A pump room is the tightest, most crowded space in a fire protection system. On a CAD drawing the pump set is a few rectangles and a thicket of lines; to find out whether a pipe runs into a plinth you have to draw another section, line by line.
Building a fire pump room in revit gives you something else: the pump is equipment with connectors, pipe snaps straight onto those connectors, valve sets cut into the pipe, and the whole assembly can be grouped for the next project. Fourteen steps on Revit 2027, each saying what to click and what appears. For the wider subject, see the Institute's Revit MEP course.
What a pump room is made of in Revit
Before drawing, know which kind of object each item is. Put something in the wrong category and it will neither schedule nor connect.
| Item in the pump room | Category in Revit | Command |
|---|---|---|
| Fire pump, jockey pump | Mechanical Equipment | Systems › Mechanical › Mechanical Equipment (ME) |
| Pressure vessel, air receiver | Mechanical Equipment | as above |
| Suction header, discharge header, riser | Pipes | Systems › Plumbing & Piping › Pipe (PI) |
| Gate and check valves, foot valve, Y-strainer | Pipe Accessories | Systems › Plumbing & Piping › Pipe Accessory (PA) |
| Hose cabinet, landing valve on the riser | Pipe Accessories or Mechanical Equipment, depending on the family | Type Selector of that command |
| Elbows, tees and couplings between pipes | Pipe Fittings, generated by Revit | not placed by hand |
The fire pump room in revit shown here is built in an empty bay of the basement to keep the focus on the commands. Room size, number of pumps, header sizes and the valve arrangement come from the approved design, under the codes in force.
The file to follow along with
This article uses the exercise file described in Revit MEP sample files: a copy of the Institute's fire protection template linked to the Snowdon Towers model shipped in the Samples folder of Revit 2027. The basement is Floor Plans › Parking.
The template carries a pump room kit: the horizontal split-case pump Pump-Horizontal_Multi_Stage-Split_Case_Fire-Aurora_Pump-481, a jockey pump, the pressure vessel Grundfos_Pressure_Vessel, the butterfly valve FP-Accessory-ButterflyValve in four sizes, check and foot valves (Check_Valve-Metraflex-Foot_Valve), a Y-strainer, the hose cabinet FF-Equipment-FireBox and the landing valve FF-Equipment-HoseValve. With another template, swap in your own equivalents.
Placing a fire pump revit family and reading its connectors
Step 1. Open Floor Plans › Parking and zoom to the bay that will hold the pump room.
Step 2. Click Systems › Mechanical › Mechanical Equipment, shortcut ME.
Step 3. Open the Type Selector and type Pump into the search box. The list narrows to the pump families in the file. Pick the fire pump type and click where it goes.
Step 4. Place the second pump beside the first. Repeat step 3 for the jockey pump and the pressure vessel if the design has them.
Step 5. Select a pump. The 2027 release draws each connector's label in the view: size, flow direction and type. This pump has two 125 mm pipe connectors — one Out, the discharge, one In, the suction — plus an electrical connector.
Suction header, discharge header and connecting the pumps
Step 6. Start the Pipe command (PI). In Properties choose the pipe type, then type a Diameter for the header and a Middle Elevation — the centreline height above the level. Check that Reference Level reads the basement.
Step 7. Draw the discharge header in front of the row of pumps: click the start point, click the end point, press Esc twice.
Step 8. Draw the suction header behind the row the same way.
Step 9. Connect the discharge: select the pump and click Modify | Mechanical Equipment › Layout › Connect Into. The Select Connector dialog lists the pump's connectors; pick the line that reads Discharge Outlet Connection and click OK. The cursor gains a plus sign; click the discharge header. Revit builds the connection and inserts a tee.
Step 10. Connect the suction: repeat step 9 and pick Suction Inlet Connection, or start the Pipe command on the suction connector itself and click the suction header as the second point.
With the pipework connected, open the System Browser with F9: each run into a pump becomes a named system, and nothing from the pump room is left under Unassigned. Systems and their hierarchy are covered in systems in Revit MEP.
