Converting MBH to kW is not all that easy. First of all, MBH or mBTU is a bit unusual unit and many homeowners don’t know what MBU even means in HVAC. On top of that, to adequately convert MBH to kW (same as mBTU to kW), we will also need to convert BTU to kW.
To help everybody out, we have prepared these 3 key resources that will make this conversion much easier:
- MBH to kW formula. We will see how you can convert MBH to BTU and then BTU to kW; this will give us the formula to directly convert MBH to kW.
- MBH to kW calculator. With the derived equation, we created a simple-to-use calculator that automatically converts MBH to kilowatts (kW).
- MBH to kW chart. To make things even easier, we converted units ranging from 1 MBH to 200 MBH into kW. You can just read how many kW is a certain number of MBH from this chart.

Let’s have a look at these bit unusual HVAC units that we are converting:
- MBH or mBTU is a unit equal to 1000 BTU. Example: A water heater with 20 MBH is basically a water heater with 20,000 BTU heating output. A more adequate abbreviation for this 1000 BTU unit would be kBTU since k = kilo = 100 and m = mega = 1,000,000. To clear things up, MBH is the same as mBTU (just a different expression for the same unit).
- kW or kiloWatt is a unit of electrical power. In the US, we denote the heating/cooling output by BTUs (British Thermal Units) or tons (1 ton = 12,000 BTU). Outside the US (like Europe and Asia), they use kW or kilowatts to denote the heating/cooling output for air conditioners, furnaces, water heaters, boilers, and so on.
Here are two unit relationships that will help us to derive a formula for MBH to kW conversion:
- 1 MBH = 1000 BTU. Basically, 1 MBH is equal to 1000 BTU.
- 1 BTU = 0.00029307108333333 kW. We have written about this BTU to kW conversion here. Evidently, BTU is a much smaller unit than kW.
If we combine these two equations, we get this MBH to kW formula:
kW = MBH / 0.2930710702
In short, to calculate kW from MBH, we need to divide MBH by 0.2930710702. That means that:
- 1 MBH is equal to 0.2930710702 kW.
- 1 kW is equal to 3.4121416328 MBH.
To avoid doing all this math, you can simply use the MBH to kW conversion calculator here (followed by the mBTU / MBH to kW conversion chart):
MBH To kW Calculator
In this calculator, you just input the MBH and the calculator will automatically convert it into kW. You can play around with the slider to see how kilowatts change with different MBH or mBTU inputs:
Here is a quick example how this calculator works:
Let’s say that you want to convert 60 BTU to kW. Slide the slider to ’60’ and you get the result: 60 MBH is equal to 17.58 kW.
Simple, right?
To make things even simpler, you can just consult this mBTU to kW conversion chart:
MBH To kW Chart
MBH: | kW: |
1 MBH | 0.29 kW |
10 MBH | 2.93 kW |
20 MBH | 5.86 kW |
30 MBH | 8.79 kW |
40 MBH | 11.72 kW |
50 MBH | 14.65 kW |
60 MBH | 17.58 kW |
70 MBH | 20.51 kW |
80 MBH | 23.45 kW |
90 MBH | 26.38 kW |
100 MBH | 29.31 kW |
120 MBH | 35.17 kW |
140 MBH | 41.03 kW |
160 MBH | 46.89 kW |
180 MBH | 52.75 kW |
200 MBH | 58.61 kW |
Let’s say that you want to convert 30 MBH to kW. Check the chart above and you have the result: 30 MBH is equal to 8.79 kW.
Hopefully, you will now be able to convert MBH to kW (same as mBTU to kW) seamlessly. If you encounter any problems, you can use the comments below, give us some numbers, and we will help you out.