By, Doug Carruthers 
The Project Details page of LoopLink® RLC has just received an upgrade. You can now manually override the minimum and maximum outdoor air temperatures used in your design. Additionally, we created a new ‘Estimate Deep Earth Temp’ button which will apply an approximate Deep Earth Temperature to your project based on the specified Bin Data Location.
Manually Override OATs
This addition is for two types of users.
- Those that perform their system sizing calculations using non-ASHRAE weather conditions.
- Those required by local rebate providers to document designs at specific temperatures.
In either case, the use of manual values is pretty straight forward. Click the ‘Manually Override OATs’ button and the values assigned are what LoopLink® RLC will use in energy and performance modelling. The values are limited by the local weather data. That said, it is important that you understand the impact modifying these values has on your design before you use this feature.
Estimate Deep Earth Temp
As many users have noticed, the update to the interface included the removal of the Deep Earth Temperature map. Our reasons for doing this boil down to:
- The map was dependent on Flash Player and as this article from Wired explains, the internet is actively pursuing the death of Flash Player.
- The map had limited utility as compared to the simpler and more effective estimation button that we just added.
The estimate Deep Earth Temperature button is possibly too easy to use… click it and an estimated Deep Earth Temperature is calculated as a function of mean outdoor air temperature. For those performing Open Loop designs, water well temperature has the exact same functionality applied.
You can of course double check the value against the map which (in a non-interactive form) now lives in the help. If you have more accurate data from past experience or in-situ testing, the value can still be entered manually.