The valve set and the riser
Step 11. Place a valve: click Pipe Accessory (PA), type the family name in the Type Selector search box, pick the size that matches the pipe and click the pipe. The valve breaks the pipe and joins both ends. A valve set on each pump usually means isolating valves either side and a check valve on the discharge; place them one at a time from the schematic.
Step 12. The riser: start the Pipe command, click a point at the end of the discharge header, change Middle Elevation to the level above and click Create Riser in the Placement Tools panel. Revit builds the vertical run between the two elevations. That button is new in the 2027 release.
The riser then feeds hose cabinets or landing valves floor by floor. Heads and branch pipework on a typical floor are covered in modelling sprinklers in Revit.
Grouping the pump set for reuse
Step 13. Select the whole assembly, then click Modify | Multi-Select › Create › Create Group, shortcut GP. In the Create Group dialog type a name, leave Group Type on Model and click OK.
To edit it, double-click the group: an Edit Group bar appears with Add, Remove, Attach, Finish and Cancel. You must click Finish, otherwise the whole project stays in group-edit mode.
To carry the set into another project, Autodesk gives the route on the Save Groups page: File › Save As › Library › Group, pick the group and save; the next project loads it with Insert › Load as Group.
Scheduling the equipment
Step 14. Go to View › Create › Schedules › Schedule/Quantities. Type Mechanical Equipment into Category name search, pick the category and click OK. On the Fields tab add Family and Type and Count; on Sorting/Grouping clear Itemize every instance, tick Grand totals and click OK.
A valve schedule works the same way with the Pipe Accessories category, plus the Size field to separate the sizes. Exporting to Excel is covered in schedules in Revit.
From fire pump cad blocks to Revit families
People coming from CAD look for fire pump cad blocks or a set of pump and valve symbols to drop into the drawing. In Revit each of those symbols is a family carrying data, and that data is what produces the quantities.
| On the CAD drawing | In Revit 2027 |
|---|---|
| Plan and elevation blocks of a pump | One Mechanical Equipment family with 3D geometry and suction and discharge connectors |
| A valve block | A Pipe Accessory that breaks the pipe and joins both ends |
| Pipe drawn by hand to scale | Pipe with a size, an elevation and a system |
| A pump room section redrawn from scratch | A section cut from the model that updates when the model changes |
| A parts list typed by hand | A schedule that recounts whenever the model changes |
The old drawing still helps: Insert › Link CAD brings the schematic or the old plan in as an underlay to place equipment over.
When it does not behave
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A window selection grabs the whole architectural model, and dragging moves it | The linked model sits under everything, so it is easy to hit | Turn Select Links off at the right end of the status bar while selecting, then back on |
| Revit warns "The family is connected in a network and can no longer keep the connectivity" | You have just dragged the link that hosts equipment | Click Cancel to abandon the move |
| Connect Into gives no Select Connector dialog | The pump has only one free connector left, so Revit skips the question | Click the pipe straight away |
| The connection runs at an angle instead of square | The pump connector is not in line with the header | Draw it by hand: straight out of the connector, then square into the header |
| A valve refuses to go in, or reducers appear around it | The valve size differs from the pipe size | Pick the valve size that matches, or resize that run first |
| Every view stays washed out after editing a group | You are still in group-edit mode | Click Finish on the Edit Group bar |
Frequently asked questions
Which category does a fire pump belong to?
Mechanical Equipment, from Systems › Mechanical › Mechanical Equipment, shortcut ME. The family needs pipe connectors before pipe will snap to it.
Where do pump families come from?
From the Institute template, from a manufacturer's .rfa loaded with Insert › Load Family, or built yourself as in creating families in Revit.
Why group the pump set?
Because pump rooms repeat between projects. A group keeps the connections intact, saves out through File › Save As › Library › Group and comes back with Insert › Load as Group.
Does Revit calculate head and flow for the pump set?
Not for fire protection. Flow, head and the number of pumps come from a separate calculation, under the codes in force and the approved submission.
How do I get a section through the pump room?
Cut one with View › Section. The section comes from the model, so editing the pipework updates the drawing instead of forcing a redraw.