Air Conditioner Sizing Tutorial.

How much air conditioner BTU's I need?

Picking the right home air conditioner is very easy with the right information. Before buying an air conditioner,
find out how many BTUs you need. This means think of the size of the room, and what the room will be used for.
Matching Btu requirements to room size is very important when you buying an air conditioner system.

This air conditioner sizing tutorial will explain you how to choose the right air conditioner size. Choosing an air
conditioner size that is too small (low BTU rating) for the intended room will leave you feeling hot and flustered!
And buying an air conditioner that is too big for the room can have its problems too. So the main question is what
does BTU mean?

Btu – British Thermal Unit (Btu) is the international measure of energy. A Btu is the amount of heat needed to
raise 1 (one) pound of water by 1(one) degree Fahrenheit. In HVAC industry, Btu's measure the quantity of heat a
conditioning unit can remove from a room per hours. One BTU per hour is equal to 0293 watts. As the Btu rating
increases, so does the weight, size and cost of the air conditioner.

To calculate how many BTU’s you need you can use this table.

Room Size Square Footage Recommended BTU Range

10'X15' 150 Up to 5400

10'X20' 200 6000

17'X20' 340 8000

20'X20' 400 9000

18'X25' 450 10000

22'X25' 550 12000

25'X30' 750 14500

25'X34' 850 16000

25'X40' 1000 18000

35'X40' 1400 24000

38'X40' 1520 28500

40'X40' 1600 32000

The following tables are estimates based on average room conditions in a moderate climate.

Exceptions are Kitchens – add 4,000 BTU cooling capacity to the recommended size.

High Ceilings/Unusual Floor Plans – increase BTU by 10%.

Warmer Climates – may require 10-20% additional BTUs per room over regular amount.

BTU size too large:

A conditioner that has a bigger BTU rating than the room size needs will cycle off too quickly. The unit will not
remove the humidity from the air properly.

Air Conditioner size too small:

A conditioner that has a smaller BTU rating than the room requires will run continuously. The unit will not cool the
room adequately.

NorthCool home air conditioner systems are normally 9,000 – 24,000 Btu's.

This BTU rating provides sifficient cooling capacity for any home, condo or loft.

If you have any questions please contact NorthCool's distributor near you

“ The most common window air conditioning units come in cooling capacities ranging from 5,000 to 12,000 Btu. A
12,000 Btu air conditioner can cool between 450 and 550 square feet of floor space. A 12,000 Btu unit could cool a
room 25 feet long by 20 feet wide that has 500 square feet of floor area “

FTN-P Series

Indoor FTN10PV1L/M FTN15PV1L/M FTN20PV1L/M FTN25PV1L/M FTN25PV1L/M

Outdoor RN10FV1 RN15FV1 RN20CV1 RN25CV1 RN25CHV1

Specifications / Model name

Type Non Inverter

Horsepower 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 2.5

Refrigerant R410A

Rated Cooling Capacity 9500 12000 18000 22000 24000

Rated Power Consumption (W) 870 1105 1835 2060 2140

Rated Running Current (A) 3.86 4.90 8.10 9.14 9.32

EER (Btu/hr/W/W/W) 10.92/ 3.20 10.86/ 3.18 9.81/ 2.87 10.68/ 3.13 11.22/ 3.29

Air Flow Rate (CFM) 342 355 531 614 614

Power Source (V/Ph/Hz) 220-240/ 1/ 50

Sound Pressure Level - Indoor 38/27/25 40/29/28 42/36/35 46/40/37 46/40/37

Dimension - Indoor (H x W x D) 288 x 859 x 209 310 x 1124 x 237

Dimension - Outdoor (H x W x D) 550 x 658 x 273 654 x 855 x 328 756 x 855 x 328

Unit weight - Indoor (kg) 9 14

Unit weight - Outdoor (kg) 28 29 43 47 57

Copper Pipe Size - Liquid (mm/in) 6.35/ 1/ 4

Copper Pipe Size - Gas (mm/in) 9.52/ 3/ 8 12.70/ 1/ 2 15.88/ 5/ 8

Controller Wireless/ Wired

BTU Chart Based on Room Size

Don’t want to use the BTU calculator above? No worries. Here’s a reference chart that will give you a pretty good
idea of how many BTU’s you will need, based on the total size of your room.

