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What Size AC for a Restaurant Dining Area?

A typical restaurant dining area (~600 sq ft) needs about 33,040 BTU/hr — a 3 ton unit in moderate US conditions, or two split units in hot Indian conditions (74,800 BTU/hr).
Tuned for this space — adjust to match yours

Defaults reflect this space type, including its typical equipment/metabolic load of ~2,000 BTU/hr. Same engine as the main calculator.

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Cooling load

People are the load

A seated diner adds ~600 BTU/hr; a full 24-cover dining room carries ~13,000 BTU/hr of people alone — before the envelope, lighting, or the heat bleeding from the kitchen pass. That's why restaurant sizing is occupancy-first: compute at realistic full covers, not at the empty-room area number.

Where this calculator stops

The dining area estimate below is honest; the commercial kitchen is not a calculator job — hoods, makeup air and appliance schedules need a mechanical engineer's design, and the kitchen must stay at negative pressure relative to dining or every service smells like the fryer. Size dining here; commission the kitchen professionally.

FAQ

What size AC do I need for a restaurant dining area?

A typical restaurant dining area (~600 sq ft) needs about 33,040 BTU/hr — a 3 ton unit in moderate US conditions, or two split units in hot Indian conditions (74,800 BTU/hr).

What size AC for a restaurant dining area in India?

A typical Indian restaurant dining area of ~600 sq ft carries roughly 74,800 BTU/hr in hot conditions — a two split units. Adjust with the calculator above for your exact room and city.

Can I size a restaurant kitchen's AC with this calculator?

No — commercial kitchens are exhaust-hood and makeup-air design problems, not BTU-per-square-foot problems. Use this for the dining area and have a mechanical engineer design the kitchen ventilation.

AC sizing for other spaces

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