One of the things to decide about your home in Toronto is the number of tons of air conditioner you need to adequately cool your room or space. Nobody likes a moist and hot environment. The function of an AC is to dehumidify and cool the air but unfortunately these functions may not be achieved unless you go for an optimally sized air conditioner. How do you determine the optimal size of air conditioner for your room? This is not rocket science and in fact, it is very easy to determine.
Your Space Size and the BTU
The British Thermal Unit (BTU) is used to measure the heat content of an energy source. This unit is often used to determine the capacity of air conditioner needed in a space or room. For instance, 12,000 BTU is often considered to be roughly equivalent to 1 ton of cooling capacity of an air conditioner.
To determine the amount of tons of air conditioner needed in a room, we need to put into consideration the insulation of the room. A poorly insulated room will definitely need more ton of air conditioner to cool or dehumidify than a properly insulated air conditioner. If a room is properly insulated, barely 100 square feet of the room can be cooled or dehumidified by about 4,000 or 6,000 BTU of air conditioner. This is roughly equivalent to a half ton of air conditioner.
On the other hand, a one ton of air conditioner, equivalent to 12,000 BTU, can cool about 500 square feet room, provided the room is well-insulated.
Determining the BTU for Your Room Space
The BTU for your room space can be easily determined by considering the area of the room. The area of a room can be measured using a tape or by getting the dimensions such as the length and the breadth (width) of the room. The area is simply the product of the length and the week and it is calculated in square feet.
The BTU for a room space can be calculated by multiplying the size or area of the room by 25 BTU. This only gives a rough estimate of the BTU of the room but you can always check up the BTU in some tables.
The Ton of AC You Need
In general, the ton of air conditioner you need is dependent on your room size, the insulation in your room and several other conditions such as the fenestration, the average high temperature of the location, the structure orientation, shading, solar gain, internal load of the room, and so forth.
If all factors are kept constant, you may be able to cool an 80-120 square foot room with just one ton of air conditioner. 1.5 tons of air conditioner may be adequate to cool a 120-190 square foot air condition and so forth. It is necessary to make adequate consideration and determine the size of your room and the capacity of air conditioner you need before hitting the market to purchase an AC for your room.
