Propane tank size for a cooktop

[Ryland]

I am finally working on the new kitchen and need to spec out the propane tank size for the cooktop but I have no idea how big I would need. Would dual 50lb tanks be enough with an automatic switchover so that I can pull the empty tank and get it refilled?

 

[jeffk14]

It really depends on how much cooking you will be doing. A 20lb tank (the common gas-grill size) lasts a pretty long time cooking. I have dual 20's on my 30' camper. I've never gone through more than 1 bottle in a season (4 or 5 trips a year). That's mostly summer camping with not much furnace use though. I wouldn't want to lug 50's around. 30lb bottles are also available and are a popular size in the camper world.

FWIW, I keep 5 20lb bottles around and always wait until I need at least 3 filled before I go to the gas place. My local gas co drops the price per gallon way down if you're getting more than 10 gallons (2 20lb bottles filled) at a pop.

 

[Ryland]

Well this is for a home. I go through a single 20lb tank/year with my gas grill but that doesnt get used much.

 

[jeffk14]

Well this is for a home. I go through a single 20lb tank/year with my gas grill but that doesnt get used much.

Are you using propane for anything else in the home? Hot water? Furnace? If so, I'd just get a big, horizontal stationary tank (200 gallons or so) and have the gas co come out and keep it filled.

At any rate, I wouldn't want to go any bigger than the 30lb bottles if I was going to be hauling them back and forth to the gas co.

 

[Ryland]

The only other propane device I have is my grill which is on the other side of the house. These tanks would only be for the cooktop.

 

[koditten]

My sister has a propane oven/stove. This is the only appliance that uses propane. It took her 8 years to empty a 100 gallon pig(this is the only one I have ever seen). She cooks 3-4 oven meals a week for a family of 5.

I myself use a 3 burner propane camp stove to do all my vegatable canning. It usually takes me a week to do all this canning, using the 3 burners 3-5 hours a day. I use 1, 25lb can per year.

I would say going with a primary/secondary set up you will get much use before a change out. Theonly thing I would wonder about is if the stove top has a standing pilot. This would use gas and shorten the window between fill ups.

Like others said, get the size of can that you can handle easily, we aren't getting any younger.

 

[Lippyp]

We have a butane cooker in our holiday home and a 32lb bottle has lasted us five years! Ok it only gets used maybe six weeks a year but it lasted way longer than I expected.

 

[Ryland]

I should be able to handle a 50lb tank, especially if it is outside and easily accessible plus I could always put it from the car to my atv and drive it out to the side of the house if I was feeling really lazy or put it into a wheelbarrow.

I have also been trying to find the maximum propane tank size that can be transported in a vehicle.

 

[ixlr8]

I have a propane tank for the cooktop in my home. It is just the wife and I, a 20 gal tank lasts about 10 months. The tank for my grill lasts about 2 years. I have one spare tank for either the cooktop or grill. The only issue we have had, it is so long between fillups.. sometimes we forget to fill the spare and I have had to pull the tank from the grill for the cooktop.

 

[Ryland]

I have a propane tank for the cooktop in my home. It is just the wife and I, a 20 gal tank lasts about 10 months. The tank for my grill lasts about 2 years. I have one spare tank for either the cooktop or grill. The only issue we have had, it is so long between fillups.. sometimes we forget to fill the spare and I have had to pull the tank from the grill for the cooktop.

That sounds like I could go with dual 30lbers and be set for around a year/tank

 

[Ryland]

Does anybody have a preference on auto cutover valves for propane tanks?

 

[nate379]

My folks used to have a propane stove, tank was std tank for area, maybe 80-100 gal, would last about a year.

 

[MScott]

I have also been trying to find the maximum propane tank size that can be transported in a vehicle.

We use propane at our hunting camp and transport 100lb tanks for filling. They are about as large as I would want to handle and we transport them by truck (1/2 ton.) Usually two guys to load or unload.

