How Much Propane Do My Appliances Use?

If you run your home on propane, you might be wondering about the usage rates of the various appliances hooked up to your system.

Depending on the size of your home, you may be using a 250-gallon, 500-gallon, or 1000-gallon propane tank. How long that tank will last between fill-ups will depend on what types of appliances you have hooked up to your system, and how you use them. Obviously, a household with nine people using the shower, laundry room, and kitchen will use propane at a faster rate than a household of two.

To understand how much propane is used for each of the appliances listed below, you need to understand the amount of energy produced by each gallon of propane consumed. British Thermal Units, or BTUs, are a unit of measurement that describes the amount of energy needed to heat or cool one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. Propane gives 91,500 BTUs per gallon per hour. To put that into perspective, one four-inch wooden kitchen match completely consumed is equivalent to one BTU.

So, what about the various appliances that run on propane? Take a look at these figures:

  • Pool Heater – 425,000 BTU/hour or 4 gallons/hour
  • HVAC Furnace – 200,000 BTU/hour or 1 gallon/hour
  • Fireplace with ceramic logs – 26,000 BTU/hour or 1 gallon every three hours
  • Gas cooktop/range – 65,000 BTU/hour or 5 to 10 gallons per month
  • Tankless water heater – 40,000 BTU/hour or 1.5 gallons per day
  • Gas clothes dryer – 35,000 BTU/hr or less than one gallon per day

It’s important to remember that the statistics cited above will vary to some degree, depending on how much or how often you use your appliances and how many people are in your household. Your propane supplier can tell you what your usage is and help you to determine how much propane you should purchase and how often. You may even want to sign up for your supplier’s budgeting program to make sure that you will always have hot showers and hot meals.

If you are looking for propane services, we serve the locations of Elkton, Evansville, Dale and more. Contact us today!