As Joe well knows, the weather files we make available, in
general, are "typical" weather years -- not representative of
the ASHRAE design conditions for the sites at all.
We do generate the full set of yearly ASHRAE design conditions from the
tables of the HOF -- and again, everyone who is using conditions for
sizing should be aware of the different flavors ASHRAE suggests for use
-- different systems imply different design conditions for use. (Of
course, one could just use all though the appropriate one might not be
selected for the peak loads).
And we will be generating the "monthly conditions" shown in the
HOF in the near future.
To select a random or even peak day from the weather file and use it for
sizing is just not appropriate.
Joe, where did you get the idea that you should autosize when you got
errors from the translated files? And definitely it is not
suggested to mix autosize with hard sizes. (Better to autosize
everything). If you're using multipliers, then you have to multiply
the hard sizes by the appropriate multiplier even if you autosize
others.