Does Cold Affect a Propane Tank Level Gauge?
Propane is similar to most other kinds of materials in that it is affected by cold temperatures. The propane gas contracts when the temperature does down. That reduced level of gas inside the tank is reflected by the gauge that reflects the tank level. Normally, this occurs whenever a homeowner checks the gauge in cold climate and sees the amount of the tank level before and after delivery. Depending upon the weather, the tank level might not rise as much as expected.
Propane Tank Level Gauge
The propane tank's gauge shows you what percentage of the tank is full. Normally, tanks are not filled more than 80% so as to enable the gas to expand on warm temperatures. For instance, a 500 gallon tank, at a reading of 80% at normal temperatures reflects around 400 gallons of propane in the tank. This is around how much is able to be stored.
Normal Temperatures
The propane industry operates the popular web site Propane 101, which considers the propane baseline point to be an exterior temperature of 60 degrees. Like for instance, if the gauge reads 50% of capacity on a day when the temperature is close to 60 degrees, then a 500 gallon tank will contain around 250 gallons of propane. If the temperature that same day is a lot lower than 60 degrees, the gauge will read lower. Also, if the temperature is a lot higher than 60 degrees, the gauge will actually read higher due to the expansion of the gas.
Effect of Expansion and Contraction
The energy contained or amount of energy contained within a tank will not change as the gas either contracts or expands, based on the propane industry web site. The amount of propane itself has not changed, but only the density of the gas has changed.
Cold-Weather Delivery
If a homeowner orders 100 gallons of propane to be delivered, they would be given 424 pounds of propane. If the homeowner has a 1000 gallon propane tank, they could expect the gauge to go up by 10% with the delivery of 100 gallons. These numbers will be accurate if the temperatures were near 60 degrees at the time of delivery. If the delivery happened during colder weather conditions, these chillier temperatures would cause a smaller increase reading on the propane gauge.