When you have a business, you want to make sure that your employees and any potential customers are comfortable inside. This can include making sure that your business is air conditioned. If you need to replace your air conditioner, you want to make sure that you are getting the right one for your needs. The HVAC company that you choose to work with can tell you some things you will need to think about before you make your final decision. One of the things that you are going to need to think about is the size of the air conditioner you are going to need.
Tons
Commercial air conditioners are measured differently to the residential air conditioners you can use at your house. They are measured by tons. In this case, a ton doesn't refer to how much the unit actually weighs. It refers to the unit's cooling power. For an air conditioner, a ton is equal to how much heating power it takes to melt one ton of ice in a 24-hour period. That measurement is 288,000 BTU (British Thermal Unit). In order to rate an air conditioner, that number is divided by 24, and used as a base number. So, a one ton air conditioner is going to be rated at about 12,000 BTU per hour. As the tonnage of the AC goes up, that number would just be multiplied. Generally, the measurements on the AC will go up by 1/2 tons.
Square Footage
You need to know the square footage of your business before you can buy a new air conditioner, because that will influence how big your unit is going to be. To find the square footage, you need to multiply the length by the width of the interior of your building. If you have multiple floors, you just need to measure one level, and then multiply that by how many floors you have. For example, if you have four floors, and the square footage of one floor is 400, you would multiply 4x400, and get 1,600 square feet.
Formula
There is a formula that the HVAC service will use to figure out how big your air conditioner will need to be. They will need to have the square footage of your building, and then plug it into the formula. The square footage is divided by 500, and that number is multiplied by 12,000. So, 1,600 divided by 500 equal 3.2. Then you multiply 3.2 by 12,000, and get 38,400, which tells you how many BTUs you need to cool your building.
If you need a new air conditioner for your business, experienced HVAC contractors will help you with all the information you are going to need to choose the right one.
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