How Many Gallons In a 10 lb Propane Tank? (Propane Tank Sizes)

Do you know how many gallons are in a 10 lb propane tank? Well, you are at the perfect place to find the answer to such a question.

Propane tanks have so many uses! There are a huge number of appliances that rely on them every single day.

A 100 lb propane tank holds 10 lb of propane, right? Well, not exactly.

To put it simply, on average you have 0.236 gallons = 1 pound of propane.

There are many different sizes of propane tanks out there which can carry different amounts of fuel, but how many gallons are there in a 10 lb propane tank?

A 10 lb propane tank can hold around 2.5 gallons of propane fuel, which is just over 11 litres. These propane tanks are smaller than the average size but still have a reasonably high capacity and are very useful for small to medium appliances. In reality, a 420 lb propane tank is about 80% full, so the most you can put in is 84 gallons.

This article will tell you everything that you need to know about the exact amount of fuel that a 10 lb propane tank can hold, including interesting information like how long that fuel will last and how to refill a tank when it starts to run out.

Table of Contents

How Much Fuel Does a 10 lb Propane Tank Hold?

In terms of quantity, a 10 lb propane tank holds about 2.5 gallons of fuel. In litres, that is around 11.3 L. The most commonly found propane tank size is the 20 lb option, which carries double the fuel of a 10 lb tank but is significantly less portable.

A 10 lb tank is certainly larger than a 5 lb or a 1 lb tank, but it is still small enough and light enough to travel with, and it will last a good amount of time with light use.

How Big is a 10 lb Propane Tank?

One of the main considerations you will have when looking for a propane tank is balancing the amount of fuel that you can have in a single tank with the size and weight that you need to carry around with you.

A 10 lb tank is a good middle-ground for portability as it is not excessively large but it contains a good amount of propane.

The exact dimensions of a 10 lb propane tank can vary depending on the shape of the tank that you buy, but they generally measure:

Width: Approximately 9 inches
Depth: Approximately 9 inches
Height: Approximately 17.5 inches

These tanks are pretty easy to fit into the back of a car for a camping trip, and they are not too heavy to lug around either.

How Much Does a 10 lb Propane Tank Weight?

The weight of a propane tank is obviously dependent on how much fuel it contains at the time. A 10 lb propane tank carries around 10 lbs of fuel by weight, but the tank itself has a significant weight even when it is empty.

Every propane tank that you can buy will have an empty tank weight, which is known as the “tare weight”.

The tare weight (or TW) of a 10 lb tank is usually around 15 lbs. So if your 10 lb tank is completely empty, it will weigh around 15 lbs, but if it is completely full it will weigh around 25 lbs.

How Long Does a 10 lb Propane Tank Last For?

When it comes to how long your propane tank is going to run, it all depends on the appliance that you are using. Larger appliances burn through fuel at a faster rate than smaller appliances and outputting more heat will use up more fuel as well.

A good way to think about it is to consider how long your 10 lb tank would last if you were to use it with certain appliances. A medium-sized grill will use around one pound of propane per hour, whereas a large-sized grill burning at high heat can use as much as double that much fuel in the same amount of time.

If you are using propane to fuel the heating in your home, you need a lot more fuel per hour. A standard propane home heating system uses an average of 1 gallon of propane every single hour. On the other end of the spectrum, when camping, most people only use around ½ gallon of propane each day.

For these uses, a 10 lb propane tank will last for:

Home Heating: Approximately 1 hour
Large Grill: 5 hours
Medium Grill: 10 hours
Camping: 20 days

To determine exactly how much propane any individual appliance will use, however, you will need to look at the BTU output of your appliances.

What Are BTUs?

BTUs, or British Thermal Units, are a unit of measurement that you will often see on fuel sources and as an output on different appliances.

It is important to look at how many BTUs an appliance is going to use in an hour so that you can determine exactly how much fuel you are going to need.

Unlike degrees, BTUs don’t measure how hot something is, instead they measure how much energy is required to heat something up.

