Mechanical EER to Wattage

[Revous]

So it seems like there is a lot of confused terminology about the exact units for the EER rating across all the sites and resources I visit. Some place show it as
(BTU/hr) / Wattage. Other place might show BTU / Watt*hr sometimes even BTU/Watt. Some of the equations cancel out in units but other don't.

My concern is that when the mechanical people provide me with their load in tons or BTUs I want to back into a ball park number of how much the electrical load of the equipment will be before we get final selections. I have always done Watts = (BTU)/EER and assume a EER of around 10 or less to make sure I'm being conservative. But when I re-visit this topic the units seems very confused everywhere I go.

So I have (2) questions:
Is using Watts = (BTU)/EER a valid way to get a ballpark mechanical load value?

Is there any trusted source when the units of EER are clearly defined?

 

[JoeStillman]

In our region (±40° N Lat) we use 2.5W/ft² for air conditioning and 5.9W/ft² for heat pumps, which includes 5.3 W/ft² @ 65% = 3.4W/ft² of backup heat. For larger systems: 2.2 kVA/ton. These are based on the final mechanical data on similar projects over many years.

But you should re-visit the load when you have final equipment data on the mechanical selections. You have to bug them every day until they give it to you. Even then, they'll change it an hour before the job goes out and not tell you.

EER and SEER are eye candy for consumers and not useful engineering info in my opinion.

 

[4-20mA]

In our region (±40° N Lat) we use 2.5W/ft² for air conditioning and 5.9W/ft² for heat pumps, which includes 5.3 W/ft² @ 65% = 3.4W/ft² of backup heat. For larger systems: 2.2 kVA/ton. These are based on the final mechanical data on similar projects over many years.

But you should re-visit the load when you have final equipment data on the mechanical selections. You have to bug them every day until they give it to you. Even then, they'll change it an hour before the job goes out and not tell you.

EER and SEER are eye candy for consumers and not useful engineering info in my opinion.

I was taught to think of those SEER ratings like MPG's so to speak.

 

[JoeStillman]

I was taught to think of those SEER ratings like MPG's so to speak.

YMMV