ONE TON OF REFRIGERATION = 288,000 btu’s
Simple enough question. Most people would answer,12,000. As that is what they learned and were told in the field. Let’s take a closer look at the definition of a ton of refrigeration.
Ton: the amount of BTU’s required to melt 1 ton 0f ice over a 24 hour period.
It requires 144 BTU’s per pound to melt ice (change the state from solid to liquid, also called latent heat of fusion)
one ton equals 2000 pounds,. Therefore, 288,000 btu’s are needed to melt 2000 pounds of ice (2000 lbs. X 144 BTU/lb.=288,000
Where does 12,000 come from?
Answer: if it takes 288,000 btu to melt the ton of ice over a period of 24 hours, then one ton equals 12,000 BTU per hour (288,000/24hr. = 12,000)
The answer is 288,000 BTU’s (the amount of BTU’s required to melt 2000 lbs. of ice). If you answered 12,000 BTU’s per hour, you would be correct.
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