Rules for Keeping Cool This Summer
Choosing the Right Size (Capacity) for Your Air Conditioner
As a general rule, an air conditioner needs 20 Btu for each square foot of living space. But other considerations, such as the ceiling height and the size of your windows and doorways, might call for more cooling power. To measure your room, multiply the length by the width.
To calculate the best a/c size for your space, you first need to calculate the size of your room. Simply multiply your room’s length and width. This helps to calculate the space’s area that is required to be cooled.
If your room is not a perfect rectangle or square, you can make your task easy by dividing the room into separate sections to calculate the precise size.
The next part is the tricky one. You need to calculate the AC BTUs that would be suitable for your room. You can multiply your room’s total area by 25 to get the BTU required. As a rule of thumb for sizing AC units, a system needs 20 BTUs for each square foot of space occupied.
This number is a safe figure and caters to different daily weather conditions such as rain and humidity.
See below for an AC sizing chart based on Energy Star’s recommendations to determine the best AC size for your room based on the size of your room.
If sunshine falls on your room all day, your cooling capacity may need to increase by 10% or be reduced by 10% if the room is in a shaded area and you may need more BTUs if many people occupy the space.
These calculations provide a rough estimate of the minimum cooling needed. The actual required cooling power depends on many other factors like the thermal conductivity of the walls and building materials, temperature differences, humidity, amount of airflow in the room, and more.
Interested in learning more or ready to request a quote? Click here!