ForHosting KIT · Developer Utilities

Hydraulic detention time calculator

This hydraulic detention time calculator finds how long fluid remains in a tank from the tank volume and the volumetric flow rate.

● BetaFree · in your browser

Run — free How it works & API

Use it from WebAPIEmailTelegramApp soon

Detention time, also called hydraulic retention time or HRT, is defined by τ equals V divided by Q, where V is the working volume of the basin, clarifier, or reactor and Q is the volumetric flow through it under steady conditions. The same definition appears in wastewater treatment, chemical process tanks, and environmental engineering whenever a protocol asks for hours of detention from cubic metres and cubic metres per hour, or minutes from litres and litres per minute. Enter volume and flow rate in any consistent pair of units; the engine returns the detention time in the corresponding time unit together with a formula tag and a unit note. Classic checks include one hundred cubic metres at ten cubic metres per hour yielding ten hours, and five hundred litres at twenty-five litres per minute yielding twenty minutes. The path is pure deterministic arithmetic with no network, randomness, or date-dependent shortcuts. Use it free in the browser for plant checks and homework, or call the API at $0.002 per successful request for reproducible fixtures in CI and teaching tools.

How to use it

Enter your values in the form above. The tool checks them before calculating and shows the result on the same page.

Check your inputs

Use the labels and units shown next to each field. If something is missing or outside the allowed range, the page points to the field to fix.

Use it again or automate it

Use the browser tool for individual checks and the API when you need the same capability in an automated workflow.

What you can do with it

Get an answer now

Enter one set of values and see the result without building a spreadsheet or script.

Compare scenarios

Change one value at a time and rerun the calculation to understand what affects the result.

Automate repeated work

Use the API when the same calculation needs to run inside your product or workflow.

FAQ

How do I use this capability?

Complete the fields above and run it on this page. The form highlights anything that needs attention.

For developers — API access

Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.

API endpoint

POSThttps://api.kit.forhosting.com/chem/detention-time

Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, by email and from Telegram — and soon from our app too.

Call it from your stack

curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/chem/detention-time \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"volume":100,"flow_rate":10}'

const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/chem/detention-time", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "volume": 100,
    "flow_rate": 10
  })
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();

import os, requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/chem/detention-time",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['KIT_KEY']}"},
    json={
    "volume": 100,
    "flow_rate": 10
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]

<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/chem/detention-time", false, stream_context_create([
  "http" => [
    "method"  => "POST",
    "header"  => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
    "content" => '{"volume":100,"flow_rate":10}',
  ],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);

body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"volume":100,"flow_rate":10}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/chem/detention-time", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

Example request

{
  "volume": 100,
  "flow_rate": 10
}

Example response

{
  "task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
  "type": "chem.detention_time",
  "status": "queued",
  "_links": {
    "result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
  }
}

The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.

Pricing

Per request$0.002

Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.

Limits

max_abs_value 1000000000000000

Errors

HTTP	Code	Meaning
`401`	`unauthorized`	Missing or invalid API key.
`402`	`insufficient_balance`	Your balance doesn't cover the task price.
`404`	`unknown_type`	That task type doesn't exist.
`429`	`rate_limited`	Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling.

Read the full KIT documentation →