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Does Cold Temperature Affect the Level Gauge on a Propane Tank?
Like nearly all other kinds of materials, propane is affected by cold temperatures. As the temperature declines, the propane gas contracts. That reduced level of gas inside the tank is reflected by the gauge which reflects the level on the propane tank. Usually, this happens whenever a homeowner checks the gauge in cold conditions and sees the amount of the tank level before and after delivery. Depending upon the weather, the level on the tank may not go up as much as expected.

Propane Tank Level Gauge
The gauge on a propane tank shows you what portion of the tank is full. Normally, tanks are not filled more than 80% so as to allow the gas to expand on warm temperatures. Like for example, a 500 gallon tank, at a reading of 80 percent at normal temperatures reflects about 400 gallons of propane inside the tank. This is about the amount that is able to be stored.

Normal Temperatures
The website Propane 101, that is operated by the propane industry, considers an exterior temperature of 60 degrees to be the baseline or reference point. Like 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 contain roughly 250 gallons of propane. If the temperature that same day is much lower than 60 degrees, the gauge will read lower. Similarly, if the temperature is a lot higher than 60 degrees, the gauge will actually read higher since the gas expanded.

Effect of Contraction and Expansion
Based on the information provided by the propane industry web site, the amount of energy contained in the tank does not actually change as the gas expands or contracts. The amount of propane itself has not changed, but just 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 can expect the gauge to go up by 10% with the delivery of 100 gallons. 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 conditions, these chillier temperatures will cause a smaller increase reading on the propane gauge.

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