Propane Usage Calculator (Gallons & Total BTU)
Get the gallons and liters of propane an appliance burns from its BTU rating and run time, plus the total BTU consumed over that run.
How it works
Propane appliances are rated by how much energy they consume per hour, printed as a BTU-per-hour input rating on the nameplate. Multiply that rating by the hours you run the appliance and you have the total energy burned. Divide that by the energy packed in a gallon of propane — about 91,502 BTU — and you have the gallons consumed.
That single constant does most of the work. A 30,000 BTU/hr patio heater and a 30,000 BTU/hr cooktop burner sip propane at the same rate regardless of what they heat, because the rating already captures the fuel flow. The only variables you control are the rating and the runtime.
The result is reported in gallons and in liters so it lines up with how tanks are filled and sold. Keep in mind the rating is the maximum input: an appliance that cycles or runs on a low setting burns proportionally less, so treat a continuous-run estimate as the upper bound.
total energy = 30,000 × 5 = 150,000 BTU
gallons = 150,000 ÷ 91,502 = 1.64 gal (about 6 L)