A method and system for designing and controlling a hydronic apparatus. The system includes a computing device having a first receiver receiving input data, the input data includes environmental data and hydronic apparatus data. The computing device includes a first processor communicating with the first receiver. The first processor processes the received input data into configuration data that includes a hydronic apparatus layout. The hydronic apparatus layout indicates a plurality of hydronic components and fluid connections between the hydronic components. The computing device includes a transmitter transmitting configuration data. The system includes a controller storing a set of rules and a second receiver that receives the configuration data. The controller includes a second processor processing the received configuration data to correlate the configuration data with the default rules and select a corresponding subset of the set of default rules.