Tons To MBH Calculator: Convert Tons (Tr) To MBH

In HVAC (heating/cooling), you will sometimes need to convert refrigeration tons to MBH. Basically, we are converting tons of refrigeration (= 12,000 BTU/h) to thousands BTH/h (= 1,000 BTU/h). For quick conversion, we prepared a Tons to MBH Calculator along with 0.1-20 tons to MBH conversion chart.

Let’s start with the calculator, and follow up with the tons to MBH formula and conversion chart:

Let’s say you have a 3.5-ton air conditioner and would like to know how many MBH is 3.5 tons. You just insert ‘3.5’ in the tons of refrigeration (Tr) input field, hit ‘Calculate’, and you get the result in this format (screenshot):

You can immediately see that 3.5 tons is equal to 42 MBH (that’s 42,000 BTU/h). If you need to do this conversion in reverse – MBH to tons – you can check this similar MBH to tons calculator.

Let’s have a look at the formula for this conversion:

Tons To MBH Formula

Namely, both of these units denote the heating/cooling capacity of air conditioners, furnaces, and so on. Here is what these HVAC units mean:

• Tons of refrigeration (Tr) is the energy needed to turn about 1 ton of ice into water. 1 refrigeration ton is equal to 12,000 BTU/h (British Thermal Units per hour).
• MBH stands for thousands of BTU/h. That ‘M’ is a Roman numeral that means ‘thousand’. 1 MBH is thus equal to 1,000 BTU/h.

From this, we can deduce the following equivalence:

1 Ton = 12 MBH

Basically, 1 ton of refrigeration is equal to 12 MBH. We can use this equivalence to write the following tons to MBH formula:

MBH = Tons × 12

We see that, if we want to calculate MBH from tons, we have to multiply tons by a factor of 12 to get MBH.

Quick Example: How many MBH is 1.5 tons? We just insert 1.5 tons in the equation above like this (with the result):

MBH (1.5 Tons) = 1.5 Tons × 12 = 16 MBH

We can see that 1.5 tons of refrigeration is equal to 16 MBH. You can check this result with the calculator above. Do you get the same result?

This was just one example. We converted tonnage ranging from 0.1 tons to 20 tons into MBH equivalents to create the following conversion chart:

Tons Of Refrigeration To MBH Conversion Chart

Now, you can just read the tons to MBH equivalents from this chart, or use the online calculator above. You are fully equipped to tackle any tons to MBH conversion; if you need a bit of help, you can always reach us using the comment section below.