1 Ton = 12,000 BTU/h = 3.

516 kW

1 watt is approximately 3.412 BTU per hour

Step 1

Find the volume of your room in cubic feet. This is done by measuring the length,
width and height of the room in feet and multiply all the three dimensions
together.

Volume = Width X Length X Height (cubic feet)

Step 2

Multiply this volume by 6.

C1 = Volume X 6

Step 3

Estimate the number of people (N) that will usually occupy this room. Each person
produces about 500 BTU/hr of heat for normal office-related activity. Multiply this
two figures together.

C2 = N x 500 BTU/hr

Step 4

Add C1 and C2 together and you will get a very simplified cooling capacity needed
for the room.

Estimated Cooling Capacity needed = C1 + C2 (BTU/hr)

Which direction does your bedroom face? Is there a large area of glass in the walls
(ie. big windows)? Are your walls/windows shaded to minimise sunlight impingement
on them? Wall colour affects things too, a reason why most Thai houses are pale
colours.

A west-facing room will gain a lot of heat in the afternoon as the sun sinks and
shines directly onto walls & windows and deep into the room and will retain a lot
of that heat well into the night. It'll only cool-down once the ambient air
temperature drops. On a hot night it won't cool a lot at all.

An east-facing room gains heat in the morning and has time to cool during the day.

A south-facing room will have surprisingly small heat gain from the sun because the
sun's overhead & heats the roof space and comparatively little heat is transmitted
into the room.

North-facing rooms are least influenced by solar gain.

Building construction materials also have an influence on how much heat builds-up
in the walls and how quickly that heat is released at night.

Heat output from people & electrical equipment can also contribute but this is a
bedroom.

Air temperature is only part of the problem - a very significant contribution to

the temperature you feel in a room is radiant heat from the building fabric,
something you can't measure easily. Your A.C. thermostat can only react to air
temperature not the radiant temperature.

As your A.C. cools the air in the room, heat is released from the warm walls to
further heat the air so it has to remove not only heat in the air but also from the
building fabric if it's to provide a comfortable environment.

The size of the A.C. unit influences the speed at which heat is removed from the
room but, given enough time, any unit can cool a room to the required temperature
if there is no heat gain - 26C is the same temperature whether your unit is large
or small. A small unit might run non-stop in an effort to cool the air yet not
achieve it, a large unit might run for short periods followed by long periods when
it is off - I'm talking about the refrigerant side here, not the fan which might
run constantly so youd be paying for A.C. capacity thats not necessary.

In our unshaded west-facing 16 sq. m. (4x4x3 high) bedroom with one outside wall
and 20% glass in that wall, we have a 13,000 BTU/hr. A.C. unit. I've measured the
outside wall temperature and I've found it can reach 55C if not more. Mrs. L. likes
to set a temperature of 26C and that is quite easily achieved if the A.C. is
switched on around an hour before bedtime and left running all night. My preference
for 24C or less is much more difficult to achieve so we go for 26C. Personally, Id
go for a 15,000 BTU/hr. unit because were west-facing although 13,000 is OK but I
feel any less would be too small.

If I'd been involved in the design of this house, I'd have put all the bedrooms on
the east or north side.

So use the rule of thumb 600 BTU/hr/sq. m. (176 W/sq. m.) floor area that Crossy
mentioned by all means but remember its just an average and will be more than
adequate in some circumstances, totally inadequate in others.

Sorry if this is a bit involved when talking about a bedroom but its just part of
the exercise I often had to go through in my professional life, where we had to
design to meet strict energy consumption targets, and its sometimes useful to have
a bit of background info. when making a decision. Also, it's a rare opportunity to
remember what I used to do for a living in UK.

Incidentally, why do we use BTU/hr. here when these units are rated in kW, the
internationally-accepted unit? I hadn't used BTU/hr. for many, many years in UK. Is
it a common unit in USA?