Refrigeration Tons to kW Calculator

About this calculator

A ton of refrigeration (RT) is a unit rooted in the 19th-century ice trade: it originally represented the rate of heat absorption needed to melt one short ton (2,000 lb) of ice in 24 hours. Converted to modern power units, that rate works out to the standard factor 1 RT = 3.516853 kW, which lets refrigeration and cooling capacity be translated between the ton-based unit still common in the US HVAC industry and the kilowatt units used almost everywhere else.

HVAC engineers, chiller manufacturers, and industrial refrigeration designers use this conversion constantly when specifying equipment, since a building's cooling load calculation, from sources like ASHRAE, often needs to be matched to chiller nameplate capacity, and the two are frequently quoted in different units depending on the manufacturer's country of origin.

Enter a value in either refrigeration tons or kilowatts and this calculator converts it to the other unit using the exact standard factor.