Building automation / Interactive HVAC modules

BASidekick Lab

Load a preset, change a setpoint, plant a fault, and see where the graphic stops telling the truth. The Lab is free and lives on BASidekick, alongside my open-source Niagara modules.

Status: Live
Year: 2026
Role: Design, 3D + development
Built with: Next.js · React Three Fiber · TypeScript · Blender · Cloudflare Workers

Cutaway 3D building with air handling on the roof and floors and a hydronic plant in the basement, tagged with module numbers — The Lab's running building: air on the roof and floors, water in the basement. Each number opens a module.

Learn it by breaking it

A lot of what people learn about HVAC controls comes from graphics that show what the control system thinks is happening. The Lab puts the equipment and the control system side by side: a 3D unit that shows what the air and water are really doing, next to the readings, setpoints and overrides an operator would see.

Each module teaches one idea, like "damper position isn't outdoor-air percentage" or "slow the pump, don't choke it." The models are checked against engineering references and manufacturer data, and every module has presets that break things on purpose.

It started as a standalone experiment and grew into the heart of BASidekick, a free, vendor-neutral site for learning building automation hands-on.

What it does

Nine modules

Economizers, coils and valves, VAV boxes, static pressure reset, pumps and VFDs, three-way valves, primary-secondary plants, condensing boilers, and the psych chart.

Command, feedback, reality

What the control system commands, what it reads back, and what's physically happening stay on separate layers, so you can see exactly where they part ways.

Economizer module: a 3D air handler with airflow streaks and live tags, beside weather and setpoint controls — The economizer module: the air in 3D, the controls an operator would have beside it.

Economizer bench with the damper curve, BAS readings beside hidden reality values, and a trend — What the control system reads, next to what's really happening.

Break it on purpose

Presets plant real faults: a stuck damper, a leaking valve, a drifted sensor, an outdoor sensor in the sun.

Fault rules

The psych chart module runs APAR-style fault rules on the points a BAS logs, and ranks what could explain what broke.

Psych chart module plotting outside, return, mixed and supply air, with fault-rule diagnosis and trends — The psych chart module plots every stage of the air handler and diagnoses what the points say.

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