What is it with air conditioners!! :-)
There's pretty much a global use of BTU/hr as a "gauge to sell" approach.
It's not an anti-metric conspiracy of like minded individuals plotting to
force imperial down our throats!
It's a bit like bhp and inches for TV sizes. The unit itself is not
particularly important - it just makes buying them an easier decision making
process. Yes, I realise that a metric unit could have been used but in
these cases the industry "settled" on imperial ones. And BTU/hr would have
remained uneffected by the ruling anyway as you don't by units of coolness
in £ per btu/hr.
In regards to soft conversions there are examples of that even in mainland
europe.
From: "Han Maenen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Subject: [USMA:38629] Claim from an Australian
Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 20:02:48 +0200
First: I expected this cancellation of the directive to happen, with the
planned free-trade agreement with the USA. Too bad and too good for the air
conditioning industry which is attempting to force the BTU/h down our
throats.
I read the item in The Scotsman and one of the reactions there is from an
Australian. He claims that literally all industrial measurements in
Australia are in fact converted Imperial measurements, in other word, they
are all soft metric. I find it impossible to believe. Here it is with the
spelling errors left as they are.
Paul O, Australia
#1: No, you don't want to go back to Pounds/shillings/ pence, that really
is the 'horses arse' of monetary caluclating.
BUT:
All Australian industrial measurements are in mm but they are just metric
conversions of imperial inches. I have worked in the metal/manufacturing
and printing industries and our standard coil widths for sheet metal or
paper is 915mm, which is exactly 36 inches. All our timber, electronic,
cabling, masonary, motor vehicles, industrial machinery and building
dimensions are just metric equivilants of imperial inches. We're not really
a 'metric society', we're just a metric approximation of imperial inches. I
was always quite happy to work in 'inches' and decimal fractions of the
inch. I never found any difficulty adding decimal inches(42.5 + 7.5 = 50)
or decimal miles (5.2+4.3=9.5), the old monetry system was the real pain in
the arse!
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