Propane Usage Calculator
Estimate the gallons of propane an appliance burns over a run time.
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`)