10) Click on "Data" to see the project information in an overlay to the drawing - you may need to scroll down on the right to see questions 1 to 38 11) You can amend any replies you choose and remember to press the {TAB} key to move on to the next reply and so on 12) You can click on "Help" on this panel for more assistance and "Close" to return 13) You can click on "Pipes" on the left (or "Close" on the panel) to see the actual data required to this scheme 14) If you move your mouse over one of the pipes on the drawing, that data line is shown with the | cursor in the leftmost column 15) If you click on one of the lines of data about pipes, then that pipe will be highlighted on the drawing 16) Note that 'comment' lines are shown in green and begin " 17) The 'PT' lines describe the pipe type of all the following pipes or until another 'PT' line 18) The 'HT' lines describe the minimum flow rate and 'K' factor for any 'U' (for upright) or 'P' (for pendent) sprinkler heads / nozzles until the next 'HT' line 19) All other lines of data relate to the individual sections of pipes out from the source to the branch lines / heads

20) Each consists of two node ids (covered in [26]), its size, length, direction (and optional slope), a valve (eg GV) or fitting (eg. T for tee, E for elbow, 0 or X for program to work out) and the 'U' or 'P' mentioned above as an operating head 21) You can peruse the "Help" later for more information about each of these 5 parts of the pipe data - for the moment just note that each is separated by one or more spaces (otherwise they would all run together) 22) Noding - other programs use start and end node numbers at both ends of EACH pipe to indentify its position in the network 23) As my program draws out the pipework scheme, to make it easier for you to ascertain the correct data is entered, then each pipe section is assumed to be supplied from the immediately previous one in the list, unless otherwise stated 24) So if you start at the water supply and work outwards along the mains, distribution and branch line pipes to the sprinkler heads, then these can just connect to the previous pipe - no node numbers are needed at all 25) However, you will reach the end of a branch line pipe and need to get back to the main and on to the next branch line 26) Just put an 'End ID' marker (I used BR1 in this example) and the second of the > parts and the SAME identification in the first of the > parts 27) This will ensure that the 65mm pipe does not continue on from the 25mm one but to the 100mm pipe where the BR1 was entered 28) You can use any 3 digit reference or number for these IDS which will only occur at tees or crosses in the pipework (not everywhere) as otherwise any pipe must be given in order away from the source 29) Again, more information is given under "Help" - this is meant to be a quick overview 30) You can overtype or amend any items to see the effect - try changing one of the 'U's in the last column to a P - a "Redraw" button will come up (so you can make more changes) but if you click on this, the underlying picture will be redrawn 31) I now suggest you move the | cursor to the bottom line of the data {CTRL-END} or click with the mouse and type > 25 2 S x u and press {ENTER} 32) This new pipe will be instantly drawn on the screen (after the last pipe of course) and note how it has been lined up automatically 33) Now practise adding @-6 to the direction or changing its length to 3 or its size to 50 (to see a typical warning message)

34) You can put things back to the way they were simply by selecting "Starter" again (you may need to click on "Close" first) 35) Now click on "Calculate" on the left hand panel 36) This will replace the drawing with the results presentation, starting with the name / address you entered under (2), then the first set of project data questions / replies given in [10 and 11] 37) Not all the results can be shown at once so again check the panel along the bottom for a prompt and the source duty 38) After the project data, some useful minimum / maximum limits are shown and then the NFPA standard 3 lines of data for each pipe / head which you should be familiar with 39) At the end of all the pipes, a useful list of pipe quantities is given 40) You can go up the screen (a page at a time) as you choose 41) When finished, click on "Redraw" to get back to the drawing 42) This time, note the flow rates and direction arrows are shown in green and you can click on "L/min flow" on the left to select / view other essential items such as "Press bar" or "mbar/m" 43) I suspect you have now seen what you wanted (and like) about FREESHP, so will leave you to examine the other demonstration jobs (click on the part now occupied by "Starter") eg. "Looped", "Gridded" etc 44) If you would permit, may I describe the "Tree" and "Grid" estimate parts so click on "New" at the top left 45) The project data panel will be shown - just type TEST EXAMPLE in the first line, currently highlighted, and press {TAB} 46) You can do any others you want or accept the various defaults shown, so click on "Close" 47) You will now be shown the "What file name to use?" panel, so just type in TEST1 (or anything else you fancy) in the "File name" space and click on "Save" 48) I have already added a 'PT', 'HT' and a few comment lines with 3 pipes in blue 49) Now please click on "Tree" on the left 50) The 3 pipes have now been expanded to 10 (2 branch lines of 2 heads) - try sliding the 'blob' to the right to say 4 51) See how the revised scheme is redrawn immediately 52) Now change the top question to "Number of heads on branch line" from 2 to say 4 53) You will note that the status line is in red, because none of the heads are operating yet 54) Click on "Close" to remove the Tree Estimate screen

55) Now click on "Node ids" and change it to "K value 56) Now click near the centre of one of the branch line pipes - a H will appear next to the head that it supplies 57) Type U or P and press {ENTER} to see that head shown in black (not grey) and 80.00 alongside 58) The status line will now longer be in red, but blue and confirms the size of your project 59) Now you can click on "Calculate" and do the full hydraulic calculations for this job 60) You may get a warning message about some node ids only being used once (can be ignored for now) and then the calculations and the results printout 61) You can now turn on more heads or revise the scheme as you choose 62) You can repeat the above [44 to 61] for the similiar "Grid" estimate if of interest 63) Finially, please note that all this information is stored in a standard text-based DXF file so it can be read in to any CAD program either as 2D layout (if all on one level) or 3D (if heads are above one another) 64) Click on "Exit" to finish Copyright 2013 Alan Ashfield - see www.freehc.net for more information