Ans

Unit converter

BTU to kilowatt-hours.

Convert BTU to kW·h and kW·h to BTU. Type in either box and the other follows. Heating and air-conditioning are rated in BTU; your meter bills in kilowatt-hours. A 12 000 BTU unit is about 3.5 kW.

BTU → kW·hExact definition
—
British thermal units to kilowatt-hours — common values, to 6 significant figures.
BTUkW·h
1000 BTU0.293071 kW·h
3000 BTU0.879213 kW·h
5000 BTU1.46536 kW·h
9000 BTU2.63764 kW·h
12000 BTU3.51685 kW·h
18000 BTU5.27528 kW·h
24000 BTU7.03371 kW·h
36000 BTU10.5506 kW·h
48000 BTU14.0674 kW·h
1 BTU=0.0002930710702 kW·h 1 kW·h=3412.141633 BTU

Definitions

  • The British thermal unit here is the international-table BTU, exactly 1055.055 852 62 J. Heating and air-conditioning ratings use it.
  • The kilowatt-hour is 3.6 MJ — one kilowatt sustained for an hour, and the unit an electricity meter bills in.
  • This conversion is exact by definition. 1 BTU = 0.0002930710702 kW·h.
  • The food calorie is the kilocalorie: 1 kcal = 1000 cal. Nutrition labels marked "calories" mean kcal.

How it works

One direction multiplies and the other divides by the same number, so nothing is lost by going back and forth.

The value passes through J, the unit every other energy unit on the site is defined against, rather than a number written into this page on its own. That is why the figure here, the figure in the table above and the general energy converter always agree.

Display precision limits significant figures rather than decimal places, because one fixed number of decimals is useless across a range this wide. Very large and very small results switch to scientific notation with a proper superscript exponent. The editable box always holds a plain number at full working precision, so you can carry on from either side.

Common questions this answers: how many kilowatt-hours in a british thermal unit (it) (0.000293071), how many British thermal units in a kilowatt-hour (3412.14), and what 12000 BTU is in kilowatt-hours (3.51685 kW·h).

From the maker of Ans — a scientific calculator you can own. Same idea: a proper instrument, nothing in the way.