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Does Cold Affect the Level Gauge on a Propane Tank?
Like most other types of materials, propane is affected by cold temperatures. As the temperature declines, the propane gas contracts. That reduced level of gas in the tank is reflected by the gauge which reflects the tank level. Often, this comes into play whenever a homeowner checks the gauge in cold climate and sees the amount of the tank level before and after delivery. Depending on the conditions, the tank level might not rise as much as anticipated.

Propane Tank Level Gauge
The gauge on a propane tank shows you what percentage of the tank is full. Normally, tanks are not filled more than 80% so as to allow the gas to expand during warm days. For instance, a 500 gallon tank, at a reading of 80 percent at normal temperatures reflects around 400 gallons of propane in the tank. This is about how much can be stored.

Normal Temperatures
The propane industry operates the popular web site Propane 101, that considers the propane baseline point to be an exterior temperature of 60 degrees. Like for example, if the gauge reads 50% of capacity on a day when the temperature is close to 60 degrees, then a 500 gallon tank would contain about 250 gallons of propane. If the temperature that day is much lower than 60 degrees, the gauge would read lower. In the same way, if the temperature is a lot higher than 60 degrees, the gauge would actually read higher due to the expansion of the gas.

Effect of Contraction and Expansion
Based on the information given by the propane industry website, the amount of energy contained within the tank does not actually change as the gas contracts or expands. The amount of propane itself has not changed, but only the density of the gas has changed.

Cold-Weather Delivery
The homeowner who orders 100 gallons of propane would be given roughly 424 pounds of propane. With the delivery of 100 gallons, the homeowner with a 1000 gallon propane tank can expect the guage to go up by 10%. These numbers would be accurate if the temperatures were close to 60 degrees at the time of delivery. If the delivery happened during colder weather, these chillier temperatures will result in a smaller increase reading on the propane gauge.

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