250 gallon propane tank chart
A 250 gallon tank is measured in water capacity, and the gauge shows percent of that 250 gal. Each 1% is 2.5 gal, so 50% is 125 gal. Suppliers fill to 80% to leave room for the gas to expand, which makes a full tank 200 gal. Dead River's gauge table gives the same numbers (125 gal at 50%, 175 at 70%, 200 at 80%).
The tank is half the size of a 500, so a delivery is smaller and comes around more often. The tables below cover what a fill brings and how many you can expect a year.
Usable is the gallons between 80% and 20%, the level I use as "empty" in the calculator.
What a delivery brings
Pick your gauge reading and read across. The cost column uses $3.46 a gallon, the calculator's default, which is an estimate. Your supplier's price and any delivery fee will differ.
| Gauge | In tank | Fill brings | Fill cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80% | 200 gal | 0 gal | $0 |
| 70% | 175 gal | 25 gal | $87 |
| 60% | 150 gal | 50 gal | $173 |
| 50% | 125 gal | 75 gal | $260 |
| 40% | 100 gal | 100 gal | $346 |
| 30% | 75 gal | 125 gal | $433 |
| 20% | 50 gal | 150 gal | $519 |
How many fills a year
Say you order when the gauge reaches 30% (my assumption, check your supplier's rule) and the driver fills to 80%. Each delivery then brings 125 gal. Divide your yearly use by that and you get the table. Your yearly use is on your delivery slips: add the gallons from the last twelve months.
| Use per year | Deliveries | One every | Fuel cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 gal | 0.8 | 15.0 months | $346 |
| 250 gal | 2.0 | 6.0 months | $865 |
| 400 gal | 3.2 | 3.8 months | $1,384 |
| 600 gal | 4.8 | 2.5 months | $2,076 |
| 900 gal | 7.2 | 1.7 months | $3,114 |
These are arithmetic on the numbers above, not measured households. A tank that only feeds a water heater and a range sits near the top rows. A furnace pushes use far higher, and then a 500 gal tank saves deliveries (see the 500 gallon propane tank chart).
A worked example
A small house with a propane water heater and range. On 2026-03-01 the gauge reads 75%, 188 gal. On 2026-04-01 it reads 60%, 150 gal. Nothing was delivered in between.
- Used: 188 − 150 = 37.5 gal in 31 days, or 1.21 gal a day.
- Above the 20% line (50 gal): 100 gal, so about 82 more days at that rate.
- The gauge reaches 20% around 2026-06-22. This is an estimate, and summer use is usually lower than winter use.
Open this example in the calculator and put in your own readings. The link keeps them, so you can bookmark it.
Related pages
All home tank sizes side by side are on the propane tank percentage chart. For a furnace, how much propane a furnace uses estimates the daily gallons. The refill price at different gauge levels is on cost to fill a tank.