This is by far the most commonly asked question, and by far the most difficult to answer. There are so many factors involved. Mainly the weather, your households habits, the efficiency of your home and equipment, the size of your house, what appliances you have, etc. Literally, you could take 10 identical homes with 10 different families, and while their rate of consumption may go up and down together based on the weather, their individual family consumption will be different due to different habits.

This explanation will help you to figure out a baseline of your consumption.

1 gallon of propane has approximately 92,500 Btu’s (British Thermal Unit – a measure of energy content) in it. You can calculate how much your appliances will burn by knowing the Btu’s of the appliance and the Btu’s of propane. For instance, if your gas fireplace is 30,000 Btu’s, you will burn approximately 1 gallon for every 3 hours it runs (92,500 divided by 30,000).

Average Btu’s of different appliances and the average annual consumption for a family of four;

• Furnace – 36,000 – 150,000 Btu’s; Average annual consumption based on “average winter weather” 300-1200 gallons
• Water Heater (standard) – 30,000-50,000 Btu’s; Average annual consumption – 300 gallons
• Water Heater (on demand) – 100,000-200,000; Average annual consumption – 200 gallons
• Clothes Dryer – 20,000 – 25,000 Btu’s; Average annual consumption – 60 gallons
• Stovetop – 60,000 (15,000/burner); Avg annual consumption – 25 gallons
• BBQ – 30,000 – 36,000; 10 gallons

1. The short answer is yes, propane can technically freeze at -306.4 degrees Fahrenheit (or -188 degrees Celsius). But what is more likely to happen than your propane tank freezing is that your propane can no longer vaporize. When the temperature gets below -44 degrees Fahrenheit (-42.2222 degrees Celsius) the propane will no longer boil. You can fix it by getting a propane tank heater. But, as the average lowest temperatures in Tenino rarely get lower than 35 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s safe to say this will not be an issue. Alternatively, in hot weather conditions, you should simply not leave your propane in direct sunlight as the hotter the tank gets, the more pressure there will be inside the tank.