Velocity Conversion

Convert ft/min to m/s

1 ft/min = 0.00508 m/s

ft/min

0.00508m/s

Duct and conveyor velocity in US HVAC and manufacturing practice is almost always quoted in feet per minute (FPM); most engineering calculations and non-US references use meters per second instead.

1 foot equals 0.3048 meters, and 1 minute equals 60 seconds, so 1 ft/min = 0.3048 m / 60 s = 0.00508 m/s.

A comfortable supply-air duct target of 600 FPM works out to about 3.05 m/s - a range worth knowing if you're cross-checking a US HVAC spec sheet against a metric design calculation.

Practical next step

For duct work, use the converted velocity with the Duct Size Calculator or CFM Calculator so airflow, area, and velocity stay in the same unit system.

Reference Table

feet per minute (ft/min)	meters per second (m/s)
1	0.00508
5	0.0254
10	0.0508
25	0.127
50	0.254
100	0.508

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does HVAC use feet per minute instead of feet per second?

Duct velocities are typically in the hundreds of FPM (400-900 FPM is a common comfortable range), which gives a convenient, easy-to-work-with number. Expressed in feet per second, the same range would be under 15 ft/s - an awkward scale for the sizing tables and rules of thumb the HVAC industry standardized on.

Does higher duct velocity mean more noise?

Generally yes - air velocity is one of the main drivers of duct noise, which is exactly why comfortable-range FPM targets exist for occupied spaces. Higher-velocity applications (industrial exhaust, for example) tolerate more noise in exchange for moving more air through a smaller duct.

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