Value of the Watt / Watt Hour from BTUs - Please Verify

[WD]

I searched the internet for the last 2 hours learning and understanding the Watt/Watt Hour/BTU conversions using data collected.

 

I am not sure what I might be missing, but Wikipedia has supported that a defined Watt ~ 3.412 BTUs.

 

Some simple constants:

 

1 Watt (W) = 1 Joule per second

1 BTU Hour (BTU/h) ~ 1055.05585 J

1 hour (h) = 3600 seconds (s)

 

So, inherently, a simple formula can be derived to convert BTUs into what I believe should be Watts:

 

W = Joules(BTUs)/Time Elapsed(seconds) OR 1055.05585/3600 ~ .293 W Rating

 

Their number of 3.412 has apparently been used by applying:

 

W = 1 Hour (Seconds)/Joules OR 3600/1055.05585 ~ 3.412 W

 

This makes no sense to me and appears to be the inverse of a Watt.

 

Once the Watt has been calculated, you simply multiply by the time of usage:

 

Watts * Time (in hours)

Edited May 30, 2010 by WD

[swansont]

Watt is a unit of power. BTU is a unit of energy. There is no conversion between them.

 

 

As you have found, 1 BTU = 1055.05585 Joules, and 1 Joule = 1 Watt*second, i.e. Energy = Power * time

 

So (power * time)/1055.05585 will give you energy in BTU if you have power in Watts and time in seconds. e.g. 1 kiloWatt-hour = 3600000 Joules = 3412 BTU

[WD]

Thank you for the explanation. I believe I was trying to make things more complicated then they were.

 

Would you say that my first formula was correct for finding the power rating?

 

I was clearly mistaken when I tried to say BTU and BTU/h were the same for the second formula.

 

Thanks again!

[swansont]

Thank you for the explanation. I believe I was trying to make things more complicated then they were.

 

Would you say that my first formula was correct for finding the power rating?

 

I was clearly mistaken when I tried to say BTU and BTU/h were the same for the second formula.

 

Thanks again!

 

 

Yes, 1 BTU/hour is 0.293 Watts