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C ooling Calculating Wattage Requirements
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C ustomer by Ian J. Renwick, Fast Heat Inc.
Service November 1, 2003
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C areer Search Follow this step-by-step process to learn how to size a heating system for your process application.
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Energy Notes
C alculating the wattage requirements to heat a system is a straightforward process as long as all
Heating
Highlights the possibilities of heat energy flowing in and out of the system are considered. Heat
Drying Files requirements that must be considered are:
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Initial heat for startup of the system, usually from an ambient temperature to a desired
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processing temperature.
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Losses due to materials changing phase, either during initial heatup or while processing (melting
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a solid to a liquid or boiling a liquid to a gas).
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Products Heating of material being processed during operation.
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Resources Heating of material flowing through the process such as a liquid that will be heated and pumped
Archives to be used elsewhere.
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Heat losses to the environment due to conduction, convection and radiation.
Overview
Digital Editions Before beginning the calculations, it is important to realize the distinction between energy and power and their relationship to
C lassifieds wattage requirements. In metric units, power is measured in watts (W) and energy is measured in watts multiplied by hours (W
eNewsletter x hr). In English units, energy is measured in British thermal units (BTUs) and power is measured in BTU/hr. Energy is
Market measured in BTU/hr in English units. Power is the rate at which energy is used.
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Quick Tips It also should be noted that the difference between the starting temperature and the final temperature during the application of
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power commonly is referred to as delta T (∆T). If a process is started at room temperature, say 80o F, and the application
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process temperature is 800o F, then ?T is 800o F minus 80o F, or 720o F.

Initial Heat for Startup

The first calculation involves determining the heat required to raise the system temperature to the desired temperature. All
system components must be considered. In the simplest case, a block of material is heated; in more complex situations,
calculations for multiple materials must be performed.

The energy (E) required to raise the temperature of a material by ∆T is calculated using the following formula:

EI nitial = Weight of Material x Specific Heat of Material x ∆T

An example will help demonstrate, so I will use examples throughout. In this case, suppose you wanted to calculate the energy
required to raise a 23 lb block of tin from an ambient temperature of 70o F to 300o F, given that the specific heat of tin is 0.056
BTU/lb o F. Knowing that 1 BTU equals 0.2930711 W-hr, the specific heat of tin also can be written as 0.0164 W-hr/lb o F.
Therefore:

∆T = 300o F - 70o F = 230o F

EI nitial = 23 lb x 0.0164 W-hr/lb o F x 230o F

EI nitial = 86.8 W-hr

This means that it will require 86.8 W of power to raise the temperature of a 23 lb block of tin from 70 to 300o F in one hour.
Because wattage requirements are calculated based on one-hour increments, the requirements for faster or slower heatup
times are calculated proportionally. If the temperature needs to be reached faster, say in a half-hour, then the wattage
requirement would be doubled.

Losses Due to Material Phase Changes

If a system being heated contains material that will pass through a phase change (melt or boil), the calculations are slightly
more complex and have to be broken into parts, but they follow the same rules. Imagine a system that is heated from 70 to
300o F. C ontained in the vessel being heated is a mass of Alloy ABC , which melts at 200o F. The wattage requirement of heating
the container is calculated as shown above, but the heating of Alloy ABC must be done in two parts.

In this case, the wattage requirement is calculated from ambient (70o F) to the melting point (200o F) for Alloy ABC using the

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specific heat for Alloy ABC as a solid. A second calculation is performed from 200 to 300o F using the specific heat for Alloy ABC
in a liquid state. Moreover, there is additional energy required to “push” the material from one state to another and is calculated
as follows:

EP has eC hange = Latent Heat of Fusion x Weight

Or, in the case of boiling a liquid, the equation reads:

EP has eC hange = Latent Heat of Vaporization x Weight

C ontinuing the example, assume the latent heat of fusion of Alloy ABC is 100 BTU/lb and it weighs 6 lb. You need to calculate
the energy required to melt it. To solve it, you know 1 BTU is 0.2930711 W-hr. So, the latent heat of fusion of Alloy ABC also
can be written as 29.30711W-hr/lb.

EP has eC hange = 29.30711 W-hr/lb x 6 lb EP has eC hange = 175.8 W-hr

Remember that this value does not include the energy required for Alloy ABC to reach its melting point or the desired
temperature after melting. That must be calculated separately as stated above.

Material Heating During Processing

Once the process temperature is reached, the process can begin running. Energy losses caused by materials entering the
system during processing now must be considered, if applicable.

