How many watts are in a typical 3 ton central A/C unit, 5 ton unit and 10 unit? Does
anyone know? I'm trying to figure out how much of my electricity bill is due to air conditioning and heating cost.

hvac1000

First you would have to figure your consumption of electric by the appliance. How many hours the unit has run and how many amps it takes it to run for one hour. Once you have those figures you can just use a amp to watts converter available on Google search.

caibuadday

you cant really tell, some like temp of about 72 but others like80, of course at72 it would cost more than 80, and it also depened on the outdoor temp..... i think the best way is let it run for about 5 min then take ampere, conversen it into watt then muptiply with the time it run( most stat now have run or filter time recording), and add that to the evap fan

KeepItSimpleStupid

You can estimate based on the data sheets.

An example:

2-1/2 Ton 208/230 Volt 1-Phase Scroll Compressor Direct Factory Replacement Part (Copeland): American HVAC Parts

is a 2.5 ton compressor at 2.5 HP
You can assume a 1/3 HP outside blower and a 1/2 HP inside blower.
2.5 + 1/3 + 1/2 =3.33 HP
Add about 25 W for controls

Running watts would be about 746*3.33 + 25 that 2486.8 W
Call it 2.5KW; there are 746 W/HP

At $0.15/KWH it's about 2.5 KW * $0.15/KWH = $0.375/hr to operate

If it runs 5 hours per day 5 * 0.375 * 30 = $31.75/month

Hopefully, my math is right. Running time could be off. Each month could be different because it depends on the cooling degree-days

Once you find a fudge-factor for degree-days, you might be able to get a seasonal cost.

USATODAY.com

Look at the nameplate for similar information.

tkrussell

Consider another answer:

One ton of refrigeration will equal approximately 3517 watts, so a 3 ton unit will draw 10551 watts. This is the load that is used to size service entrance calculations.

Assume the unit runs 5 out of 24 hours a day for one month:

150 hours x 10551 watts = 1582650/1000 = 1583 KWH @ $0.15/KWH = $237.45 per month.

Plug in your cost of a kilowatt-hour and the hours per day the unit runs and go from there. Should be close.

hvac1000

There are a lot of good answers here but the only way I found to satisfy my commercial customers years ago was to use a chart type recorder and calculate the exact amount of draw and at what temperature. For the average person buying these type of devices would be cost prohibitive. That is why I did not mention it in my first post. A/C equiptment draws a different amount of power depending upon how efficient it is and how hard it has to work to keep up with the outside temperature. On a cool day the a A/C unit might draw 20 amps but of a 100 degree day it might draw 22 amps. The condenser discharge temperature will be higher as the outside temperatures go up. The compressor has a harder time compressing the return gas into a higher pressure gas which in turn becomes a liquid in the condenser coils to start the cycle over by going back to the evaporator as a liquid to flash once again to a gas to pick up more work load from the inside of the home.