Paritian

Heat & Fluids

Heat Transfer Coefficient Converter

Convert W/(m²·K), BTU/(h·ft²·°F) and kcal/(h·m²·°C).

Results

Result 0.17611 BTU/(h·ft²·°F)

1 W/(m²·K) equals 0.17611 BTU/(h·ft²·°F)

What this tool does

The heat transfer coefficient describes how readily heat crosses a surface — a pipe wall, a heat exchanger plate, a window. It is the same quantity as the building industry's U-value, which is why a glazing specification and a heat exchanger datasheet can be compared once they are in the same unit. The British unit is about 5.68 times the SI one, a number worth recognising on sight because it appears in every American exchanger catalogue.

Worked example

1 W/(m²·K) 0.17611 BTU/(h·ft²·°F)

Conversion table

1 W/(m²·K) equals
UnitResult
Kilowatt per square metre kelvin kW/(m²·K)0.001
Kilocalorie per hour square metre degree Celsius kcal/(h·m²·°C)0.860421
BTU per hour square foot degree Fahrenheit BTU/(h·ft²·°F)0.17611
Calorie per second square centimetre degree Celsius cal/(s·cm²·°C)0.0000239006
Convert a whole list

One value per line. The units above are used for every line.

Limitations

  • US and imperial (UK) units with the same name are not the same size. Check which system your figures come from.
  • The calculation runs at full precision and only the display is rounded. If you copy an intermediate value and retype it, small differences can appear.