Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Calculation Error

I was having a discussion the other day about Bentley software we use and asked why we use a particular program when we have access to as similar software within our Autodesk subscription. I was reminded that the "included" Autodesk software, Autodesk Storm and Sanitary, has calculation errors.

What Is Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis?

I then remembered submitting a support ticket directly to Autodesk Support about two years ago. Unfortunately this serious design flaw has yet to be rectified and thus we are using, and paying for, competing software. I thought I would share this so anyone who uses this software would be aware of the issue if depending on it as a design tool.

Here is what I submitted in March of 2016:

"The spread calculation for Storm and Sanitary Analysis is not calculating property. As you can see from the attached SPF file, the calculation works for gutter slopes of 2%, however for slopes greater than 2% the program calculates a number under the actual value and for slopes under 2% it calculates a value over the actual value."

The two images below where submitted with the support ticket to depict how we did a manual...
calc to see if the software was working properly (click images to enlarge):

For your entertainment, my city (Duluth, MN, USA) is built on a hillside overlooking Lake Superior. The steepest street has a grade of 25%! So calculating slopes correctly is important, as you can imagine.

Based on the information we provided, Autodesk Support was able to confirm the error and escalated the issue to the product development team. Here is a small snippet from that response:

"As mentioned, I logged this issue with the development team for further investigation. With the development team taking ownership of the active issue, the Technical Support case will be marked as Closed. This does not mean your issue is forgotten while the development team works to investigate this issue."

Unfortunately this is the reply I received from he most recent support ticket on this issue:

"I am sorry to inform you, but the problem occurs in the newest 2019 version as well. Our Development Team works on it and the code correction is currently planned. However, due to the company's policy, I can not give you any details. Nevertheless thanks for your contribution!"

So Bentley software it is until this gets resolved... if it gets resolved.

One more problem I found while revisiting this issue is that this product has not been updated to support high DPI text scaling in Widows - which is required when using 4k monitors. The two images below show the unworkable user interface in that context.

For BIM Chapters updates, follow @DanStine_MN on Twitter