How to get your propane ready for a Texas cold snap

To get your propane ready for a Texas cold snap, check the tank gauge before the front arrives and fill it if it is under 40 percent. A hard freeze makes your house burn propane far faster than normal, and it makes everybody phone us in the same two days.

Central Texas does not get a long winter, it gets a handful of sharp cold snaps, and that pattern is exactly what catches propane customers out. This is what to do before one, during one, and after. Part of how propane delivery works.

Why does a cold snap use so much propane

Your heating runs for a far greater share of the day. A furnace that cycled a few times an evening in November can run most of the night when it is below freezing, and the fuel goes with it.

The burn rate is not linear

Going from a mild week to a freezing one does not add a little to your use, it can multiply it. People read their gauge against last month’s rate and get the answer badly wrong, which is the single most common way a will call customer runs dry.

Cold also makes the gauge read lower

Propane contracts as it cools, so the liquid takes up less room on a freezing morning than it did on a warm afternoon. Some of an overnight drop is the fuel shrinking rather than burning. It is not much, but it is one more reason not to be sitting near the bottom.

And everybody calls at once

The week the forecast turns is the week the phone does not stop. We run from Buchanan Dam, Marble Falls and Llano out to Liberty Hill, Leander and the Lake Travis towns, and in a freeze the limit is hours and miles, not propane.

What should you do before the front arrives

Four things, and the first one matters more than the other three together.

1. Read the gauge. If it is under 40 percent and a freeze is forecast, arrange a fill now rather than after.
2. Clear the path to the tank. A truck needs to get a hose to it, and brush, a parked vehicle or a locked gate all stop that.
3. Check that nothing is leaning on or stacked against the tank, and that the lid opens.
4. If you are on will call and you are going to be away, call us before you go.

Forty percent is the number to act on

Thirty is the normal trigger. Before a forecast freeze, treat 40 as the line, because the runway you think you have is about to get shorter.

A weekend place needs a different plan

A lake house at Kingsland or Point Venture that sits empty through the cold is the hardest property to predict, because there is no steady burn to learn from.

If you are coming up for a cold weekend, tell us first. The National Weather Service publishes plain cold weather safety guidance worth reading if you are new to the area.

What should you do during the freeze

Mostly leave things alone. The tank and the regulator are built to sit outside in this weather, and the main risks come from people trying to help them.

Keep snow and ice off the regulator

If we get ice, brush it gently off the regulator and the tank lid by hand or with a broom. Do not pour hot water over it and never use a heat gun, a torch or any open flame near the tank.

Do not turn anything off to save fuel

Shutting the gas off to stretch the tank is how pipes freeze, and a burst pipe costs more than a tank of propane ever will. If you are genuinely close to empty, call us rather than ration it.

Keep the vents clear

Appliance vents and flues need to stay clear of ice and debris. A blocked flue is a carbon monoxide risk, and that is the one cold weather problem that is genuinely dangerous rather than merely inconvenient.

What if you are getting low mid freeze

Call us and say the number on the gauge. Do not wait to see whether it holds out, because by the time it clearly will not, the schedule is full.

Say the number, not just low

Low means different things on a 120 gallon tank and a 1000 gallon one. The percentage and the tank size together tell us how urgent you actually are, and that is what decides the order we run.

Tell us about access while you are on the phone

A steep caliche driveway in the ice is a real constraint on which truck we can send. Mentioning it on the call is a great deal better than the driver finding out at the bottom of your hill.

What to do once it warms back up

A cold snap is the best data you will get about whether your setup works.

Look at what the freeze cost you

If a few days took a quarter of your tank, that is your real winter burn rate and it is worth knowing before the next front.

If it was close, change the setup

Running near empty once is bad luck. Twice is a system that does not fit the property. Automatic delivery or a tank monitor fixes it properly.

Frequently asked questions

How much propane does a cold snap use

Far more than a mild week, and the jump is bigger than most people expect because heating runs for a much greater share of the day. The honest answer for your house is whatever your gauge did during the last freeze.

Should I top off my propane tank before winter

Yes. Going into the cold season with a full tank is the cheapest insurance there is, and it takes you out of the queue when everybody calls at once.

Can a propane tank freeze

The propane itself will not freeze at any temperature Central Texas sees. What can happen in extreme cold is that pressure in the tank drops when the level is very low, which is another reason not to run it down in winter.

What if my driveway is iced over

Tell us when you call. It changes which truck we send and when, and it is much better handled on the phone than at the bottom of your hill.