How to: Replace a corrupted elbow family and restore Routing Preferences in Revit Mechanical

Not version-specific

Stabicad

Understanding the Issue If a fitting family becomes corrupted or incorrectly modified within a project, Revit cannot resolve the geometry when drawing duct or pipe runs. Instead of recreating the entire project template, you can extract a clean instance from a new model, swap out the broken instances, and reassign the routing hierarchy.

Resolution Steps

Phase 1: Retrieve a Clean Family Instance

Create a new, blank Revit model within the same active Revit session.
Draw a short duct or pipe run with an elbow in the new model to ensure the correct fitting family loads and renders properly.
Select the functional elbow fitting, copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl + C), and paste it (Ctrl + V) into your working project.

Phase 2: Swap the Corrupted Family

In your active project, locate the corrupted family in the Project Browser under Duct Fittings or Pipe Fittings.
Right-click the corrupted family and choose Select All Instances > In Entire Project.
In the Properties palette, use the Type Selector to swap the selected instances to the newly imported, functional family.
Once swapped, right-click the old/corrupted family in the Project Browser and select Delete to purge it from the project.

Phase 3: Update Routing Preferences

Select a duct or pipe segment of the affected system type in your model.
In the Properties palette, click Edit Type.
Located next to Routing Preferences, click Edit.
Under the Elbow section, assign the newly imported fitting family as the primary preference.
Click OK to commit the changes.

Optional: You can rename the new family in the Project Browser to match your standard naming convention.s