Marking Up Piping Plans: How to Tag Pipes and Add Notes

Annotating Piping Plans: Tagging Pipes and Arm Overs for Level One Piping Plan

Discover the process of annotating piping plans, with special emphasis on tagging pipes and identifying the parts of a model. Get to understand how to create tags, select the appropriate ones for the pipes and how to organize them in a coherent manner.

Key Insights

  • The article guides the reader on how to annotate level one piping plans by deleting any previous sections and starting a fresh annotation process.
  • The process of tagging pipes involves going to Annotate, selecting Tag by Category, and hovering over different parts of the model to create a tag for that part. It's important to use the appropriate tag for each pipe.
  • While tagging each pipe on the plan, it's essential to avoid blocking any sprinkler location or other important information. The article also explains that the order of tagging doesn't necessarily need to follow a particular pattern.

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In this video, we'll be annotating our piping plans. So let's go to our level one piping plan. All right, and the first thing I'd like to do is these building sections we created, let's go on ahead and delete them, and we'll start them fresh when we get to the building sections portion of our annotations.

So let's go on ahead and delete these, click OK. All right, so the first thing I'd like to do is tag all of our pipes. So to do that, let's go to Annotate, and you should see Tag by Category, and let's select that.

Now, if you hover over different parts of the model, it'll create a tag for that part. If I hover over my branch line here, it's calling it out with a pipe tag, one and a half inch, schedule 10,12 feet above finish floor. This is the tag we'll be using.

So first, whatever tag you have on the pipe, go on ahead and click. Now, if you select the tag, under the Properties, we have our fire sprinkler pipe, schedule 10, pipe size, tag, schedule 10. So make sure you're using that tag.

Okay, and let's go back to Annotate, Tag by Category, and now it's a process of just tagging all of our pipes. We're not gonna worry about tagging our arm overs, we're gonna make some notes. So you can feel free to skip ahead or watch a portion of the video and then skip ahead, but I'm going to be tagging all the pipes on my level one piping plan.

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Okay, I will tag the main here and here. I'm trying to find a spot so you're not blocking a sprinkler location or other pertinent information. Okay, again, I'm not gonna worry about my arm overs.

I might have to move this one up. Okay, the one inch pipe, we don't have to worry about that. These will all be schedule 40, which is also in our general notes.

But since there are so many arm overs, we're going to just add a note to our plan here, calling this out. So don't worry about any of the one inch pipe. And then I'll continue tagging this branch line.

Anything with more than one sprinkler is gonna be larger than one inch. We will tag those. And the order you do this in doesn't have to follow mine.

It's not in any order in particular. Just make sure we get them all in there. Move this to that side.

Okay, have I tagged this main already? Yes. Now, sometimes you can tag the same main more than once. If it's a change in direction, you definitely want to.

You might add another one on this end of the main as well. Okay, that's pretty good.

photo of Derek Cutsinger

Derek Cutsinger

BIM Instructor/Coordinator

Derek’s background is in both education and MEP. He earned his BA in Music Education from San Diego State University and is also a TEFL certified English language instructor. In addition to educational roles, he is also an experienced fire protection design engineer and has extensive knowledge in many programs and processes used in AEC industries. He brings his unique and eclectic skillset to VDCI as their Curriculum Coordinator. In his free time he can be found weightlifting in his garage, hanging out with his wife and pug, or painting and drawing in his studio.

  • BA Music Education – San Diego State University
  • MA Applied Linguistics (in process) – San Diego State University
  • TEFL Certified English Language Instructor
  • NICET 1 Certification
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