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Zones are the Parent object of the Floors, Ceilings & Walls, that are contained within them, and also the Zone’s Ceilings Ceiling Fans & Penetrations
Within the Chenath Simulation Engine, the Zone holds all the information regarding not only the Floors, Ceilings, Walls, Openings & other Model objects but also the Internal Heat Gains (such as Appliances, Occupant & Lighting), it’s Heating & Cooling Thermostat Setpoints & Profile, and the operation of Shade & Natural Ventilation features within the Zone. The Heating & Cooling Results of a Simulation are measured at the Zone level, and it from this Zone Heating & Cooling Result that the Star-Rating is eventually derived from.
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Zones are created within the Visual View using the Zone Drawing Mode.
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Roofspace Zones & Subfloor Zones are automatically created by Hero when a Ceiling or Floor is changed to have a Roofspace or Subfloor Adjacency respectively. |
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Zone Type | Description |
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Kitchen/Living | Examples: Kitchen, Kitchen/Living, Kitchen/Dining Expand |
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title | NatHERS Technical Notes: |
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| “Any room shown on a plan as a kitchen or a kitchen combined with one or more living areas. This zone must include the main kitchen area and may include a lounge, meals or dining area. All dwellings must contain one main kitchen/living zone. There can be no more than one kitchen/living zone. All additional smaller kitchens/kitchenettes within the dwelling must be zoned as another zone type.” |
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Living | Examples: Living, Lounge, Dining, Family, Rumpus, Media, Theatre Expand |
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title | NatHERS Technical Notes |
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| “This is the default zoning for internal zones not covered by any other zone type. Daytime zones include studies (without a built-in wardrobe), gymnasiums, internal domestic lifts, indoor pool rooms, saunas, above ground wine cellars, walk-in pantries, storage areas or conditioned outdoor living areas capable of being fully enclosed (i.e. considered within the dwelling envelope). This zone type includes hallways and corridors (either fully enclosed by doors or open to other zones) as they are circulation areas that allow access to other zones. This includes zones such as ensuites or walk-in wardrobes that can be accessed by a hallway or corridor (e.g. a two-way bathroom accessible by both a bedroom and the hallway). This zone type could also include any living, lounge, dining, family, rumpus, media or home theatre room, if they are in addition to the two largest living areas. This zone may be selected when a laundry, WC, bathroom or powder room is not ventilated by a door or window on an external wall.” |
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Bedroom | Examples: Bedroom or Study with Wardrobe Expand |
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title | NatHERS Technical Notes |
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| “Any room shown on the plan as a bedroom, whether or not it has any built-in wardrobes. Bedroom zoning must also be used for a study with either a built-in wardrobe, walk-in wardrobe or attached ensuite. In this case, the ‘study’ becomes a bedroom zone with the built-in wardrobe part of the same zone. A walk-in wardrobe or ensuite is to be zoned as night-time.” |
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Day Time | Examples: Laundry or WC or Bathroom with No External Window/Door, Study, Hall, Corridor, Store, Pantry Expand |
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title | NatHERS Technical Notes |
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| “This is the default zoning for internal zones not covered by any other zone type. Daytime zones include studies (without a built-in wardrobe), gymnasiums, internal domestic lifts, indoor pool rooms, saunas, above ground wine cellars, walk-in pantries, storage areas or conditioned outdoor living areas capable of being fully enclosed (i.e. considered within the dwelling envelope). This zone type includes hallways and corridors (either fully enclosed by doors or open to other zones) as they are circulation areas that allow access to other zones. This includes zones such as ensuites or walk-in wardrobes that can be accessed by a hallway or corridor (e.g. a two-way bathroom accessible by both a bedroom and the hallway). This zone type could also include any living, lounge, dining, family, rumpus, media or home theatre room, if they are in addition to the two largest living areas. This zone may be selected when a laundry, WC, bathroom or powder room is not ventilated by a door or window on an external wall.” |
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Night Time | Examples: Ensuite, WIR accessed from Bedroom Expand |
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title | NatHERS Technical Notes |
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| “This applies to areas that can only be accessed from a bedroom or from a zone, which itself, is only accessed from a bedroom. These include ensuites, walk-in wardrobes, parent’s retreats and WCs accessed from an ensuite.)” |
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Unconditioned | Examples: Laundry or Bathroom or WC or Powder, with External Window/Door Expand |
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title | NatHERS Technical Notes |
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| “Every dwelling must have at least one unconditioned zone. Laundries, bathrooms, airlocks, WCs or powder rooms that have an external wall with at least one or more ventilation openings (window or door). If there are no rooms that fit this description, then the smallest daytime zone must be modelled as an unconditioned zone. An airlock is a small, relatively airtight space that can be modelled as unconditioned space if: - it is located at a dwelling entrance and - has one or more external walls and - has one or more internal walls and - has an external door and - has one or more internal doors, of which, only one opens to a conditioned zone. Where an area labelled as an ‘airlock’ does not meet the above conditions, it is to be modelled as a daytime zone. Underground cellars may also be considered an unconditioned zone.” |
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Unconditioned Garage | Examples: Unconditioned Garage Expand |
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title | NatHERS Technical Notes |
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| “Where a garage is shown on the documentation as attached to the dwelling, and does not have any heating or cooling indicated.” |
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Conditioned Garage | Examples: Garage with Heating and/or Cooling Expand |
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title | NatHERS Technical Notes |
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| “This zone type only applies when a garage has heating ducts, hydronic heating elements or air conditioners.” |
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Corridor (Class 2) | Note |
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Hero models all Class 2 Corridors (whether they are Unglazed or Glazed as per NatHERS Definitions) as a single “Corridor” Zone Type to minimise user confusion & simplify Model creation. |
Hero decides automatically (based on whether the Corridor Zone has Glazing) as to whether to Simulate the Zone within Chenath as a Special Chenath “Glazed Corridor” Zone, or as Neighbouring Adjacency |
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Carpark (Class 2) | Examples: Basement, shared carpark (Class 2 or 4 only) Expand |
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title | NatHERS Technical Notes |
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| “Where there is a shared carpark underneath an apartment, and the carpark is equal to or greater than 50 per cent closed from the outdoor air, then the area directly under the apartment must be zoned as ‘shared basement carpark’. Where a carpark under the apartment is greater than 50 per cent open to the outdoor air then this zone must be modelled as ‘above outdoor air’. This zone type must only be used in Class 2 and 4 dwellings. (More information available in Table 3). This zone type must not be used when Class 2 dwellings have individual garages.” |
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Void | The Void Zone Type is used to model a special situation where a Zone resides over Multiple Levels. The Void Zone should be the Upper Zone. Modelling a Zone as a Void means that all of it’s child objects such as Walls, Ceilings & Openings are modelled as a Single Zone within Chenath. Tip |
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Note a Void Zone does not need a Hole across the entirety of it’s Floor, this is assumed automatically by Hero (though you can if you’d like, though it will have identical effects). |
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A Roofspace Zone is automatically created by Hero whenever a Ceilings Ceiling is of an Attic Type (which sets the Adjacency Type of the Ceiling to Roofspace).
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A Subfloor Zone is automatically created by Hero whenever a Floors is of a Suspended Type with a Subfloor Adjacency Type.
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