SettingsSettings for this calculationUS
Add up the rated input of every propane appliance (furnace, water heater, range, generator, etc.), in the unit shown beside the field.
Check each appliance's nameplate for its input rating and sum them — this is the total demand your tank and regulator system need to support. Nameplates read BTU/hr in the US and kW elsewhere; enter whichever matches the unit on the field, and the page converts at the formula's boundary.
Recommended tank size
120 gallons
This is general supplier guidance — your propane provider will also consider desired refill frequency, local setback code requirements, and whether the tank is above or below ground when finalizing your tank size and placement.
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Propane Tank Sizing Calculator: 120 gallons — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Common propane supplier sizing guidance by total connected BTU/hr load: up to 100,000 BTU/hr = 120 gal, up to 200,000 = 250 gal, up to 400,000 = 500 gal, above that = 1,000 gal
Inputs used
- Total Connected Appliance Load
- 80000 BTU/hr
Confidence note: This is general supplier guidance — your propane provider will also consider desired refill frequency, local setback code requirements, and whether the tank is above or below ground when finalizing your tank size and placement.
What this calculation does not cover
- Sizes on connected load alone. How much propane you actually burn over a season, and how often your supplier can get a truck to you, are not in the model — on a rural delivery route those two usually decide the tank before the connected load does.
- No vaporization check. The brackets assume the tank can boil liquid off fast enough to feed the load, but real vaporization capacity falls with outdoor temperature and with how low the tank is running, and a horizontal tank has far more wetted surface than a vertical one of the same volume. A tank that fits this table can still starve a furnace on the coldest morning with the gauge low.
- Nothing downstream of the tank. First- and second-stage regulators, the buried service line and the interior gas piping all have to carry the same load, and none of them is sized here. An undersized regulator or pipe run starves appliances no matter how large the tank is.
- This is not a code or siting check. Setbacks from buildings, property lines, openings and ignition sources, the tank base, anchoring and permitting are set by the LP-gas code your jurisdiction adopts (NFPA 58 across most of the US) and by your supplier's own installation rules, and none of it is in this answer.
- Four US ASME nominal sizes, with no rung above 1,000 gallons (3,785 litres). Every load past 400,000 BTU/hr (117 kW) returns the same 1,000-gallon tank, and demand at that scale is commonly served by two or more tanks manifolded together — the table says nothing about that, or about the vessel sizes sold outside North America.
Estimated cost — your price
This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-09-06 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.1.1
Regulatory standards & verification citations1
- Common propane supplier sizing guidance by total connected BTU/hr load: up to 100,000 BTU/hr = 120 gal, up to 200,000 = 250 gal, up to 400,000 = 500 gal, above that = 1,000 gal
Cite this page
Your workspace
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