Conversion Charts
PSI (Imperial Measurement)
PSI is commonly used worldwide — for example, to measure car and bike tyre pressure, scuba diving equipment and domestic plumbing.
1 PSI is the pressure exerted by one pound-force applied to one square inch.
Some examples of pressure:
50 PSI is the typical pressure of water leaving a garden hose. 162 PSI is the average pressure of a human bite. Air tools (except spray guns) operate at 90 to 100 PSI. An aluminium scuba tank is typically pressurised to 3,000 PSI.
bar (Metric Measurement)
The bar is a widely used metric unit of pressure. 1 bar equals precisely 100,000 pascals. It has been adopted as one of the most popular pressure units, particularly in European countries where most pressure measurement instruments are specified in bar.
The value of 1 bar is a close approximation to atmospheric pressure and is often used in place of standard atmosphere (101,325 pascals), which is the value used by the scientific and engineering community.
kPa (Metric Measurement)
The kilopascal (kPa) is a metric unit of pressure measurement used widely throughout the world. It has largely replaced PSI except in countries that still use the imperial measurement system.
| PSI | bar | kPa |
|---|---|---|
| 1.5 | 0.1 | 10 |
| 2.9 | 0.2 | 20 |
| 4.4 | 0.3 | 30 |
| 5.8 | 0.4 | 40 |
| 7.3 | 0.5 | 50 |
| 8.7 | 0.6 | 60 |
| 8.7–16.1 AFL football pressure | ||
| 10.2 | 0.7 | 70 |
| 11.6 | 0.8 | 80 |
| 16.1 | 0.9 | 90 |
| 14.5 | 1 | 100 |
| 29.0 | 2 | 200 |
| 30–40 Typical small to medium car tyre pressure | ||
| 43.5 | 3 | 300 |
| 50 | 3.45 | 344.7 |
| 50 Water pressure leaving a garden hose | ||
| 58.0 | 4 | 400 |
| 72.5 | 5 | 500 |
| 87.0 | 6 | 600 |
| 90–100 Typical operating pressure for most air tools | ||
| 101.5 | 7 | 700 |
| 116.0 | 8 | 800 |
| 160.5 | 9 | 900 |
| 145 | 10 | 1,000 |
| 290 | 20 | 2,000 |
| 435 | 30 | 3,000 |
| 580 | 40 | 4,000 |
| 725 | 50 | 5,000 |
| 870 | 60 | 6,000 |
| 1,015 | 70 | 7,000 |
| 1,160 | 80 | 8,000 |
| 1,305 | 90 | 9,000 |
| 1,450 | 100 | 10,000 |
| 2,900 | 200 | 20,000 |
| 3,000 Typical pressure of an aluminium scuba tank | ||
| 4,350 | 300 | 30,000 |
| 5,800 | 400 | 40,000 |
| 7,250 | 500 | 50,000 |
| 8,700 | 600 | 60,000 |
| 10,150 | 700 | 70,000 |
| 11,600 | 800 | 80,000 |
| 16,050 | 900 | 90,000 |
| 14,500 | 1,000 | 100,000 |
| 15,950 | 1,100 | 110,000 |
| 17,400 | 1,200 | 120,000 |
| 18,850 | 1,300 | 160,000 |