What is Normal Summer Propane Use?

Written on: July 4, 2022

AFC helps you control your propane costs

We have all seen the news lately. Each time you go to the grocery store or fill your gas tank, a bigger bite is taken out of your wallet.

During times like this, controlling your household budget is essential. That’s why many people who use propane in their homes are checking their propane usage to try and figure out what they should expect in terms of propane costs.

AFC has ways you can manage your propane costs by giving you pricing and payment options such as our EasyPAY monthly budget plan.

Precisely predicting your propane usage isn’t always possible, but our tips below can help you get a better idea of it so you can more accurately plan your household spending.

How to calculate your propane usage

It is very unlikely that you run all the propane appliances in your home at 100 percent capacity all the time. We’ve created the table below to show estimated propane usage for running appliances at 25 to 50 percent capacity for two to six hours a day. 

As you can see by the calculations, your propane usage can vary greatly, between 1.2 and 7.2 gallons per day. Just a few extra loads of laundry or hot showers increase your propane usage much more than you’d think. Here’s an example: 

• 220,000 BTU/hours (the total for all the appliances) ÷ 91,547 BTU/gallon of propane = 2.4 gallons per hour 
• 2.4 gallons x .25 (25 percent capacity) = .6 gallons per hour 
• .6 gallons x 2 hours = 1.2 gallons 

This number can then be used to calculate greater use of propane appliances: 
25 percent capacity for 6 hours = 3.6 gallons per day 
50 percent capacity for 2 hours = 2.4 gallons per day 
50 percent capacity for 6 hours 7.2 gallons per day
 
A propane pool heater (at 425,000 BTU/hour) that operates for one hour a day at 75 percent capacity would add about 3.5 gallons to your daily usage: 

• 425,000 BTU/hour ÷ 91,547 = 4.64 gallons/hour 
• 4.65 x .75 = 3.48 gallons 

Propane pool heaters use a lot of propane, which is why we recommend using a thermal pool cover when the pool isn’t in use to help retain as much of the heat in the pool as possible.
 
A propane whole-house backup generator that gets used often because of storms and power outages is another appliance that can affect your propane usage estimations because you can’t predict if, when, or for how long you’ll be using it.
 
With AFC, you’ll always have peace of mind about your propane supply. Become a customer today!