 

[Ryland]

Well I only have my wife's minivan that I can use for transport and I need a tank size that I can handle on my own which is why I was maxing out at dual 50lbers

 

[Hmrhead]

A few years back I was planning on doing some winter projects in the garage and was going to get a 100bls tank and I was told by a local propane supplier, in Michigan, that anything over 40lbs tank has to be transported in an open vehicle. i.e. pick up, open flat bed, or on outside of RV. At the time I only had an Explorer and they would only let me get a couple of 40 lbs tanks. Worked out better in the end. Only needed one tank and ended up using the other on my grill for about a year and a half. If had gotten the 100 lbs tank I don't think I could have hooked it up to my grill without changing the regulator hose.

 

[PurdueSD]

We get about 16 months out of one 100lb tank running our 6 burner commercial cook-top at home. Costs about 50 bucks to refill it. Would do it again...

 

[Ryland]

A few years back I was planning on doing some winter projects in the garage and was going to get a 100bls tank and I was told by a local propane supplier, in Michigan, that anything over 40lbs tank has to be transported in an open vehicle. i.e. pick up, open flat bed, or on outside of RV. At the time I only had an Explorer and they would only let me get a couple of 40 lbs tanks. Worked out better in the end. Only needed one tank and ended up using the other on my grill for about a year and a half. If had gotten the 100 lbs tank I don't think I could have hooked it up to my grill without changing the regulator hose.

This is the information I was looking for. I couldn't find the max tank size I could transport in an enclosed vehicle.

 

[jeffk14]

Does anybody have a preference on auto cutover valves for propane tanks?

Personally, I don't care much for the auto-cutover valves. These are a common option on camper trailers and I know from experience that they have a fairly high failure rate.

Also, if you run one tank empty and the valve switches over, you run the possibility of eventually emptying both tanks without knowing/realizing it.

 

[wssix99]

My wife and I are building a home and are doing the same thing. We're going to heat with geothermal and will only need gas for a cooktop. (The ovens will be electric.)

The Mrs. and I do a lot of cooking and currently live in a condo with gas for the cooktop, oven, and heat.

During the non-heating months, we use around 1 Therm of gas per month for cooking. 12 Therms per year works out to be 1,200,000 Btu per year. Using a conservative fudge factor for oven vs. cooktop, lets say the cooktop is 1,000,000 Btu per year.

At 21,600 Btu per lb. of propane, that would put us at 46 lbs. per year.

My going-in plan has been to be to have two tanks hooked up to a "Y" coupling, drain one tank half way, and then open the second tank. If the tanks are identical, my understanding of physics (I may be off, its been a while since I hit the text books.) is that the tanks will drain at the same rate, allowing me to disconnect an empty bottle and refill it while the other is still hooked up.

Even though, it would be overkill - I'm thinking of doing dual 100 lb. tanks as I want to go with an ASME tank. (I can't find ASME tanks under 100 lb. - only DOT tanks.)

 

[Crazy Car Guy]

i am amazed at the responses on how much propane you guys use, i know im a fat man but we burn through right at 3 x 100 lb tanks a year on our BBQ alone. 99% of the cooking and baking we do is on the grill as i cant stand cooking smells in the house. makes me wonder if a gas stove in the garage is worth looking in to.

 

[5lima30]

+1 on the high failure rate of switch over vavles. I too have had one go bad on our travel trailer. A 125 gal is the smallest that the local gas suppliers will deliver. IMHO anything more than 20 gal should be delivered. BTW I ususally get a better price per gal when I have my 250 gal tank filled than when I take my 20 gal in to be filled.

 

[Alchymist]

M

My going-in plan has been to be to have two tanks hooked up to a "Y" coupling, drain one tank half way, and then open the second tank. If the tanks are identical, my understanding of physics (I may be off, its been a while since I hit the text books.) is that the tanks will drain at the same rate, allowing me to disconnect an empty bottle and refill it while the other is still hooked up.

This depends on where the Y is - if the tanks are Y'd together before the regulator and one is half empty, opening the valve on the full one will cause the full one to push gas into the half full one until pressure equalizes - then gas is drawn equally from both.

If the Y is after the regulators, it will depend on the regulators - whichever regulator has the slightly higher outlet pressure will tend to restrict the gas flow from the other.

