What to expect from your propane, propane tank and gas-fired equipment.
Life has a lot of moving parts to keep track of. It can be mind-spinning, coordinating your family schedule for work, school, activities and errands. How often have you smacked your forehead, realizing that you’d let the grass grow too long, hadn’t done the kids’ laundry for the week, or hadn’t restocked the fridge?
Luckily, Q-Dog Quality Discount Oil & Gas is here to help you stay ahead of the game with your home’s propane delivery. We can answer all your questions if you heat your home with propane.
What is the shelf life of propane?
Look in your refrigerator. You’ll see that pretty much every food or beverage in there has some sort of expiration date. The same is true of the drugs in your medicine cabinet. And gasoline for your car or lawnmower only has a shelf life of three to six months.
What about propane? How long will it last before “going bad.”
The short answer is propane won’t go bad. Propane does not degrade, making it ideal for long-term storage. For example, even if your propane standby generator has gone unused for over a year, its fuel will be ready if the grid goes down tomorrow in your region!
How long does a propane tank last?
Today’s home propane tanks are built for safety and durability, using heavy materials and corrosion-proofing. So, a well-manufactured tank like the ones we offer at Q-Dog can last 30 years or longer with proper maintenance. Underground propane tanks have a slightly lower life expectancy: between 20 and 30 years, depending on the type of soil in your area.
How long will my fuel last before I need a propane delivery?
How long your home’s fuel supply lasts depends on how large your propane tank is and what propane-fired equipment you use. For example, a residential furnace generates 100,000 Btu of heat, and one gallon of propane equals about 92,000 Btu. Consequently, a furnace running at full power for one hour will use roughly one gallon of propane.
Propane products like water heaters, stoves, clothes dryers or gas fireplaces will increase this usage. Propane101.com did an analysis and estimated that, in a cold week, a standard propane-heated home would use between 92.4 gallons/week (at 25% capacity) and 277.2 gallons/week (at 75% capacity for 12 hours/day). If you have a 500-gallon propane tank, you might need to receive a delivery every two to four weeks in the coldest months of the year. (In warmer months, you can go much longer between deliveries.)
Q-Dog’s team can help you identify the right propane tank size to minimize how often you need to order fuel.
Q-Dog helps ensure you never run out of propane.
Running out of propane is a serious inconvenience. It can leave you stranded without heating or hot water, and we can’t refill your empty tank until a safety/leak check is performed. But families in Maryland’s Calvert, Charles, Prince Georges, and Anne Arundel counties can rest easy. Q-Dog has several ways to prevent runouts, including FREE Automatic Delivery and optional propane tank monitoring services.
Get in touch with the Q-Dog team to take advantage of these convenient propane services.