How much space can a 2-ton air conditioning unit cool? A 2-ton air conditioning unit is capable of cooling between 800 and 2,000 square feet of interior space. A building's energy efficiency, including air leaks, insulation and shading, and the climate it's located in impact how many tons of air conditioning are needed to cool it down. What is a 10000 BTU air conditioner? What is a 10-ton air conditioning unit? How do you troubleshoot problems with your air conditioner? The cooling capability of a central air conditioning units is measured in tonnage. A 1-ton unit can push out cool air at a rate of roughly 400 to 1,000 cubic feet per minute. Window air conditioners are generally labeled in British Thermal Units, or BTUs. A 12,000-BTU unit is the same as a 1-ton air conditioning unit. A 12 foot by 12 foot room will require an air conditioning unit with a cooling capacity of 5,000 British thermal units, or BTUs, according to the Energy St... What are some tips for HVAC preventative maintenance?

Preventative maintenance tips for your heating, vacuum and air conditioning system include keeping the area surrounding the outside unit clean and free of ... Are ICP air conditioning systems energy efficient? Where can you find replacement fan motors? What are some HVAC codes? What is flex duct? What retailers sell Coleman furnaces? When should you replace your home's heat pump?Air conditioning professionals mathematically determine the proper unit size. In the heat of the summer, one thing's sure to keep you cool and comfortable: a properly sized air conditioner. But buying an A/C unit can overwhelm you as you see all the available sizes, features and brands. The unit size is the most critical. An undersized unit will never cool your home enough, and an oversize unit is nearly as bad. Square Footage Estimations The simple way to calculate a home's air conditioner size is to use a rule of thumb. According to this common but somewhat inaccurate method, you need 1 ton of air cooling capacity for every so many square feet of living space.

While there's some dispute over the exact amount, an often-used amount is 600 square feet. hvac units through wallA 2.5-ton unit, then, theoretically would fit a 1,500-square-foot home. average cost of home ac repairSizing Inaccuracies One problem with estimating air conditioning size based on square footage is that every home is different. wall air conditioner units for apartmentsAn average home in Florida, for instance, needs more cooling power than if it was situated in Michigan. Given that even Energy Star provides a square-feet-to-BTU chart (with 12,000 BTUs equating to 1 ton), the estimation is valid for a homeowner to use -- but illegal for contractors. Never compare your home to a neighbor's similar-sized house. Manual J Calculations To obtain a precise calculation, you must consider your home's unique factors: What region is it in?

How good is the insulation? What direction does the house face? Some websites use online calculators to enable you to perform a closer estimate. An HVAC professional can use the Manual J -- an engineering guide that precisely pinpoints the size you need. References Florida Solar Energy Center: How Contractors Really Size Air Conditioning SystemsEnergy Star: Properly Sized Room ACCentral Air Conditioner Prices: Cost Comparison of AC Brands, Sizes, Repair Costs, & High Efficiency Central AC Systems Photo Credits Jupiterimages/liquidlibrary/Getty Images Suggest a Correction As the Quality Assurance Designee for our HERS rating providership, I do something that isn't healthful. I know it's probably driving up my blood pressure and taking years off my life. But I do it because I have to. It's part of a QAD's job. What is it, you ask? I check a lot of Manual J cooling load reports. It's already caused my head to explode twice this year, once when I wrote, Why Won't the HVAC Industry Do Things Right?

Then a couple of months ago, what was perhaps the worst Manual J report I've ever checked sent me over the edge and Oversized AC, Screwed-up Manual J, ENERGY STAR HVAC Tirade! Yeah, this has been an 'issue.' The reason is that any builder who wants to get their home qualified for the ENERGY STAR label is required to size their air conditioning systems using the results of a cooling load calculation. The rule is that the air conditioner has to be no larger than 115% of the Manual J cooling load. It could be more than that if that number falls between sizes, but you get the idea. ENERGY STAR Version 2 doesn't require much in the way of checking Manual J reports, but I go above and beyond when I look at them. One of the first things I do is to apply my rule of thumb. Understand here that the standard practice among HVAC contractors sizing air conditioners for new homes is to use a rule of thumb. It's often in the neighborhood of 1 ton of air conditioning capacity for each 600 square feet of conditioned floor area, usually abbreviated 600 sf/ton.

So, when I get a Manual J, I find the capacity and the conditioned floor area and calculate that number. I find out what the square feet per ton is for the house. If this is supposed to be an ENERGY STAR home, it shouldn't be 600 sf/ton. It should be more like 1000 sf/ton or higher. That's my rule of thumb. Every time I look at a Manual J report that comes in at around 600 sf/ton, I know that all I have to do is look further into the details, and I can find mistakes that led to their oversizing. Some common ones are: Too much window area Wrong window types (U-value and Solar Heat Gain Coefficients too high) Ducts too leaky or in wrong location HVAC contractors doing their own load calculations are afraid to come out with a cooling load that's too low. They're afraid of call-backs from clients who can't keep their homes cool. They're also used to having to oversize cooling systems to overcome the problems of weak building envelopes and crappy duct systems. If they want to do ENERGY STAR new homes, though, and their Manual J reports are coming to me, they should know that I've got my own rule of thumb - 1000 square feet per ton.