If the process involves heating pieces of plastic to a desired temperature at a rate of 10 pieces/hr, then the wattage required to
heat that material must be calculated. The method is the same as for initial heatup. Remember that if each piece of plastic
weighs 1.764 oz (50 g), then 17.64 oz (500 g) of material are processed in one hour, which is the time basis for all the
calculations. C all this number EP roc es s .

Similarly, if a fluid is flowing through the process and requires heating to a desired temperature, its wattage requirements must
be calculated. The equation is very similar to earlier equations:

EP roc es s = Weight of Material Flowing per Hour x Specific Heat of Material x ∆T

Suppose a circulating pump passes 150 lb of seawater through a system every 10 min. The water enters at 110o F and must be
at 160o F when it exists. Assuming the specific heat of seawater is 0.95 BTU/lb o F, how much wattage is required?

To solve it, you know that 1 BTU is 0.2930711 W-hr, so the specific heat of seawater also can be written as 0.278 watt•hr/lbo F.
Therefore:

EP roc es s = 150 lb x 0.278 W-hr/lb o F x (160o F - 110o F)

EP roc es s = 2088.1 W-hr

If it takes one hour to pass through the system, approximately 2,090 W are required to raise the temperature of the seawater.
Because the seawater needs to be heated in 10 min, then the wattage requirement is approximately 2,090 W multiplied by (60
min/10 min), or 6, which is approximately 12,540 W.

Heat Losses to the Environment

Besides determining the heat required to raise a material to a desired temperature, the losses to the environment also must be
considered.

In the earlier tin block example, as the block warms to 300o F, it also loses heat to the environment. This means that the earlier
calculation of 86.8 W-hr is not enough energy for the block of tin to reach 300o F in 1 hr. Some of the energy bleeds into the
environment and is not used to raise or maintain the temperature of the block. Losses to the environment occur during heatup
and after the process temperature is reached.

There are three types of heat transfer that can result in heat losses from a system to the environment:

Conduction Losses. These occur when a hot object is in touching contact with a cooler object and heat energy passes from
the hot object to the cool one.

Convection Losses. These occur when heat energy is carried away from a system by surrounding fluids of gases or liquids.
The calculations involved with convection can be complex, but they can be estimated to a satisfactory degree of accuracy.

Radiation Losses. These occur in the absence of any touching contact or transfer medium and is a form of electromagnetic
radiation. Radiation is the manner in which heat travels from the sun to the earth through the vacuum of space.

C onsidering conduction losses first, the heat losses (L) are calculated using the following formula:

LC onduc tion = Thermal C onductivity of Material Accepting Heat x Area of C ontact x ∆T x 1 Hour Per Thickness of Material
Accepting Heat

To extend the tin example above, assume the block of tin is in the shape of a cube measuring 4.44" on each side and resting on
a plate of 0.5" thick mica. C alculate the conduction loss, given that the thermal conductivity of mica is 3.1 BTU x in/(hr x ft2 x
o
F).

To solve for this, you know that 1 BTU is 0.2930711 W-hr, the thermal conductivity of mica also can be written as 0.91 W-hr x
in/(hr x ft2 x o F).

C onduction losses only occur where the tin is in contact with the mica, so the losses only occur through the bottom face of the
block and are calculated as follows:
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4/15/2011 block and are calculated as follows:
Calculating Wattage Requirements - Fe…

LC onduc tion = 0.91 W-hr•in/(hr•ft2 •o F) x (4.44 in2 ) x 230o F x 1 hr / 0.5" x (1 ft2 / 144 in2 )

LC onduc tion = 57.3 W-hr

Heat losses due to convection are more difficult to calculate because there are many ways for heat to be removed from an

object through a surrounding medium. The main challenge, among others, is due to the fact that the convection medium can be
motionless or flowing, referred to as natural convection or forced convection. C onvection rates also are affected by the
orientation of the object in the medium due to the effects of convection boundary layers in the medium. For example, a hot
steel plate that is oriented horizontally in still air loses heat to its surroundings at a different rate than if it is oriented vertically.

C onvection loss calculations can be extremely complex, involving fluid mechanics calculations and numbers with names like
Reynolds, Prandlt, Nusselt, Rayleigh, Graetz and Grashof. Luckily, there are ways to greatly simplify these calculations, and
many tables and charts have been developed to help with most convection situations. Any good book on heat transfer will assist
with these calculations.

A simplified formula for calculating the heat loss due to natural convection is:

LC onvec tion = Surface Loss (W/in2 ) x Area x 1 hr

C ontinuing the tin block example, assume the block resting on the mica plate is surrounded by air that is not moving, except for
that which is rising after being warmed by the block. C alculate the convection loss, given that the surface loss at 300o F is 0.7
W/in2 .

