When sizing a cooling tower, it is important to know that one pound of evaporating water can absorb:

The amount of heat absorbed by one pound of evaporating water is a crucial consideration in the design and sizing of cooling towers. When water evaporates, it changes from a liquid to a vapor, a process that requires energy. This energy requirement is quantified as the latent heat of vaporization.

For water, this latent heat is approximately 970 BTU per pound. This means that when a pound of water evaporates, it absorbs about 970 BTU of heat from its surroundings, which is fundamental in HVAC systems, especially in cooling applications. Understanding this value helps engineers and technicians calculate the required capacity for cooling towers to efficiently remove heat from a system, ensuring optimal performance.

The other values presented represent heat quantities associated with different processes or specific conditions that do not apply to the context of evaporating water in cooling towers, reinforcing the importance of using the correct latent heat value for accurate sizing calculations.