How do you calculate chilled water cost?

Multiply the cooling load by runtime to get total ton-hours, then multiply by your cost per ton-hour. With 12 ton-hr/hr for 5 hr at $0.28/ton-hr, that is 60 ton-hr x $0.28 = $16.80.

What is a ton-hour of cooling?

One ton of refrigeration is 12,000 BTU/hr of heat removal. A ton-hour is that removal sustained for one hour. Running a 12-ton load for 5 hours removes 60 ton-hours of heat.

What is a typical cost per ton-hour?

Depending on electricity price and chiller efficiency, most plants land between $0.10 and $0.40 per ton-hr. A modern water-cooled chiller near 0.6 kW/ton at $0.12/kWh runs about $0.07-$0.10; older air-cooled units push higher.

How do I find my cost per ton-hour?

Take your chiller's efficiency in kW/ton and multiply by your electricity rate in $/kWh, then add pumps, tower fans, and treatment. For example, 0.9 kW/ton x $0.13/kWh is about $0.12/ton-hr before auxiliaries.

Why does chilled water cost change with the seasons?

Chiller efficiency worsens as condenser water or ambient temperature rises, so the same cooling load costs more in summer. Use a $/ton-hr that reflects the season you are costing, or an annual average for standard cost.

Chilled water cost vs steam cost, which usually dominates?

It depends on the process. Endothermic or heated processes are steam-heavy; anything requiring refrigeration, jacket cooling, or crystallization is chilled-water-heavy. Cost both runs separately, then compare the totals for your specific recipe.

Process Manufacturing calculator

Chilled Water Cost Calculator

Chilled Water Cost prices the cooling utility behind a process run, exchanger, or space-cooling load. Facilities engineers, refrigeration managers, and process cost estimators use it to convert a chiller's ton-hour draw into dollars for a batch or shift. In plants where chillers run around the clock, cooling is a top-three energy cost, so a per-run number lets you compare loads, size demand response, and load cooling correctly into product costing. It answers "what did that cooling actually cost" without a full plant energy model.

What this calculator does

Estimate chilled water or glycol cooling cost from use rate, runtime, and utility cost.
estimating the cooling utility cost for a batch, hold, or recirculation step
It computes the total dollar cost of chilled water cooling over a run from your cooling load, duration, and cost per ton-hour.

Formula used

Cooling utility use = chilled water use rate × runtime
Chilled water cost = cooling utility use × utility cost

Inputs explained

Chilled water load (ton-hr/hr):
Cooling duration:
Cost per ton-hour of cooling:

How to use the result

Use it when costing a cooled batch, comparing process loads, or building a chilled-water line item into a quote or standard cost.
It assumes a steady cooling load; chiller efficiency (kW/ton) drifts with condenser temperature and part-load, so use a seasonally representative $/ton-hr.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The producer price index for industrial chemicals stands at 344.336 (BLS, May 2026), up 16.1% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
The U.S. has 14,543 chemical manufacturing establishments employing about 911,245 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

How do you calculate chilled water cost? Multiply the cooling load by runtime to get total ton-hours, then multiply by your cost per ton-hour. With 12 ton-hr/hr for 5 hr at $0.28/ton-hr, that is 60 ton-hr x $0.28 = $16.80.
What is a ton-hour of cooling? One ton of refrigeration is 12,000 BTU/hr of heat removal. A ton-hour is that removal sustained for one hour. Running a 12-ton load for 5 hours removes 60 ton-hours of heat.
What is a typical cost per ton-hour? Depending on electricity price and chiller efficiency, most plants land between $0.10 and $0.40 per ton-hr. A modern water-cooled chiller near 0.6 kW/ton at $0.12/kWh runs about $0.07-$0.10; older air-cooled units push higher.
How do I find my cost per ton-hour? Take your chiller's efficiency in kW/ton and multiply by your electricity rate in $/kWh, then add pumps, tower fans, and treatment. For example, 0.9 kW/ton x $0.13/kWh is about $0.12/ton-hr before auxiliaries.
Why does chilled water cost change with the seasons? Chiller efficiency worsens as condenser water or ambient temperature rises, so the same cooling load costs more in summer. Use a $/ton-hr that reflects the season you are costing, or an annual average for standard cost.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.