Posted on 7th Jun 2019
That question can be answered in two different ways. If asking about the lifespan of Propane:
If asking about the length of time your fuel supply will last when burning your appliance: This is easy to figure out if you know the following:
The most common tank is a 20 lb cylinder (sometimes referred to as a 5 gallon cylinder). These are the same ones commonly used as BBQ tanks.
Here is how the calculations work:
What do you do with this information?
A burner or appliance rated at 60,000 BTU/hr (with burner turned on to "High") will burn 60,000 BTU every hour which means consumption of fuel is one gallon of propane every 1.53 hours. (92,000 BTU/Hr / 60,000 BTU/Hr = 1.53 hours that one gallon would last Providing the burner remains on "high" you can determine the number of hours your propane supply with last. To adjust for appliances, like a furnace, that are controlled by a thermostat and only cycle "ON" maybe a few minutes per hour, you would then need to adjust your calculations. For example if the furnace cycled on for 15 minutes every hour in the winter you would adjust by a factor of 4. (92,000 BTU/Hr / 60,000 BTU/Hr = 1.53 hours that one gallon would last x 4 = 6.12 hours of furnace usage for each gallon in inventory)
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