How to convert BTU to frigories
When looking for refrigeration equipment, it is essential to know the cooling capacity of each option that we are evaluating, in order to make the right purchase. However, due to the two existing units of measurement in this regard, this task is not always easy.
Just as when we buy a car we look at the power of its engine, something similar happens in the case of air conditioners. Knowing the cooling capacity of the product is key to adjusting the power of the air conditioner to the specific needs of our home.
The problem is that, sometimes, the data offered by manufacturers is not homogeneous. Some make the calculation in frigories and others give the data in BTUs, which makes it difficult to know the capacity of the device that we are evaluating and to compare different equipment. To solve the problem, we are going to know these units and learn how to go from frigories to KW, to BTU and vice versa.
What are we talking about
The first thing we have to know is what we are talking about when referring to these units. Therefore, it is convenient to know what a frigoria, a BTU or even a kilowatt is.
If you are wondering what a frigoria is, this would be the amount of energy needed for one gram of water to lower its temperature by one degree Celsius. An approach similar to that of the calorie, which would be the amount of energy needed to increase the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.
The approach is similar to that of the BTU, although with the difference that instead of using grams, pounds are used and the degrees used also change, according to the units of the imperial system. Thus, a BTU would be the amount of heat needed to increase the temperature of one pound of water, about 454 milliliters, by one degree Fahrenheit. In this case, the measurement is inverse, since what the equipment measures is its capacity to extract heat from the room.
How to switch between options
If we have several air conditioners in sight, some will have their power expressed in frigories and others in BTU. The equivalence of these two figures, luckily, is simple. Specifically, and rounding, 1 fridge is equivalent to 4 BTUs.
So if you want to calculate the frigories of a piece of equipment whose cooling power is expressed in BTUs, it would suffice to divide the figure by four. If we want to go from frigories to BTUs, just do the opposite process, multiplying the number of frigories by 4. A simple calculation, once you know the relationship between both units.
By the way, to go from BTU to KW the process is complicated, because you must multiply the number by 0.00029307107 or 0.29307107 if you want to convert it to watts. A much more complex operation due to the resulting figure. To convert frigories to watts, the ratio is 1.17 watts per frigory, which is somewhat easier to manage.
How to calculate frigories of air conditioning
To close this article, we want to give you some guidelines in case you want to know how many frigories per m2 you should choose for your equipment or how many frigories I need to cool a specific room. The most widely accepted theory is to have 100 frigories per square meter of room, so a room of 25 square meters could be cooled with 2,500 frigories or 10,000 BTUs. So calculating frigories needed is pretty straightforward, in theory.
And it is that, when calculating the frigories of the air conditioning, factors such as losses in the room, the orientation of the room, if the exterior walls are light or dark or if there are glass surfaces must be taken into account. The presence of these elements can increase up to 300 frigories per square meter the recommended power for the air.
