Does Cold Actually Affect a Propane Tank Level Gauge?
Propane is like the majority of other kinds of materials in that it is affected by cold temperatures. The propane gas contracts as the temperature declines. That reduced level of gas inside the tank is reflected by the gauge that reflects the level on the propane tank. Normally, this happens whenever a homeowner checks the gauge during cold climate and sees the amount of the tank level before and after delivery. Depending on the weather, the tank level might not rise as much as anticipated.

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

Normal Temperatures
The propane industry operates the popular website Propane 101, that considers the propane baseline point to be an exterior temperature of 60 degrees. For instance, 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 approximately 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 a lot higher than 60 degrees, the gauge will actually read higher since the gas expanded.

Effect of Contraction and Expansion
According to the information given by the propane industry website, the amount of energy contained within the tank does not actually change when the gas expands or contracts. 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 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 happened during colder weather, these chillier temperatures would cause a smaller increase reading on the propane gauge.