For convenience, use the automatic switchover valve, and WATCH the indicator. Most people don't, and wonder why they run out. When the first tank gets low, a red indicator comes on. This means that the tank the selector is pointing to is near empty. If not checked, you won't know when the full tank started to supply gas, and could be near empty itself. Correct procedure is to watch, and when the indicator turns red, switch the selector to the other tank. Indicator will turn green again, indicating a mostly full tank. Change out or refill the empty. Reverse selector when it shows red again.

 

[Ryland]

+1 on the high failure rate of switch over vavles. I too have had one go bad on our travel trailer. A 125 gal is the smallest that the local gas suppliers will deliver. IMHO anything more than 20 gal should be delivered. BTW I ususally get a better price per gal when I have my 250 gal tank filled than when I take my 20 gal in to be filled.

I guess I should look into this when I go to get someone to do the install of the propane system and hook it up to the cooktop.

 

[Alchymist]

+1 on the high failure rate of switch over vavles. I too have had one go bad on our travel trailer. A 125 gal is the smallest that the local gas suppliers will deliver. IMHO anything more than 20 gal should be delivered. BTW I ususally get a better price per gal when I have my 250 gal tank filled than when I take my 20 gal in to be filled.

You did mean 20 pound, didn't you?

 

[5lima30]

You did mean 20 pound, didn't you?

My bad, I meant 20lb Old timers disease is catching up with me!

 

[wssix99]

This depends on where the Y is - if the tanks are Y'd together before the regulator and one is half empty, opening the valve on the full one will cause the full one to push gas into the half full one until pressure equalizes - then gas is drawn equally from both.

If the Y is after the regulators, it will depend on the regulators - whichever regulator has the slightly higher outlet pressure will tend to restrict the gas flow from the other.

Even if the Y is before the regulators, it should still work, right? The propane is stored as a liquid and "boils" off in to a gas. If the surface area of the LP and temperature of the tanks is the same, then the Propane should boil off equally from both tanks at the same rate. (They both feed a single volume of gas before the regulator and the surface area of the pools should act as one.) Once the two tank system reaches a certain gas pressure, the boiling should stop and the propane levels would remain as-is. (The liquid can't move from one tank to the other.)

So, in the first example, opening the valve on the full tank should do nothing because the gas in the half filled cylinder is already up to pressure. The gas volume from the full tank would just be added to the volume of the half full tank, but no net change should occur in the liquids.

Since the tanks would have different thermal masses, the full one may have a greater heat capacity and boil off faster than the half full one. Given the rate that these things drain, I wouldn't think that would be a significant factor.

 

[Clemson13]

I know this is an old thread, but its pretty pertinent for my situation. I currently have a 120gal propane tank hooked up to my gas fireplace that i do not use much. I want to replace my range and switch over to propane so i can actually enjoy cooking instead of hating the cook top.

Would a 120 gal tank hold enough propane to run a gas range (oven too? i dont bake much and am single)

 

[larry4406]

Watching along as I need to do the same thing. Kitchen remodel will have an 8 burner dual fuel range (gas cooktop with electric oven) and no other propane fixtures.

 

[gregs]

I have an older 4 burner gas range and oven. 3 person household, typical cooking use including use of the oven often. I have 2- 100# tall lp tanks with an manual switching valve. To be honest I really dont trust it much so I leave the valve closed on 1 until the other is empty then I close it and open the full one. I average over a year on 1 tank. Typically you start to get the gas smell when its getting low.

 

[Bretny]

I know this is an old thread, but its pretty pertinent for my situation. I currently have a 120gal propane tank hooked up to my gas fireplace that i do not use much. I want to replace my range and switch over to propane so i can actually enjoy cooking instead of hating the cook top.

Would a 120 gal tank hold enough propane to run a gas range (oven too? i dont bake much and am single)

120gal is quite a bit of propane for cooking only. You arealy own the tank so hook it up.

Fyi they do make 100lb tanks that you can get propane delivered to. There called multifill propane tanks. Homedepot has them and they dont have near the clearances needed as bigger tanks. You can also chose to bring them in to get filled.

