Sensible Heat Ratio

The sensible heat ratio tells you how much of a space’s total cooling demand is caused by a temperature change alone, compared with the full load including moisture removal. It works because the total load is the sum of sensible and latent components, so dividing sensible load by total load gives the fraction that is not tied up in dehumidification. A value near 1 means most of the cooling is temperature control, while a lower value means moisture removal is a major part of the job.

Use this when selecting or evaluating HVAC equipment for spaces where both temperature and humidity matter, such as offices, hospitals, data rooms, or humid climates. It is also useful when checking whether a cooling coil or system matches the building’s sensible and latent load split.

• Using sensible load and total load in different units, such as mixing kW and Btu/h
• Putting latent load in the numerator instead of sensible load
• Forgetting that SHR is a ratio, so the result should usually be between 0 and 1