An 8000 BTU air conditioner can cool a room that is 300 – 350 square feet if this room has standard ceilings and is within a regular climate.
A British Thermal Unit (BTU) is used to measure the power of air conditioning units, and it can be used in other contexts too.
However, it is important to get an air conditioner with the appropriate BTU for your space, as a mismatched BTU can damage your air conditioner or cost you more money in terms of power usage.
What is BTU?
When you are researching which air conditioner to buy, you will come across a term called BTU or British Thermal Unit. This term is used to describe an air conditioner’s power. Your air conditioning system uses energy to release hot air outside and reduce the temperature of your indoor space.
The BTU rating of your air conditioning system represents how much power it takes to move this air around. BTU can also be used in other instances, like measuring how much energy it takes to raise or lower the temperature of water, or the temperature in heat pumps and furnaces
How big a room will an 8000 BTU air conditioner cool?
Understanding BTU is important, because this will ensure that you buy an air conditioner with the appropriate BTU for your space. Buying and using an air conditioner with a BTU that is unsuitable for the size of the space that you want to use it in can be detrimental to your energy-usage costs or to the state of your air conditioner.
Buying an air conditioner with a lower BTU in a space that is too big, means that your air conditioner has to work much harder to remove the warm air and extract humidity from the space.
This means that your air conditioner’s components may get damaged as time progresses from its strenuous work, and that it will not function and cool your space efficiently. Your unit, in turn, may not last as long as it should.
On the other hand, overcompensating by buying an air conditioner with a BTU that is too high for the room could result in your air conditioner using too much power, and this could mean a higher electricity bill for you.
8000 BTU air conditioners seem like the most logical choice, because they have a somewhat medium strength between the lower, 5000 BTU ACs, and the higher, 14000 plus BTU air conditioners.
However, an 8000 BTU air conditioner is only appropriate if your space is between 300 and 350 square feet in size.
There are other factors that could impact the amount of BTUs you will need for a room, such as the height of the ceiling, but if your room is approximately this size, there are many 8000 BTU air conditioners to choose from. If your room is not this size, it may be best to consider air conditioners that have different BTUs.
The best 8000 BTU air conditioners for 300 to 350 square foot rooms
If you do have a larger room of about 300 to 350 square feet and you are looking for an air conditioner that will function optimally in this space, window model or portable model air conditioners are your best options, as a ductless or central system will be too powerful for this space.
The LG Mounted 8000 BTU Window Air Conditioner cools medium rooms that are up to 350 square feet in size. This model also provides you with additional control with 3 fan speeds and an electronic remote. This unit needs to be installed in a window space.
However, the SereneLife SLPAC8 Portable Air Conditioner can cool rooms that are over 215 square feet and can be conveniently moved around to different rooms in a house throughout the day.
 |
 |
| Buy it on Amazon | Buy it on Amazon |
What can impact the amount of BTUs that you need for a room
Although BTUs can determine the type of air conditioner that you need for specific sized rooms, there are other factors that can contribute to and change the standard BTU measures.
If your room has higher ceilings than the standard 8ft ceiling height, an 8000 BTU air conditioner may work best in a space that is smaller than 300 square feet. This is also true if the outside temperature and humidity in your area is generally high.
Other BTU amounts by square feet
If the ceiling height and temperature of your space is fairly average, but it is smaller or larger than the allocated 300 to 350 feet, some of the other air conditioner BTUs that you can consider include:
| Size of your space (in square feet) | Appropriate BTU |
| 250 to 300 | 7000 |
| 300 to 350 | 8000 |
| 350 to 400 | 9000 |