What Exactly Is a BTU and How Does It Affect Your AC's Performance?

DO NOT DISPLAY

BTU is an abbreviation for British Thermal Unit, but what does it have to do with keeping you cool this summer? The BTU is also the standard specification for the heat that an air conditioner extracts from a house in a certain time frame. A higher BTU rating means the air conditioner moves more heat faster out of the house.

Sizing Up Your Home

Calculating the precise BTU capacity of an air conditioner for efficient, effective cooling is called sizing. It takes into account the total square footage of a house, as well as factors such as daily exposure to sun, insulation type, and the number of doors and windows. Performed by a professional HVAC contractor, the sizing calculation uses industry-standard software to determine the home’s cooling load. The cooling load is the air conditioner BTU capacity required to cool the home in typical summer conditions.

BTUs By the Ton

Residential central air conditioners are typically rated from 1.5 tons up to 5 tons of cooling capacity. One ton in HVAC terms equals 12,000 BTUs of heat removed from the house every hour by the air conditioner.

Not Too Much, Not Too Little

Accurate BTU sizing is critical for both optimum cooling in the house as well as the lowest operating costs. If the house isn’t properly sized, AC performance and efficiency suffers. Consider the following two scenarios:

• Undersizing. An AC unit with insufficient BTU capacity comes with a less-expensive price tag, yet it can be costly to operate. Struggling to meet thermostat settings, the unit will run very long cooling cycles, consuming excess energy and raising monthly operating costs. It will also incur more wear and tear and have shorter service life.

• Oversizing. An AC with excessive BTU capacity tends to “short cycle,” — turning on and off rapidly — which accelerates wear on components. Temperature control is then uneven, with some rooms too warm and others overly cool. Because the unit cycles off rapidly, the AC dehumidifying function is not fully functional and the home feels humid and clammy.

Get more facts and figures about the BTU capacity of air conditioners by contacting the professionals at Air Assurance.

All You Need to Know About BTU Ratings for Furnaces

BTU, or British Thermal Unit, is a measure of energy – about what a four-inch wooden match puts out when it's burned all the way down. BTU ratings for furnaces are the industry standard for measuring a furnace's heating efficiency.Along with the AFUE, which measures how well a furnace turns energy (such as gas) into heat, BTU is one of the key ratings for understanding your furnace's efficiency.

Average BTU ratings

You may see furnaces discussed in terms of BTU input, BTU output, total BTUs and BTUs per square foot. The input BTU is the amount of energy a furnace requires to run, while the output is the amount of energy delivered to your home as heat. Many experts recommend that you buy a furnace which delivers 40 to 45 BTUs per square foot. You should analyze your home to see what size furnace you need to keep warm.

BTUs in Your Home

Furnaces cover a wide range of BTUs, from small 40,000 BTU models to large units rated at over 200,000 BTUs. While it might be tempting to get a large model (on the grounds you'll always have enough heat) or a smaller model (hoping to save money), neither choice is wise. An oversized furnace can overheat your home and shut off more frequently to cool down, resulting in excess wear and tear and temperature swings. An undersized furnace, on the other hand, will struggle to keep your home warm, leading to reduced home comfort and furnace strain.

Always speak to your local HVAC experts to learn what size furnace is right for your home. If you'd like to learn more about BTU ratings for furnaces and AFUE efficiency ratings for your Broken Arrow home, contact Air Assurance today!

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “www.3drenderedlogos com/Shutterstock”

HVAC Terms That Are Handy to Know

When speaking with an HVAC professional about your system, you may become confused when they use HVAC terms to describe your system. If you know and understand some of the basic terms that are used in the HVAC industry, you'll be on top of what all the professional terminology means.Here are some of the basic HVAC terms that you'll hear when a heating or air conditioning system is being described.

• HVAC -- (H)eating, (V)entilation and (A)ir (C)onditioning comprises your entire HVAC heating and cooling system.

• BTU -- Describes how much heating capacity your HVAC system has. The higher the BTU rating, the greater its heating ability.

• Ton -- How much cooling capacity your central air conditioning has. Just like a BTU unit, the more tons your air conditioner has, the greater its cooling ability.

• AFUE -- Stands for Annualized Fuel Utilization Efficiency, and refers directly to how efficient your furnace is. The higher the AFUE number, the more efficient the system.

• SEER -- The Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio is how the efficiency of air conditioners is classified. The higher the SEER number, the more efficient the system.

• MERV Rating -- MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value. It directly relates to how efficient your HVAC system filter is, and the higher the MERV rating, the more efficient it is at trapping dirt, dust, smoke and pollen particles.

• Off-Grid -- Going "off-grid" means you have your own power source, like solar panels or a windmill, and are able to disconnect from your local utility service provider.

• Energy Star -- A product designation from the Environmental Protection Agency that promises an Energy Star product meets or beats EPA energy efficient guidelines.

If you'd like to know more about HVAC terms and what they mean, contact Air Assurance. We'll answer your questions and provide outstanding service for all of your HVAC needs. Serving the Tulsa metropolitan area for more than 50 years.Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Egasit-Mullakhut/Shutterstock”