Process Manufacturing worked example

Chilled Water Cost with chilled water load of 30 ton-hr / hr: a worked example

Push chilled water load up to 30 ton-hr / hr and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. estimating the cooling utility cost for a batch, hold, or recirculation step

The inputs for this scenario

  • Chilled water load (ton-hr/hr): 30 ton-hr / hr (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 12)
  • Cooling duration: 5 hr (unchanged)
  • Cost per ton-hour of cooling: 0.28 $ / ton-hr (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Cooling utility use = chilled water use rate × runtime) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 42 $ for run cost, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 150 ton-hr for cooling utility used.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 5 hr for cooling runtime.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 0.28 $ / ton-hr for cooling utility cost.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where chilled water load sits at 12 ton-hr / hr and the headline result is 16.8 $, this scenario comes in 150% above the baseline at 42 $.
  • It computes the total dollar cost of chilled water cooling over a run from your cooling load, duration, and cost per ton-hour. The value of this scenario is the size of the gap it exposes: that gap, priced out over a year, is the budget you can justify spending to close it.

Results at a glance

  • Run cost: 42 $ (headline result)
  • cooling utility used: 150 ton-hr
  • cooling runtime: 5 hr
  • cooling utility cost: 0.28 $ / ton-hr

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Chilled Water Cost calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.