BTU stands for “British Thermal Unit” which is a unit of energy that is equivalent to 1055 Joules. It’s used in metric countries like Canada and United-States and is the standard unit of power for air conditioning units sold in parts of the world.
When your shopping around for air conditioners wether it’s a split air conditioner, a portable air conditioner, window air conditioner or even a central system the first question you must ask yourself even before looking at the brands : How much BTU do I need? It’s an important factor since it is highly advised not to go with more or less btus than you need. One can argue that it can have an impact on your health if you exceed the amount needed and if you are going to go for less you won’t be the satisfied with the performance.
In some cases you can go higher, let’s take for instant a restaurant owner wants to install mini split systems in a 1000sq foot area he would have to go with 2 x 24000 BTU considering he holds can hold 30 customers where normally in a residential place it would be one 18000BTU. At the end of the day it evolves around the size of the area you want to cool/heat and depends on how bad the temperature in your region can get.
How much BTU do I need?
To determine how much btus you need the first step would be to find out the square footage of the area. Now for the second step there is a lot of similar opinions and from my point of view it works this way: In warm climates you need about 30-35BTU/sq feet to heat your space but in cold regions it could go up to 55-60BTU/sq feet. As for cooling advice you can visit our buyer’s page at http://blog.airconditioneroutlet.com/buyers-guide/ where you will find a detailed BTU table at the bottom of the page.
You can always leave a comment or contact us if you’re still uncertain with the amount of BTUs your coooling or heating area requires.
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