Converting BTUs to KW
Wood Burning Stoves come in a variety of capacities to suit various needs. For a home user one of the challenges is being able to estimate the heat energy output otherwise known as thermal output. How do you tell how much energy capacity is generated by your wood stove? To determine the thermal capacity of your stove you need to determine its BTU. BTU is an acronym for British Thermal Unit which is a unit of thermal energy measurement. However, the most common and well known standard is the KW unit which is an international standard used in the world over. KW is an acronym for Kilowatt, which is a metric standard of measuring thermal power prescribed by the International Standards Organization (ISO).
It is important, especially for international consumers or those British manufacturers of heating stoves who intend to target international consumers to know how to convert BTUs to KW. The following represent simple steps to be taken in order to make this task of conversion a great success always;
- Check the BTU specification printed on the heating stove. Alternatively, read from the manual and write it down. For example, the rate could be 36,000BTU
- Take the conversion rate of BTU to KW which is 1 BTU=0.0002931 KW
- Multiply the BTU rate by the Conversion rate, for example, 36,000 x 0.0002931
- Get the resultant figure which is the rate of the heating stove in KW, for example 10.5516 KW
Other than doing the above manually, Thermal Units Conversion Calculators are also available online. These provide a quicker way of doing this. However, it is always good to have an idea of how this conversion is done. The KW rating is also ideal in the sense that most Online Stove Output Calculators are designed to give value in KW in view of the international reach a website is capable of having. For example, in case you want to know the output specifications of a stove you want for your room, you only need to get the room’s dimensions and feed the dimensions to the Online Stove Output Calculator which will most certainly give your results in KW as opposed to BTU.
