Air conditioning what is btu

A BTU or British Thermal Unit is a measurement of how much energy is required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree. That might not sound useful when it comes to air conditioning your home or business but the underlying calculation is critical to staying comfortable. Each air conditioner or heater is rated to produce a certain number of BTUs. Many factors go into calculating BTUs, so we have put together a set of tools to help with air conditioner sizing.

The chart below is a great starting point for sizing your AC. These BTU calculations are based on a standard room with 8-foot ceilings, two windows and one door. If the room has more windows, doors or higher ceilings, adjust the BTUs upward.

Kitchens normally have more heat thanks to stoves and ovens, and rooms with computers and other electronics give off extra heat. Well, an Imperial Gallon of water weighs 10 pounds. A BTU heats one tenth of this, or one pound of water, one degree Fahrenheit.

Just as you have to add one BTU to a pound of water to raise the temperature one degree F, you could also take away one BTU and lower the temperature by one degree. But the idea remains the same.

When comparing air conditioner systems, the BTU is a handy measure. There is a catch though. When buying a new air conditioner for your home, it is important to choose the size correctly.

Sizing an air conditioner means choosing the BTU rating. An air conditioner needs about 20 BTUs for each square foot to cooling. To get an approximate idea for how many BTUs you need, multiply the square footage of your space by For residential applications or when comparing different types of air conditioners, they are a good yardstick. In need of a new one. Please help.

Thank you in advance. I know that the BTU is a unit of energy and that even if a candle is left on long enough, it can deliver any amount of BTUs. The article actually covers this at the beginning. It can be easy to gloss over if you already know what a BTU is before reading. A candle will not raise the temperature of 1 pound of water, 1 degree Fahrenheit at sea level because the heat from the candle will dissipate out of the water faster than it will raise the temp.

So 5 bedrooms kitchen n dining are.. Hi, need your help regarding below. Kindly let me know how much is the cooling efficiency difference is between below figures of two different AC units. Is it big or marginal. Hi, if the home has a 4 ton unit, with sq ft. Dunno are you trying to assets cooling or the weight? If you put a larger unit are you sure it will run ok or short cycle. C actually we need cooling. Will a btu unit use more power then a btu unit even though my btu unit rates volts.

What a great article. You have provided such useful and important information. Thank you. I now know what type of air conditioner I need and will that work appropriately and efficiently. You have done a good job.