WaterCAD - reservoir closed

Question

Im running a fire flow analysis and the model appears to run fine but it does give me a status message that my reservoir is closed. Is this something that I need to address? I am using a reservoir and pump to model a known hydrant flow & pressure from the city.

Scott Kampa · Answer

Hello Charlie, 
 Is the pump status off or are there closed pipes near the reservoir? If so this might account for the user notification. I would take a look at the results, particularly around the reservoir. See if you have no flow reported. Also see if there are any red user notifications that might need to be addressed. Any red user notification tends to mean that the model did not compute. 
 The following links may help with some issues that may arise: 
 Disconnected Demand Nodes user notification when computing model 
 Troubleshooting the Network Unbalanced or Cannot solve network hydraulic equations user notification 
 If that doesn't help, we may need to see a copy of the model files. This link has information on sending the files to us. 
 Regards, Scott

Jesse Dringoli · Answer

"Reservoir is closed" in the calculation summary indicates that flow is neither entering or leaving the reservoir. In other words, the inflow/outflow is zero. 
 When running automated fireflow, the results that you see in the model after the run completes are the standard steady state results with no fire flow applied. Each individual fire event in the automated fire flow is a full separate steady state run and the results are stored in summary form in the fire flow flextable. If you need to see results in the model during an individual fire flow event, you can use the Fireflow results browser (after configuring the Auxiliary results part of the fireflow alternative). See more here: 
 How does the Automated Fire Flow analysis work? 
 Understanding Automated Fire Flow Results 
 If you do not have any other demands in the model, then the pump flow and reservoir flow may be zero, causing the "reservoir is closed" notification. As Scott suggested, take a look at the results around the reservoir.

Scott Kampa · Answer

Hello Charlie, 
 When I compute the model in the latest version of WaterCAD, I get a message that says Network Unbalanced. The issue is occurring because there are no demands in the model during the steady state. This cannot sometimes cause the model calculation to be difficult to solve the network hydraulic equations. This link has information on that. 
 To get this to compute, I added a 5 gpm of flow to a node in the system, and was able to get this to balance. Please try that on your computer and see if it helps. 
 Regards, 
 Scott

Stephen Bahr · Answer

A reservoir upstream from a pump will be "closed" if nearby downstream pump status is "Off". Ensure that the downstream pump's status field is "On" to resolve this error.