When dealing with airflow, we sometimes need to convert CFM to L/s. That is, we are converting Cubic Feet per Minute to Liters per second. To help you with this conversion, we have prepared these 2 key resources you can freely use:
- CFM to L/s Calculator. Simply input CFM, and the calculator will automatically convert that to L/s equivalent.
- CFM to L/s Chart. We converted CFMs spanning from 0 to 10,000 CFM into L/s, and summarized all the results in a neat conversion chart (below the calculator).
Quick rule of thumb: 2 CFM is about 1 L/s (0.944 L/s, to be exact). You can do this calculation on the go, making less than a 6% error.
Here is the calculator:
Here’s how you can use the calculator:
Say you want to convert 400 CFM to L/s. You just insert ‘400’ into the CFM input field, and immediately get the result in this format (screenshot):
We can see that 400 CFM is equal to 188.78 L/s. If we were to use that rule of thumb (2 CFM is 1 liter per second), we would get 200 L/s (close enough, right?).
Alright, let’s have a look at the CFM to L/s formula and the 0-10,000 CFM to L/s conversion chart:
CFM To L/s Equation
In this conversion, we have to convert cubic feet (ft3) to liters (dm3), and we also have to convert minutes to seconds (1 min = 60 seconds). When we combine these two conversions, we get this 1 simple CFM to L/s relationship:
1 CFM = 0.4719471999802417 L/s
Basically, 1 CFM is equal to 0.4719471999802417 L/s. That’s about 0.5 L/s. We can use this relationship to write the following CFM to liters per second formula:
L/s = CFM × 0.4719471999802417
In order to convert CFM to L/s, we need to multiply CFM by a factor of 0.4719471999802417, and we get the L/s equivalent.
Quick Example: How many L/s is 100 CFM?
Let’s just insert 100 CFM in the equation above like this:
L/s = 100 CFM × 0.4719471999802417 = 47.19 L/s
We see that 100 CFM is equal to 47.19 L/s (accurate to 2 decimal digits). This is just one example. We converted CFMs ranging from 0 to 10,000 CFM into liters per second to create this conversion chart:
CFM To L/s Conversion Chart
| CFM (Cubic Feet Per Minute): | L/s (Liters Per Second): |
| 1 CFM | 0.47 L/s |
| 10 CFM | 4.72 L/s |
| 50 CFM | 23.60 L/s |
| 100 CFM | 47.19 L/s |
| 200 CFM | 94.39 L/s |
| 300 CFM | 141.58 L/s |
| 400 CFM | 188.78 L/s |
| 500 CFM | 235.97 L/s |
| 1,000 CFM | 471.95 L/s |
| 2,000 CFM | 943.89 L/s |
| 3,000 CFM | 1,415.84 L/s |
| 4,000 CFM | 1,887.79 L/s |
| 5,000 CFM | 2,359.74 L/s |
| 6,000 CFM | 2,831.68 L/s |
| 7,000 CFM | 3,303.63 L/s |
| 8,000 CFM | 3,775.58 L/s |
| 9,000 CFM | 4,247.52 L/s |
| 10,000 CFM | 4,719.47 L/s |
Here, you can simply read the CFM to L/s equivalent off the chart. Examples:
- 200 CFM is equal to 94.39 L/s.
- 500 CFM is equal to 235.97 L/s.
- 1000 CFM is equal to 471.95 L/s.
We hope this helps you with the airflow conversions. If you need a bit of our help, you can always use the comment section below, tell us the problem you are trying to solve, and we can help you out.