BTU, refrigeration ton and HP in air conditioning | Explained

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You have seen that when it comes to air conditioning, everyone refers to BTU, but what is this BTU?

BTU, refrigeration ton and HP in air conditioning

BTU is a unit of energy measurement in the imperial system (British Thermal Unit), in the International System of Measurement, as we are used to, the equivalent is J (Joule), 1 BTU=1055 J. You will notice that air conditioners have refers to Btu/h, i.e. energy transfer rate, which is power, Energy/Time=Power. Power is measured in BTUH or W (watt), which is J/s. The transformation is done: 1 W=3.412 BTUH.

BTUH is a unit of measurement used to indicate how much cooling power an air conditioner has. It measures the amount of heat (in BTUs) removed from a room in one hour. A higher BTU rating usually means the air conditioner is more powerful and can cool a larger space.

Air conditioners use an imperial unit of measure, BTU (British Thermal Unit), related to time, BTUH (BTU per hour), which represents the power of the device. In the International System of Measurement, power is expressed in W (watt).

A ton of refrigeration (TR or TOR), also called a refrigeration ton (RT), is a unit of power used in some countries (especially in North America) to describe the heat-extraction capacity of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment. It was originally defined as the rate of heat transfer that results in the freezing or melting of 1 short ton (2,000 lb or 907 kg) of pure ice at 0 °C or 32 °F in 24 hours.

The most common cooling power for air conditioning equipments for residential and commercial use are multiples of ton’s such as: 9000 BTU’s per hour, which is 0.75 tons; 12000 BTU’s per hour, 1 ton, 18000 BTU’s per hour, 1.5 tons, 24000 BTU’s per hour, 2 tons, 36000 BTU’s per hour, 3 tons, 48000 BTU’s per hour, 4 tons and 60000 BTU’s per hour, 5 tons.

More special systems such as chillers, VRVs, in general everything related to the more specialized part of air conditioning use HP (horsepower), which is a unit of power measurement. When we say 1HP, we mean a 9000 BTU’s per hour air conditioner, but as I said, they are used for larger equipment. They are produced in multiples of Horse powers, 8, 10, 12, 14, etc.

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