22
New Portable Air Conditioner BTU’s
You may notice that the cooling capacities (in British Thermal Units or BTU’s) labeled on portable air
conditioners (PAC’s) are now lower than on models produced prior to October 1, 2017. This is because
the labeling on new productions of PAC’s must follow a new federal test standard that was established by
the Department of Energy: 10 CFR 430, subpart B, appendix CC.
The SACC rating shown on your new PAC is a result of this new standard. Models manufactured before
2017 were tested under a different standard (ASHRAE) that produced a higher cooling capacity output.
While the SACC BTU’s are lower than the previous ASHRAE BTU’s, the construction and cooling capacity of
this model(s) remains unchanged. Both the SACC and ASHRAE ratings are included for consumer
comparison.
What is SACC?
SACC, or the Seasonally Adjusted Cooling Capacity, is a rating in BTU/hour that represents the weighted
average performance of a PAC in a number of test conditions, some of which may be more extreme than
the average use case, which is then adjusted to account for the effect of infiltration air and duct heat
transfer. The factors included in the SACC calculation are why the ratings appear lower, even though the
model(s) has not changed.