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Error when making weather file with Elements

asked 2025-01-03 04:15:14 -0600

AadriaanW's avatar

I am trying to make a weather file based on measured data from 2024, from other posts I followed the advice to use Elements to build it. I followed the steps to make it and it seems the file should work fine, but when I load it into DesignBuilder I get several errors and when I try to start the simulation I get the following error:

"Building 1 - Error reading header in weather file: C:\ProgramData\DesignBuilder\Weather Data\2024Weatherfile.epw.

Please choose a different weather file or change FCFactorMethod ground temperature source to option 2-Model data on Location tab at site level."

I am unable to find this tab, what comes closest is the ground modeling options on Location level which has 4 options, the second of which is 2-Kiva basic. None of these 4 settings have an impact on this error. Could it be that my computer works with different seperators for comma and period than the standard US setting for E+? What other options can I look at to make my weatherfile for 2024 so I can verify yearly measured data?

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answered 2025-01-03 08:01:21 -0600

We've heard of an issue previously where DesignBuilder does not handle the line endings for EPW files generated by Elements correctly. I suspect this is what is happening here.

There are two potential work-arounds. One is using DesignBuilder itself to convert the EPW file using the Hourly weather data tool. I've attached some screenshots that fixed this on an older version of Design Builder -- hopefully it is still clear for the version you are using.

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The DesignBuilder workaround uses the "Hourly weather data tool". This tool will import the EPW file created by Elements and, in the process, fix the line-ending issue.

Be sure that you don't have the "Change filename ..." option checked when you use the Hourly weather data tool as it can create problems for the generated file if your location name uses extended characters (e.g., characters with accents) in the name.

Another way to address the issue is to open the EPW file generated by Elements and convert the line endings to "CRLF" (Carriage Return Line Feed). This can be accomplished using the free Visual Studio Code application from Microsoft:

https://code.visualstudio.com/

Open Visual Studio Code, open the *.epw file, and, in the bottom right corner, click on the footer where it says "LF" (line feed) and change it to "CRLF" (Carriage Return Line Feed) and re-save. (See https://stackoverflow.com/a/39532890)

Hope this helps.

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Thank you for your input, I followed the steps in DesignBuilder itself and the simulation is running without errors now!

AadriaanW's avatar AadriaanW  ( 2025-01-06 01:02:51 -0600 )edit

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Asked: 2025-01-03 04:15:14 -0600

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Last updated: yesterday