To find the solution, you know that the exposed surface area of the five sides of the tin cube is 5 multiplied by 4.44 in2 .
Therefore:

LC onvec tion = 0.7 W/in2 x 98.568 in2 x 1 hr

LC onvec tion = 69.0 W-hr

The calculation becomes more complex when a fluid (like air) is moving over a heated object at a known flow rate (usually
expressed in cubic feet per minute, or cfm). Losses due to radiation usually are insignificant at low temperatures, but they can
be a large contributor of heat loss at temperatures above 500o F and should be considered when calculating wattage
requirements. The material and surface finish of an object determines its emissivity. A perfectly radiating “blackbody,” by
definition, has an emissivity of 1. Emissivity is a number used to compare the radiation from an object to a perfectly emitting
blackbody. Emissivity usually is difficult to know exactly, but many tables exist for various materials and surface finishes. So,
the formula for calculating heat loss due to radiation is:

LRadiation = Radiation Loss (W/in2 ) x Area x Emissivity x 1 hr

For example, assume the tin block has a radiation loss of 1.1 W/in2 and an emissivity of 0.04. Suppose you wanted to calculate
the radiation loss. You know the exposed surface area of the five sides of the cube that can radiate heat is 5 multiplied by 4.44
in2 , or 98.568 in2 .

LRadiation = 1.1 W/in2 x 98.568 in2 x 0.04 x 1 hr

LRadiation = 4.3 W-hr

Final Wattage Requirement Determination

Now that all the wattage requirements and losses are known, it is time to calculate the wattage required for the tin block
application.

To recollect, a block of tin resting on a 0.5" thick mica plate is being heated from 70 to 300o F and has heat losses via
conduction, convection and radiation. Two numbers must be calculated.

The wattage required to achieve the desired temperature (initial heatup power).

The wattage required to maintain the desired temperature.

The higher of the two is the wattage requirement. When calculating the initial heatup power, the initial power required for the
system must be high enough to heat the system and compensate for any losses while reaching that temperature.

When a system is at ambient temperature, its losses are zero. When a system is at the desired temperature, its losses are 100
percent. During the heatup time, the losses increase and must be included in the initial power requirement. Avoiding the
integration calculation, it can be approximated that the losses are about 65 percent of the 100 percent loss amount during the
heatup period. Therefore, the wattage requirement during heatup is calculated as follows:

WI nitial = EI nitial + EP has eC hangeD uringH eatup + 0.65 x (LC onduc tion + LC onvec tion + LRadiation )

Applying that formula to the tin block example:

WI nitial = 86.8 + 0 + 0.65 x (57.3 + 69.0 + 4.3)

WI nitial = 171.7 W-hr

The operating power is calculated by adding all the losses during processing at temperature. Applying that formula to the tin
block example:

WO perating = EP roc es s + EP has eC hangeD uringP roc es s ing + LC onduc tion + LC onvec tion + LRadiation

WO perating = 0 + 0 + 57.3 + 69.0 + 4.3

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WO perating = 130.6 W-hr

It can be seen that the power required to bring the block to temperature (171.7 W) is greater than the power required to
maintain it at temperature (130.6 W). Therefore, 171.7 W will bring the tin block to temperature in 1 hr and be more than
enough to maintain the desired temperature when controlled properly.

It is necessary to increase that amount by a safety factor to cover for any errors in the simplifications made during the
calculations. Depending on the critical nature of the application, a good rule of thumb is to apply a safety factor of 10 percent to
25 percent. If a safety factor of 20 percent is used, simply multiply the requirement by 1.2. Applying a safety factor of 20
percent to 171.7 W-hr results in 206.0 W-hr.

Now that the wattage requirement is known, proceed with selecting the best method of applying heat to the system.

Ian J. Renwick, Fast Heat Inc.

sales@fastheat.com
Ian J. Renwick is engineering manager at Fast Heat Inc., Elmhurst, Ill. For more information about Fast Heat’s heaters,
temperature controls and heating elements, call (630) 833-5400 or visit www.fastheat.com.

References
1. J.P.Holman, Heat Transfer, 6th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1986.

2. MauriceOrfeuil, Electric Process Heating, Battelle Press, 1987.

3. Gieck, Kurt and Reiner, Engineering Formulas, 7th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1997.

4. Eugene A. Avallone and Theodore Baumeister III, Mark’s Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers, 10th
Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1996.

Links

Fast Heat >> www.fastheat.com

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