Heating & cooling scenarios

This calculator explores the effect of your heating and cooling assumptions. Enter floor area A, room height H, and lower and upper effective base loads q in W/m². Both sets of base loads refer to a room height of 2.6 m. The supplied values are an uncalibrated numerical example, not regional recommendations.

The model uses A_eff = A × H / 2.6 m. Cooling power is A_eff × q_cool plus the additional cooling load, applied once to each endpoint. Heating power is A_eff × q_heat. Equal lower and upper assumptions give a single value; zero base loads and zero additional heat are valid.

The linear height adjustment is a simplifying assumption. Do not include the actual room height again in q. Choose the base loads for the local climate, insulation, glazing, sun exposure and other relevant conditions at the reference height. The calculator does not infer these conditions. Only enter additional cooling heat that is not already included in the cooling base load, for example a separately accounted equipment load. Heating assumes no guaranteed internal gains; this does not make its result a guaranteed upper bound.

The range is the span of your input assumptions, not a confidence interval or a standards-based load calculation. It does not determine equipment size, electrical consumption or a suitable heat pump. For example, 25 m² at 2.6 m, cooling assumptions of 40–80 W/m² plus 400 W, and heating assumptions of 50–100 W/m² give 1.4–2.4 kW cooling and 1.25–2.5 kW heating.

Outputs describe thermal power. Conversion uses the published rounded NIST International Table factor: 1 Btu_IT/h ≈ 0.2930711 W. The input bounds are calculation limits: area 0.1–10000 m², height 1–20 m, each base load 0–1000 W/m² and additional cooling load 0–1000000 W.

Sources: NIST SP 811, Appendix B.9: unit conversion; ACCA Manual J: residential load calculation and design conditions. These references do not validate the example coefficients or the simplified height adjustment.