How to Select the Right Room Air

Conditioner for Your Space

When it comes to selecting your window air conditioner, choosing the right size is the most
important decision you will make. Selecting a unit too small will be too underpowered to cool
your room, and you will never reach the cool temperatures you are looking for.

On the other hand, picking an oversized unit will cool the room quickly, but will inefficiently
cycle on and off costing you extra money. Window air conditioners also dehumidify the air on
top of cooling it. An overpowered unit will run less often leaving more humidity in the air and
your room feeling muggy.

Room air conditioners receive a BTU rating, starting from around 5,000 BTUs all the way up to
the most powerful around 36,000 BTUs. Once we calculate the square footage of the space we
want to cool, we can decide on how powerful of a unit we need to go after. In this article, we will
look at measuring and calculating our space below and then compare our calculation to the BTU
conversion chart (Shown Below) to determine our BTU rating.

Calculating the Square Footage of Your Space

The first step in choosing a room air conditioner is measuring your space to calculate square feet.
To get the right number you will need to do some measuring and a little geometry. So, let us
cover a couple simple geometric formulas to get us started.

 Total Square Footage = Area “A” + Area “B” + Area “C” = 290 Total Square Feet
Selecting the BTU Rating of Our Room Air Conditioner

Comparing our calculation to the chart below, we see that 290 sq ft comes in at the high end of a
7,000 BTU unit. You will not find a great selection of window air conditioners at the 7,000 BTU
Range, but we are very close to the 8,000 BTU range as well, and moving to that BTU range is
justifiable in this case.

Area To Be CooledCapacity Needed

(square feet) (BTUs per hour)
100 up to 150 5,000 BTUs
150 up to 250 6,000 BTUs
250 up to 300 7,000 BTUs
300 up to 350 8,000 BTUs
350 up to 400 9,000 BTUs
400 up to 450 10,000 BTUs
450 up to 550 12,000 BTUs
550 up to 700 14,000 BTUs
700 up to 1,000 18,000 BTUs
1,000 up to 1,200 21,000 BTUs
1,200 up to 1,400 23,000 BTUs
1,400 up to 1,500 24,000 BTUs
1,500 up to 2,000 30,000 BTUs
2,000 up to 2,500 34,000 BTUs

To determine the most accurate BTU estimate, you should also consider these factors:

 Ceiling Height
The above estimates assume you have traditional 8-foot ceilings. If your ceilings measure
higher than 8 feet, you’ll want to increase your BTU level.
 Sunlight
If your room or space is sunny during the day, increase your BTUs by 10 percent.
 Shade
If your room is shaded for most of the day, decrease your BTUs by 10 percent.
 Number of Occupants
If more than 2 people will occupy your room or space regularly, you should add an
additional 600 BTUs of cooling power for each person.
 Kitchen:
If you are installing your window AC in a kitchen, increase the BTU level by 4,000.

One of the most common mistakes in selecting a room air conditioning unit is the purchase of an
underpowered unit that will not properly cool the room. With the proper measurements and
calculations, you will be able to determine the square footage of your room and make the wise
choice for your next room AC.