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Rebuilding civilization

Unit converters

Flow rate

Litres per second, minute or hour, cubic metres per hour or per day, and gallons per minute.

Equivalents

litre per hour—L/h
litre per minute—L/min
litre per second—L/s
cubic metre per day—m³/día
cubic metre per hour—m³/h
cubic metre per second—m³/s
US gallon per minute—gal US/min
cubic foot per second—ft³/s

How it is calculated

Flow rate is volume per unit of time. 1 L/s = 60 L/min = 3.6 m³/h = 86.4 m³/day.

To measure the flow of a spring or a tap: fill a container of known volume and time it. A 10 L bucket that takes 25 s gives 10 ÷ 25 = 0.4 L/s = 24 L/min.

Keep in mind

  • Repeat the measurement 3 times and use the average; for large flows, use a container that takes at least 10 s to fill so the timing error stays small.
  • References: a household tap gives about 6-12 L/min; a person needs a minimum of 15 L a day for drinking, cooking and basic hygiene.

See also

More tools in “Unit converters”