 

[Kaizen]

Well I only have my wife's minivan that I can use for transport and I need a tank size that I can handle on my own which is why I was maxing out at dual 50lbers

I have a 100 pound i use for heat in the garage. I would not do that again. Damn heavy when full.
I have an apartment with a stove that runs off a 50 pound. If this is a normal stove and not a big commercial wolf grill then Instead of maintaining 2 tanks just get a gauge or a tank with a gauge. Worst case scenario you can use your 20 pound gas grill one if you run out. When i had 2 tanks it was not a switch over. They are both drawn off at the same time so both are at the same level.

 

[R6 Racer]

I should be able to handle a 50lb tank, especially if it is outside and easily accessible plus I could always put it from the car to my atv and drive it out to the side of the house if I was feeling really lazy or put it into a wheelbarrow.

I have also been trying to find the maximum propane tank size that can be transported in a vehicle.

Here its a 100lb tank limit for personal transport. I use 2 of them & swap from 1 to the other when one is empty. I'm gibbled (old & arthritic) & lifting an empty 100 pounder into the back of my pickup is relatively easy. As for a full one, gravity is on my side when i'm unloading then its a simple spin/roll it into its location. ***I can get my truck within 5ft of where my tanks sit & its on a concrete pad.
Location (& distance) is everything when moving a full 100lb tank

 

[vrinner]

I know my sister had a 150 gallon tank and it would last her and her husband about 3 months, they had gas stove and heater so winter I'm sure it was less. She ended up getting whole house backup generator and upgraded to a 250 gallon thinking the occasional cycling of the backup generator would use a lot of gas. Not so much.

 

[SteveCh]

I used to have a couple of 100# bottles for my propane counter-top stove, did it that way for 15 yr or more. I had to haul them in a pickup [open bed.] Each bottle would last 6 to 7 months, using gas for only the stove. I would always have one full bottle in reserve that way.

I got tired of wrestling the big bottles and looked around for a larger tank to buy [avoid the monthly/annual "rent"]. I lucked out and found a foster kid home being upgraded and they wanted to get rid of their 500-gallon tank. Couple hundred bucks. I set that up and now fill it about every nine years or so. But a 150-200 gallon tank would also work very well for me. Of course, this means I have a propane truck deliver my gas each decade or so.

 

[Bad Habit]

Changed over to a propane cooktop in our second home, Probably only over there 8 -10days a month on average. I have 2 x 30lb tanks with a manual switch over valve. Still on the 1st tank (probably about 50%) after just over a year.

Will really vary a lot based on useage though. The 30lbs tanks work good for us as they're easy to swap and refill.

 

[Clemson13]

So the big question. Should i pull a permit to run the gas line to the kitchen. Good to do for insurance reasons? I know it will be a pain to deal with. The upside is that at least our permits are like 25$.

 

[Bretny]

Another thing to think of is propane vaporization rate. Even FL can get cold enough to not beable to properly run a oven on a 20lb tank, 30-40lb tanks arnt much better.

 

[haveissues]

Our last house a 100lb tank running the stove would get filled up once a year. Our new place a 100lb bottle runs 2 stoves and a large dryer for 3-4 months. When the 2 tanks run empty I slap on a 20lb and take the 2 100lbs to get filled. The place I have them filled has a loading dock so I just roll them off the back of a pickup there and when I get home I use the kubota to get them down.

 

[haveissues]

Another thing to think of is propane vaporization rate. Even FL can get cold enough to not beable to properly run a oven on a 20lb tank, 30-40lb tanks arnt much better.

I know it should be an issue but I live in dutchess county also and have not had any problems running the oven when our 100lb tanks go empty and I have to temporarily hook up a 20lb.

 

[Walkers]

I have an old Wedgewood stove from 1949 with standing pilots for each burner bank, the oven, and the broiler. I have a 100 tank(holds 80gal) I generally fill it once a year. We generally don’t eat fast food, so cook almost every night, run the tea kettle twice every morning, my wife generally bakes things on the weekends. The pilots are the biggest consumers of the gas. I put a tee and a valve into the downstream piping so I can connect a small cylinder if I think I am going to run out before they get out to fill it.