Posted: January 19, 2026
Winter brings a host of challenges for homes in the Northeast. From blizzards in the Adirondacks to nor’easters in Massachusetts, the weather can be unpredictable and unforgiving. If your home relies on propane for heating, hot water and powering crucial gas appliances, you want to make sure the propane in your tank can safely reach your home.
When temperatures plummet, your propane system works harder. In this article, we’ll discuss how extreme cold can affect the propane in your tank and the steps you can take to ensure your home stays warm and comfortable all season long.
Given that propane is stored in a liquid state within your tank, it is only natural to have questions about the possibility of it freezing during a severe cold snap.
The good news is that you do not need to worry about liquid propane solidifying. Propane has an incredibly low freezing point of -306°F. To put that in perspective, this temperature is over twice as cold as any natural temperature ever recorded on Earth. While the liquid itself won’t freeze, the cold weather does impact how the propane behaves inside the tank, specifically regarding pressure.
While propane won’t freeze, frigid temperatures can significantly impact the pressure inside your propane tank. Propane contracts when the temperature drops. This contraction leads to a decrease in volume, which lowers the pressure inside the tank. If the pressure drops too low, the propane may not vaporize quickly enough to reach your burner. This can prevent your furnace or water heater from working properly, even if there is fuel left in the tank.
To ensure optimal performance throughout the winter, it is vital to keep the pressure in your tank positive. The most effective way to do this is to keep your propane tank about a third full or higher. A fuller tank has more thermal mass, which helps maintain the pressure needed to power your home. Additionally, you can help by clearing snow off your tank to allow sunlight to warm the exterior.
Understanding how heat affects propane is just as important as understanding the cold, as it explains a crucial safety standard known as the “80% fill rule.”
Just as cold causes propane to contract, heat causes it to expand. Because liquid propane expands with temperature changes, propane tanks are never filled to 100% capacity. Instead, they are filled to about 80% of their total capacity, meaning a 500-gallon tank will hold about 400 gallons of propane. This leaves a safe “cushion” of space for the propane to expand on warmer days without creating dangerous excess pressure inside the tank.
Managing your tank levels manually during a harsh winter can be stressful. No one wants to trudge out into the snow to check a gauge.
Mirabito makes it easy to maintain the right fill level to avoid pressure issues with our free Automatic Delivery service. Our system uses your customer profile and current weather patterns to determine when you need a fill-up so that we can schedule the delivery automatically.
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Don’t wait for the next cold snap to worry about your fuel levels. Contact Mirabito today to enroll in automatic delivery. When your family’s winter comfort matters — Make it Mirabito.
