Does Cold Temperature Affect the Level Gauge on a Propane Tank?
Like the majority of other kinds of materials, propane is affected by cold temperatures. When 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 tank. Normally, this occurs whenever a homeowner checks the gauge during cold weather and sees the amount of the tank level before and after delivery. Depending on the conditions, the level on the tank may not go up as much as expected.

Propane Tank Level Gauge
The propane tank's gauge shows you what percentage of the tank is full. Typically, tanks are not filled over 80% in order to enable the gas to expand on hot days. Like for instance, a 500 gallon tank, at a reading of 80 percent at normal temperatures reflects around 400 gallons of propane inside the tank. This is roughly how much could be stored.

Normal Temperatures
The web site Propane 101, which is operated by the propane industry, considers an exterior temperature of 60 degrees to be the reference or baseline point. Like for example, 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 roughly 250 gallons of propane. If the temperature that same day is a lot lower than 60 degrees, the gauge will read lower. Similarly, if the temperature is much higher than 60 degrees, the gauge would actually read higher due to the expansion of the gas.

Effect of Expansion and Contraction
The energy contained or amount of energy contained inside a tank will not change when the gas either contracts or expands, based on the propane industry web site. 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 will receive 424 lbs. of propane. If the homeowner has a 1000 gallon propane tank, they may 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 will result in a smaller increase reading on the propane gauge.