portable Air Conditioners - What's a Btu and Why Do I Care?

People have a strong need to simplify things, especially when it comes to long technical terms. Simplification often involves the use of acronyms or abbreviations. Such is the case with air conditioning. Those in the business throw out terms like Btu's and Eer like everybody knows what they mean. But that's not the case. The purpose of this article is to help the reader understand what a Btu is, and what it means to them when choosing a portable air conditioner.

Btu is short for British Thermal Unit, defined as the number of heat considerable to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit at one atmosphere of pressure. So it's a measurement of energy, specifically heat. So what does that have to do with air conditioning? Well, it's certainly a misnomer, since what it refers to is the power of an ac unit, which requires a time reference. So with air health we certainly mean Btu's per hour, but everybody just shortens it to "Btu," and it refers to the quality of an air conditioner to change the temperature of air.

Portable Air Conditioners Rating

The higher the Btu rating, the greater the quality to change air temperature. So a 12,000 Btu unit will be able to cool more air than a 10,000 Btu unit in the same number of time. Now we're getting somewhere. How much more? The quality to cool air is fairly linear with changing Btu (other factors come into play), but that's not the only consideration. Manufacturers of portable air conditioners often have a chart showing what size room a given btu rating should be able to cool adequately. But remember, they didn't test this in your home! Things like sun exposure, obstructions to air circulation, how cool you want the room, face temperature, insulation, duct length, and either or not you are supplementing central air, all come into play. Here's the next potentially confusing thing. Rooms are measured in square feet, which is certainly the size of the floor only. But rooms are three dimensional, they have height too. Air conditioners don't cool the floor, they cool the air, which occupies the entire room. The volume of a room depends also on the ceiling height.

portable Air Conditioners - What's a Btu and Why Do I Care?

12,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner Fan - EdgeStar Best

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12,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner Fan - EdgeStar Feature

• 300-425 sq. ft. ideal room size (depends on heat load)
• Patented Auto-Drain System - exhausts most or all condensate automatically except under extreme humidity situations
• Thermostat can be programmed to temperatures from 61°F - 89°F and be displayed in either Fahrenheit or Celsius
• Direct drain option that allows you to run the unit 365 days a year without having to empty any water accumulation
• Dimensions: 30 9/10"h x 17 1/10"w x 15"d, One Year Limited Warranty (90 days labor)

12,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner Fan - EdgeStar Overview

Simply put, based on our independent testing and customer feedback, the EdgeStar Extreme Cool line of portable air conditioners offer the perfect combination of cooling power, quality and style- a combination unmatched by any other unit on the market. We recommend this stylish silver portable air conditioner as the best choice for cooling rooms from up to 425 sq. ft. The EdgeStar AP12000S Portable Air Conditioner combines superior engineering, colder airflow, and a more energy efficient design to be our top cooling choice. Here are the primary reasons the EdgeStar Extreme Cool units are not only in a class of their own, but are also the most popular units we offer:

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Jan 05, 2012 09:48:08

So what is this all about? Ok, finally I'll get to "what it means to you." Let's say you have ten foot ceilings in your home, and you have a 289 square foot (17 x 17) room that is too warm. By the charts, a 10000 Btu unit would be recommended for 300 square feet. But that's for approved eight foot ceilings. With ten foot ceilings, the volume of air is 20% higher, meaning the volume is equivalent to a 346 square foot room with eight foot ceilings. So a unit designed for 350 feet will probably be a better option to cool your room efficiently, i.e. 11,000 Btu instead of 10,000.

Now that is a beneficial tidbit! The "other factors" mentioned above should also be considered when determining how many btu's to get. Basically, it's not a bad idea to upsize the unit a limited over the size charts if you can afford it. I've seen many arguments both ways on this, but in my opinion, upsizing should allow the unit to cool more quickly, allowing it to run less. It also gives the option of using it in a larger room if needed

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