How To Calculate How Many Grill Hours A Propane Tank Has

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As the fog of winter fades into warmer weather, you may have forgotten some of the grilling hacks you picked up last year. If there's a half-full propane tank sitting in your garage ready to kick off your weekend grill session, it's worth checking to see how much propane is left exactly. The last thing you need is to be halfway through cooking the burgers only to have the gas run out, essentially ruining the meal if you don't have a backup on hand.

The easiest way to check how much propane is left in the tank is to simply read the gauge attached to the tank. The problem here is that many propane tanks don't come with a tank gauge attached. You can get around this by using a Bluetooth propane tank gauge, but it isn't exactly cheap. Still, if you grill a lot, it may be worth the expense. Then again, if you grill a lot, maybe you should just have two tanks on hand for when one runs out. That way, you can simply refill the empty tank the next time you have a chance so you always have some on hand.

Back to the topic at hand: There are a couple factors to consider when determining how many grill hours you have left. The first is the size of the propane tank and the second is what kind of grill you're using.

Propane tanks typically come in 20-, 30-, and 40-liter versions, with 20-liters being the most common for backyard grills. Let's say you've used some sort of tank gauge and determined there's roughly half a tank left. Now take a look at your grill. How many burners does it have? The more burners you've got running, the faster you're going to use up the propane. Easy enough to understand, right? If you're using more gas, the finite amount of propane you have is going to disappear more quickly.

For a grill running three burners, half of a 20-liter tank (aka 10 liters) will last you roughly seven hours at high heat and roughly nine hours at medium heat. If you're using six burners, that same amount of propane will only last you 3½ hours at high heat and 4½ hours at medium heat. Keep in mind it takes time for a propane grill to heat up, so don't assume you're going to get every second of that run time in direct contact with the food.

Whether you're grilling on your four-acre plot of land or huddled on your apartment balcony in the city, the important thing is determining how much propane you have left. If you don't have a tank gauge, you can use a scale. A 20-liter tank will weigh around 17 pounds, so any leftover weight is pure propane. A pound of propane is roughly 0.92 liters, so if you weigh a 20-liter tank at 30 pounds, you would subtract the weight of the tank and get 13 pounds of propane, which is roughly 12 liters of propane left.