As an example we will look at a 269 m (2900 square foot) residence with the following loads:

lighting load 4 small appliance branch circuits laundry circuit 1500 W natural gas heating air conditioner 6000 VA electric range 11,000 W hot tub 8000 W (2 hp motor) Level II electric vehicle charger 7200 W electric dryer 5000 W garbage disposal 800 W microwave 1500 W dishwasher 1200 W electric water heater 4500 W

Example Calculation:
The calculated load for the 2900 ft (269 m) single dwelling in this example is 173.1 amps. The basic load is calculated based on the floor area of the single dwelling. The load for the first 90 m is 5000 W, leaving 179 m of floor area. The next 90 m has a load of 1000 W, and an additional 1000 W for the remaining 89 m. The total basic load of 7000 W includes the lighting, convenience receptacles, small appliance branch circuits, laundry circuit, garbage disposal, and the dishwasher. The heating of the single dwelling is a gas furnace and no electric heat is installed, leaving the 6000 W airconditioning load added with a demand factor of 100%. The electric range for this single dwelling is less than 12 kW providing a load for the calculation of 6000 W. The 8000 W hot tub and the 7200 W electric vehicle charging equipment are now added with a demand factor of 100%. Any additional loads with a rating in excess of 1500 W are now added with a demand factor of 25%. In this example, the additional loads over 1500 W are the 5000 W dryer and the 4500 W storage type water heater; 25% of the 9500 W gives us 2375 W to be added to the calculation.

Table 1. Summary of the single dwelling service load calculation

Air conditioners' cooling capacity is measured in British Thermal Units, or BTUs. You may also hear AC size referred to in "tons," which is the equivalent of 12,000 BTU's. While it's not necessary to understand the science behind it, you should have a good grasp of capacity in relationship to the square footage you need to cool. Simple math skills will suffice. First, find out the area of your room by multiplying the length by the width. For oddly-shaped rooms, reach back to basic principles you learned in geometry class. Once you have determined the entire square footage of your home or of the room you plan to cool, multiply it by 25 BTUs. The resulting number is the BTU capacity required. For example: A 15 foot wide by 20 foot long room contains 300 square feet. Multiply this by 25 BTU, and you'll discover the room requires a 6,000 BTU capacity unit. Keep in mind that this is a very rough estimate. It's pretty adequate for sizing a room AC, but other

factors can also affect the size of AC you need for a particular space. Keep these factors in mind: For a heavily shaded room, reduce the BTU capacity by 10%; if it is sunny, increase it by 10% If more than two people occupy the room regularly, add an additional 600 BTU per each extra person Kitchens produce a lot of heat, so add 4,000 BTU to your total