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Site & climate · Thermal

Thermal overview

Monthly temperatures, degree days, design temperatures, climate zone, humidity and comfort hours for a site's weather station.

Thermal tells the temperature story of a place from a weather station's typical-year record: monthly temperature bands, heating and cooling degree days, design temperatures, the ASHRAE climate zone, humidity, and how many hours are comfortable outdoors. It can also set a project's climate zone, which Walls checks assemblies against.

A Thermal scheme saves just a name and the weather station you picked. The numbers are read from the station's record each time the scheme opens.

Thermal works the same way as the other climate tools (Wind Rose, Rainfall and Sun Path), but saves its own schemes.

The main screen #

From top to bottom:

  • The toolbar. Project ▾ on the left, then the scheme's name (click it to rename) and a status message when something happens. On the right: ▦ Board, ⇄ Change station, New, Import, Export ▾, and Share / Snapshots last. ▦ Board and ⇄ Change station show once a station is loaded.
  • The study. A Colors setting, then the cards: Temperature, month by month, Design numbers, Heating demand by month, Cooling demand by month, Humidity by month and Comfort hours by month. A card shows only when the station has its data. See Temperature and design numbers.
  • The source line at the bottom: the dataset, the station's file and who publishes it.

Before a station is picked, the tool shows its start screen: Saved in your projects, Find a station by name, Or map it from your site, and Demos to the side. How to pick a station is on Weather stations.

Start a new thermal study #

From a project page #

  1. On the project page, click + New.
  2. Pick Thermal.

The scheme is made inside the project and opens on the start screen, with the stations nearest the project's approximate location already on the map. Click one to load it. See Projects and schemes.

The Thermal ↗ button under the project page's Approximate location opens Thermal near the project too, but doesn't make a scheme in the project.

Start from the project when you want to set the project's climate zone: the button for it only shows when the scheme is in a project. See Set the project's climate zone.

From inside the tool #

  1. Click New. If a station is open, confirm that you want to start over. A scheme that's in a project stays there.
  2. Pick a station.

A new scheme lives only on this computer until you open Project ▾ and click Push to a project…. Once it's in a project, it saves as you work. See Local only to keep it off the cloud.

Open existing work #

  • Saved in your projects, on the start screen, and Project ▾ both list your thermal schemes. Click one to open it.
  • On a project page, click the scheme's name.
  • Import opens a scheme file saved with Export ▾ → Scheme file (.json).

Who can see a scheme #

A scheme in a project is shared with the people on that project, with their roles. See People and roles. To share outside the project, use view-only links or snapshots.

Live station data needs you signed in with tool access; signed out, the demo stations still work. See Who can load station data.

An AI assistant connected through the AI connector can read the scheme and its station's climate zone, design temperatures, degree days, monthly temperatures and humidity, but can't change the scheme.