As in the title. I can no longer find how to produce Sefaira’s heat loss data, showing conduction, ventilation, and infiltration losses which was vital to our work where we used to show monthly heat losses through conduction, ventilation, and infiltration.
There are a lot of examples online showing sefairas capability of this as shown below:
(page 62 in link above).
If anyone can tell me how to produce this data I would really appreciate it. Sketchup support staff did not know and just pointed me towards this forum so any help would be much appreciated!
Below is a graphic of what we used to be able to produce, has this feature been removed?
Hi @oilivesrhandjasmax The charts and graphs you’re referring to come from the older version of the Sefaira web application, which used ASHRAE’s Radiant Time Series methodology. Since around 2015, the newer Sefaira web application runs on EnergyPlus, introducing the new interface you see today.
To access the raw data on monthly heating and cooling requirements, navigate to Energy Breakdown >> Monthly. Here, you can download the necessary data.
For gauging heat loss or gains from each exterior surface on a monthly basis, the process is more complex. You’ll need to download the EnergyPlus .idf (input data file) for your project from the Sefaira web application, modify the inputs within EnergyPlus, and run the analysis locally on your computer. Detailed here. Hope this helps.
Hi there,
Thanks for that, thought I was missing something obvious! That is a real shame to lose that feature, was a very helpful tool for quick analysis.
I can see monthly heat loss breakdowns in reports using Sefaira till around 2019, are you saying these are all done via postprocessing through EnergyPlus? This should maybe be mentioned in advertising material that Sefaira cannot produce this type of analysis anymore.
When you say “reports using Sefaira” can you share where you are seeing this? I just want to confirm whether these are case studies referring to those heat loss graphics or if they are reports generated directly out of Sefaira.
Hi,
Are you referring to the Louisville Public Library example on p 62?
I see that it did show these kinds of outputs but the analysis on that case study was probably done circa 2016. We didn’t really have that much control over how that project was presented in this report.
The gains and losses chart is probably the best representation of this information now. It’s good to know that you would like to see monthly space loads and we’ll keep this in mind. If you’d like to talk to us about what capabilities you’d like from Sefaira just let us know we’d be interested in a chat.
Thanks - Andrew
