SettingsSettings for this calculationUS
The power value to convert.
Useful for comparing an HVAC unit's BTU/hr rating against an electric heater's watt rating.
The unit your starting value is in.
The result shows the equivalent in the other unit.
Converted power
1,465 W
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
BTU/hr to Watts Calculator: 1,465 W — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- 1 watt = 3.412141633 BTU/hr, from the IT British thermal unit of 1,055.05585262 J
Inputs used
- Power (BTU/hr or W)
- 5000
- Converting From
- BTU/hr
What this calculation does not cover
- A cooling or heat pump BTU/hr rating is heat MOVED, not electricity drawn, and this conversion cannot tell the two apart. A 5,000 BTU/hr window unit converts to 1,465 W here; the power it actually pulls is that capacity divided by its EER — around 455 W on an EER of 11. Size a circuit, a generator or a battery bank off the converted figure and you oversize it roughly threefold.
- The unit on this page is BTU per HOUR, a rate. A plain BTU is a quantity of energy, and the two get written the same way on appliance plates and utility bills. Push a total energy figure in BTU through this factor and what comes out is watt-hours, not watts: 100,000 BTU becomes 29,308 Wh, a 29.3 kWh quantity of energy and not a 29.3 kW load.
- A nameplate capacity belongs to the conditions it was rated at, and none of them travel through the conversion. Cooling capacity is measured at fixed indoor and outdoor conditions, and a heat pump's heating output falls steeply as it gets colder outside — the machine that converts cleanly to 10.55 kW on paper may deliver little more than half of that at your design temperature, and that gap is what a supplementary heater has to cover.
Add the equipment this sizes
This result is a specification — 1,465 W — not a quantity. Put the thing it sizes into your project: how many, what you call it, and your supplier’s price.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-09-06 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.1
Regulatory standards & verification citations1
- 1 watt = 3.412141633 BTU/hr, from the IT British thermal unit of 1,055.05585262 J
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