Fix the IP units in the OS Results
These units are wrong.
M is roman numeral for 1000, and does not mean a million, unless using the SI system. For representing a million BTU in the IP system the abbreviation is MMBTU. Technically, this chart units are 1000 BTU, but the data is actually million.
Additionally KBTU/HR is not an IP unit. The correct units are MBH (pronounced one thousand BTUs per hour). k=kilo in the metric system.
I've been a mechanical engineer for 23 years. This is factual information that is used by industry. What will it take to fix this?
I disagree. It is common to use M=million and k=thousand with IP units, and MBtu and kBtu/hr are used often. See this Wikipedia note for example: "Energy analysts accustomed to the metric "k" for 1,000 are more likely to use MBtu to represent one million, especially in documents where M represents one million in other energy or cost units, such as MW, MWh and $."
Personally, due to the ambiguity of "MBtu", it is best just to not use it.
Making an excuse that, "everyone else does it wrong" doesn't make it ok. If you look at any gas burning appliance in the US, there is a metal nameplate or sticker always in rated in MBH. It's been like this for 40 years. It does not mean million. I think we should do something to make it clear. If I size a customer system wrong because the report is unclear, it will be very disappointing. I agree with Jason we should get rid of it and use something that can't be mistaken.
Every residential software tool I have ever used asks for equipment capacities in kBtu/hr. Here are more examples: BEDES, EnergyStar, ANSI Standard, Carrier heat pump, etc. Just because AHRI does it one way doesn't make it the only/correct way.