BTU CHART BASED ON ROOM SIZE

Room Size BTU’s Needed Room Size BTU’s Needed

150 sq. ft. 5,000 BTU’s 700 sq. ft. 14,000 BTU’s

250 sq. ft. 6,000 BTU’s 1,000 sq. ft. 18,000 BTU’s

300 sq. ft. 7,000 BTU’s 1,200 sq. ft. 21,000 BTU’s

350 sq. ft. 8,000 BTU’s 1,400 sq. ft. 23,000 BTU’s

400 sq. ft. 9,000 BTU’s 1,600 sq. ft. 25,000 BTU’s

450 sq. ft. 10,000 BTU’s 1,900 sq. ft. 28,000 BTU’s

550 sq. ft. 12,000 BTU’s 2,700 sq. ft. 36,000 BTU’s

HOW TO SIZE A COMMERCIAL AIR CONDITIONER

In order to cool your building efficiently in the Delaware and New Jersey area's hot and humid summers, your air
conditioner must be the correct size. Calculating the optimal commercial A/C size takes some time, but it will pay
off in terms of greater comfort and lower building operating costs.

The Basics of Air Conditioner Sizing

Air conditioner size is rated in tons and the sizes available increase in 1/2-ton increments. The average commercial
A/C size ranges from 2 tons for small buildings to as much as 30 tons for very large buildings.

A 1-ton air conditioner can remove around 12,000 Btu, or British Thermal Units, of heat per hour. To know what
size air conditioner your building requires, you'll need to calculate the building's cooling load in Btu. The cooling
load is the amount of heat the cooling system must remove from a building to maintain a comfortable
temperature.

Many factors affect a building's cooling load, including the building's design, its weatherization, and the amount of
sunlight it receives.

Estimating Your Ideal A/C Size

If you're planning to install a new air conditioner, you can calculate the approximate size you'll need.

Step 1. Calculate the square footage of the space (building or group of rooms) you want to cool. Note that the
following calculation assumes 8-foot ceilings and a space with higher ceilings will require a larger system.

Step 2. Divide the space's square footage by 500.

Step 3. Multiply the number from Step 2 and by 12,000. This is the number of Btu your system will need to remove
to cool the space.

Step 4. Add 380 Btu for each person who works in the space all day. If the number varies, take an average.

Step 5. For each window in the space, add 1,000 Btu. For each kitchen, add 1,200 Btu.

The result of this calculation gives you a rough idea of the minimum Btu of cooling capacity your air conditioner
must have.

If you have a 5,000-square-foot space, divide that number by 500 to get 10. 10 times 12,000 is 120,000 Btu. If four
people work there, add 1,520 (380 Btu x 4). If the space has three windows, add 3,000 (1,000 Btu x 3). This space
will need a commercial A/C size with 124,520 Btu of cooling.

Remember, however, that air conditioners are rated in tons. To determine the size of system you'll need, divide
the amount of Btu you need by 12,000. For example:
100,025 to 125,000 Btu is 8 to 10 tons

125,025 to 150,000 Btu is 10 to 12 tons

150,025 to 175,000 Btu is 12 to 13 tons

How Professional Sizing Helps

Your air conditioner must be precisely sized in order to reach its optimal energy efficiency and performance level.
An undersized system won't cool sufficiently and will work overtime in attempt to compensate, causing early
wear. An oversized system will cycle on and off frequently, causing temperature swings and hot and cold spots,
leaving behind excess humidity, and wasting energy.

By following industry-accepted procedures for cooling load calculation, a heating and cooling technician can
accurately determine your optimal commercial A/C size. One such procedure is outlined in Manual N from the Air
Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA). This procedure factors in not just floor space and other basic data,
but also window size and type, ventilation, the building's physical orientation, and many other aspects of the
building for precise sizing.