British Thermal Units per Hour

A measure of heat transfer over time, commonly used in the HVAC world to express the capacity of heating and cooling equipment. One BTU is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. When measured per hour (hence BTUh), this unit is used to describe the rate at which heat energy is added to or removed from a space. For reference, 1 ton of cooling capacity equals 12,000 BTUh. This is a standard benchmark in HVAC, as most air conditioners and heat pumps are sized based on their BTUh capacity to ensure they can effectively handle a home or building’s heating or cooling loads.