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The air velocity in metres per second.
Metric duct design runs supply mains at a few metres per second, branches slower, and grille and coil faces slower still. Enter the mean velocity through the section being checked — flow divided by area — not a single centreline anemometer reading, which always reads high.
Air velocity
885.8 ft/min
Converted using an exact defined factor of 196.8503937007874 ft/min per m/s. Confirm both velocities are taken over the same area — a duct cross-section and a grille's free area are not the same thing.
- Conversion factor applied
- 196.85 ft/min per m/s
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Metres per Second to Feet per Minute Calculator: 886 ft/min — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Exact by definition. 1 ft = 0.3048 m exactly and there are 60 s in a minute, so 1 m/s = 60 ÷ 0.3048 ft/min = 25000/127 ft/min. The ratio is exact; its decimal expansion 196.850393700787401574… does not terminate, so the multiplier shown is that exact fraction rounded.
Inputs used
- Air velocity (m/s)
- 4.5
Intermediate steps
- Conversion factor applied
- 196.85 ft/min per m/s
Confidence note: Converted using an exact defined factor of 196.8503937007874 ft/min per m/s. Confirm both velocities are taken over the same area — a duct cross-section and a grille's free area are not the same thing.
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This result is a specification — 885.8 ft/min — not a quantity. Put the thing it sizes into your project: how many, what you call it, and your supplier’s price.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-08-26 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.0
Regulatory standards & verification citations1
- Exact by definition. 1 ft = 0.3048 m exactly and there are 60 s in a minute, so 1 m/s = 60 ÷ 0.3048 ft/min = 25000/127 ft/min. The ratio is exact; its decimal expansion 196.850393700787401574… does not terminate, so the multiplier shown is that exact fraction rounded.
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A duct sized in metres per second has to be checked against American data — a grille catalogue, a coil selection, an ASHRAE or SMACNA velocity table — and all of it is written in feet per minute. Multiply by roughly 197; the mental shortcut of multiplying by 200 overstates by 1.6 per cent, which matters when a figure sits just under a noise limit. The bigger trap is that the two numbers may not describe the same area. A duct velocity is flow divided by the full cross-section, while a grille or coil is catalogued at face velocity across its free area, which is smaller and gives a higher number. Convert the units first, then confirm which area each velocity was taken over.