Tank Fill Time

What is this formula?

Tank Fill Time calculates the time required to fill a tank with a given volume at a constant inlet flow rate.

It is a practical formula used in storage tank design, water systems, fuel transfer, chemical processing, irrigation, and industrial operations.

When to use it

Use this formula when the filling volume and inlet flow rate are known and the flow rate can be considered approximately constant.

Example

A storage tank must be filled with 25 m³ of water.

The inlet flow rate is 0.012 m³/s.

Data:

V = 25 m³

Q = 0.012 m³/s

Formula:

t = V / Q

Substitution:

t = 25 / 0.012

Result:

t = 2083.33 s

This is approximately 34.72 minutes.

Applications

- Water tank filling

- Fuel transfer operations

- Chemical storage tanks

- Irrigation reservoirs

- Industrial process tanks

- Pump sizing checks

Note

This formula assumes a constant inlet flow rate and neglects changes due to pump curves, pressure variation, valve throttling, pipe losses, tank backpressure, or automatic level control. For detailed engineering design, the flow rate may need to be modeled as a variable rather than a constant.