Does Cold Affect the Level Gauge on a Propane Tank?
Propane is similar to the majority of other types of materials in that it is affected by cold temperatures. The propane gas contracts when the temperature does down. That reduced level of gas in the tank is reflected by the gauge which reflects the tank level. Often, this happens whenever a homeowner checks the gauge in cold weather conditions and sees the amount of the tank level before and after delivery. Depending upon the weather conditions, the tank level might not rise as much as anticipated.

Propane Tank Level Gauge
The gauge on a propane tank shows you what portion of the tank is full. Usually, tanks are not filled more than 80% so as to allow the gas to expand during hot days. For instance, a 500 gallon tank, at a reading of 80 percent at normal temperatures reflects about 400 gallons of propane in the tank. This is about the amount that could 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. For example, if the gauge reads 50 percent of capacity on a day when the temperature is close to 60 degrees, then a 500 gallon tank would contain approximately 250 gallons of propane. If the temperature that same day is a lot lower than 60 degrees, the gauge would read lower. In the same way, if the temperature is much higher than 60 degrees, the gauge will actually read higher because the gas expanded.

Effect of Expansion and Contraction
The energy contained or amount of energy contained inside a tank will not change as the gas either expands or contracts, 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 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 correct if the temperatures were close to 60 degrees at the time of delivery. If the delivery happened during colder weather, these chillier temperatures would result in a smaller increase reading on the propane gauge.