1 BTU is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit.

Different fuel sources provide different BTUs per hour, depending on how much energy they give out when burning. On the other hand, different appliances use up different quantities of BTUs in an hour.

How Many BTUs Does a 10 lb Tank of Propane Contain?

One pound of propane provides 21,600 BTUs. This is the amount of heat energy that your propane fuel can give out in one hour. To compare this to another fuel source, one pound of coal only contains around 12,500 BTUs.

A 10 lb propane tank will therefore provide around 216,000 BTUs when it is completely full. If you compare this to the BTU output of your appliances, you can determine exactly how long your fuel is going to last.

All you need to do is divide the total BTUs that you have in your fuel by the appliance’s BTU output.

A 40,000 BTU grill, for example, will burn 40,000 BTUs in an hour. 216,000 divided by 40,000 is 5.4. This means that one full 10 lb tank of propane will fuel a 40,000 BTU grill for 5.4 hours.

What Should You Do When Your 10 lb Tank of Propane Runs Out?

Because a 10 lb propane tank is smaller than others on the market, that means that it will inevitably run out more quickly. You can purchase a new tank each time but that is a very inefficient and costly way to get more fuel.

Any 10 lb tank of propane can instead be exchanged for a full tank or refilled at a refilling location.

It is generally much more cost-effective to get your propane tank topped back up again rather than exchanging an empty tank for a full one.

On average, it costs around $5.00 or $.6.00 a gallon to exchange an empty tank whereas refilling one is generally only between $3.00 and $4.00 per gallon.

Refilling your propane tanks also means that you don’t have to worry about completely draining the tank before getting some more, you simply pay for exactly how much you have topped up.

Where Can You Refill a 10 lb Propane Tank?

The adaptors on 10 lb propane tanks are exactly the same as those on the standard 20 lb tanks, which means that you can top up your tank at pretty much any refilling location in the country.

There are many different places that refill propane tanks, particularly in areas with a lot of campers and people who like to cook outdoors.

A lot of gas stations will refill your propane tanks for you, as will vehicle repair shops, camping supply stores, and hardware stores. You can also look for dedicated propane refilling locations which are operated all over America by companies like AmeriGas.

Your best bet for refilling your propane, however, is probably a U-Haul location.

U-Haul has over 1,100 propane refilling stations all over the United States, making it the largest provider of propane refilling services in the country.

How Can You Tell How Much Propane is in a 10 lb Tank?

Your 10 lb tank can hold 2.5 gallons of propane, but that obviously doesn’t mean that there are 2.5 gallons inside at all times. After a bit of use, you will probably start thinking about when the right time will be to take your tank for a top-up.

You can try to keep track of how many BTUs you have expended from the tank over time, but an easier option is to weigh your current tank and find out the weight of the fuel you have left.

To determine how much fuel is left in your 10 lb propane tank:

First, find the tare weight of your tank. This is usually engraved on the side as TW. For example, a 10 lb tank may have a TW of 15 lbs.
Then, weigh your current tank as it is. For our purposes, let’s imagine that the tank weighs 20 lbs in total.
All you need to do is subtract the empty tank weight from the current total of your tank. In this case, 20 lbs – 15 lbs = 5 lbs.
Now you know the weight of fuel left in your tank, you can determine how many BTUs you still have by multiplying that number of pounds by 21,600. In our example, 21,600 BTUs X 5 = 108,000 BTUs of fuel remaining.

Conclusion

So, how many gallons of fuel are there in a 10 lb propane tank? A 10 lb propane tank contains around 2.5 gallons (or a little more than 11 liters) of propane.

This means that a 10 lb tank of propane will provide around 216,000 BTUs.

A 10 lb tank of propane is a really useful size for many small to medium appliances and will happily power an average grill for around 10 hours of cooking time.

These tanks are also more portable than the standard 20 lb tanks, and they are easy to top up when you start to run low.

References

https://www.uhaul.com/Tips/Propane/Propane-Refill-Vs-Exchange-9218/

https://www.amerigas.com/amerigas-blog/propane-appliances/btu-101