Electric Heat

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frank cinker

Member
Location
Pennsylvania
We have a little 20'x40' commercial building with 10' ceiling that requires 100% electric heat. In general, could I use the "rule of thumb" calculation of 1.5 watts per cubic ft. (12,000 watts) to determine the approx. wattage needed. Location: Pennsylvania.

Frank Cinker
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
Frank there are many factors to determine the heat load needed for a room. Are there window?, how many? how much heat loss?, etc.

That being said different areas have different factors to use as a rule of them. Here in NC I use to use the sq. foot by 7. I would bet with 10' ceilings and 800 sq. feet that you are pretty close. Hopefully Marc will chime in since he lives in PA.
 

frank cinker

Member
Location
Pennsylvania
Electric Heat

I searched this site and found 1.0 watts per cubic foot for a rule of thumb calculation when ceiling is > 8'. That seems reasonable and more accurate than my 1.5 watts per cubic foot. I'm aware that there are many factors involved for a more accurate calculation. For now I'm just looking for a general calculation. I can't find anything on the Building Energy Codes website
http://www.energycodes.gov/whatwedo/
 

Bob NH

Senior Member
12 kW is more that 40,000 BTU per hour. That is in the range for an 800 sq ft building.

But nothing beats a heating requirements analysis.

A commercial building usually requires an architect or engineer stamp. That professional should be defining the heating requirements.
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
The nice thing about oversizing electric heat is that there's no real detrimental effect on the equipment. It will just cycle off a bit more quickly. You can do a heat loss claculation if you want to, and indeed it may be required. One watt per cubic foot for insulation values in accordance with Zone 11 (IRC/IBC) will do the trick. 1.5 watts per cubic foot is a little nicer for commercial buildings that might feature concrete slabs and uninsulated overhead doors. Not sure what the occupancy is exactly, but I have a feeling that you're going to end up using 15 KW of heat by some means, since that's a more standard size closer to your calculated requirement. Either three 5kw units heaters, or an air handler with a 15kw heat pack.
 
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