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Does Cold Affect a Propane Tank Level Gauge?
Similar to most other types of materials, propane is affected by cold temperatures. When the temperature goes down, the propane gas contracts. That reduced level of gas in the tank is reflected by the gauge that reflects the tank level. Often, this happens whenever a homeowner checks the gauge during cold climate and sees the amount of the tank level before and after delivery. Depending upon the weather conditions, the tank level might not go up as much as anticipated.

Propane Tank Level Gauge
The gauge on a propane tank shows you what percentage of the tank is full. Usually, tanks are not filled over 80% in order to enable the gas to expand during hot days. For example, 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 could be stored.

Normal Temperatures
The propane industry operates the popular website Propane 101, which considers the propane baseline point to be an exterior temperature of 60 degrees. For example, if the gauge reads 50 percent of capacity on a day when the temperature is near 60 degrees, then a 500 gallon tank would have about 250 gallons of propane. If the temperature that day is a lot lower than 60 degrees, the gauge will read lower. In the same way, if the temperature is much higher than 60 degrees, the gauge will actually read higher since the gas expanded.

Effect of Expansion and Contraction
The energy contained or amount of energy contained within a tank would not change as the gas either contracts or expands, according to the propane industry website. 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 will receive 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 took place during colder weather conditions, these chillier temperatures would cause a smaller increase reading on the propane gauge.

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