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

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

Normal Temperatures
The web site Propane 101, that is operated by the propane industry, considers an exterior temperature of 60 degrees to be the reference or baseline point. Like for instance, 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 have around 250 gallons of propane. If the temperature that day is a lot lower than 60 degrees, the gauge would read lower. Also, if the temperature is much higher than 60 degrees, the gauge would actually read higher because the gas expanded.

Effect of Expansion and Contraction
The amount of energy contained or energy contained within a tank would not change when the gas either expands or contracts, according to 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 receive 424 lbs. 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 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 cause a smaller increase reading on the propane gauge.