CANQUEST automatically generated reference building?

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ashrae-90.1
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I just have a basic question about the automatically generated reference building in CANQUEST. From what I gather, in eQuest it's good practice to model the baseline building to ASHRAE 90.1 without the use of the automatically generated baseline tool. This ensures that the baseline building is modeled accurately and correctly. However, I was wondering if it's acceptable to use the automatically generated baseline building in CANQUEST when modeling to NECB 2011? Any fellow Canadian users have experience with the automatically generated reference building and can comment on its capabilities/accuracy? Thanks for your help!

ModellingisLyfe

asked 2017-08-16 10:17:15 -0500

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__AmirRoth__

updated 2017-08-16 12:37:07 -0500

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CanQUEST was developed by Natural Resources Canada to support the application of the NECB 2011. So you can use CQ to create a reference building starting point, just as it was for EE4 for the MNECB 1997. As with all simulation software, it is the modeler's responsibility to ensure that both the proposed and reference models generated by any software accurately reflects the design intent. Hope that helps.

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Phylroy Lopez

answered 2017-08-16 13:42:53 -0500

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Thanks Phylroy, it does =)

ModellingisLyfe (2017-08-17 07:48:02 -0500) edit

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I have used CanQUEST to generate the Reference case model. I typically get to a point where I can generate the Reference case model then I import the .inp files into eQuest for fine tuning. CanQUEST is somewhat buggy and I find it crashes fairly often. Also, some people find they can't run CanQUEST in Windows 7, they have to install XP on a virtual machine to use CanQUEST.

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Chris Jones

answered 2017-08-16 14:35:46 -0500

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Thanks for your answer Chris, really appreciate it. After you fine tune your building, do you bring it back into CANquest or do you gather all your results from Equest?

ModellingisLyfe (2017-08-17 07:47:19 -0500) edit

I have been using eQuest for all the results. The only drawback to this approach is if your project is in a jurisdiction where the authority requires the CanQUEST specific reports to be submitted. I don't know of any such jurisdiction off hand. Alberta requires compliance with the NECB but the authorities have issued their own reports to be completed so CanQUEST is not required for reporting purposes. The Alberta Building Code has a couple of quirks one needs to follow carefully.