The small round dial on top of your tank is the only number that matters when you are trying to stay ahead of a fill. A lot of people glance at it and hope. We would rather you know what it is saying, because the needle reads percent, not gallons, and the rest of the job is using that number before a cold night uses it for you.
The dial is percent, not gallons
Walk out to the tank and look at the face of the gauge. The numbers run from empty up to full. That reading is a percent of the tank. It is not a gallon count.
Most residential tanks we serve around Moriarty, Edgewood, Estancia, Mountainair and Pecos are 250, 500 or 1,000 gallons. Those numbers are the size of the tank. They are not how many gallons are inside when we leave.
A tank is filled to about 80 percent so the liquid has room to expand. Propane sits in there as a liquid. Liquid grows when the day warms up. The space at the top is there on purpose. A full 500-gallon tank holds roughly 400 gallons. A 250-gallon tank holds about 200 when it is as full as we will fill it. A 1,000-gallon tank holds about 800. Plan around those working numbers, not the figure painted on the side.
If you want gallons from the needle, take the percent times the tank size. Forty percent on a 500-gallon tank is about 200 gallons in the tank. Twenty percent on that same tank is about 100 gallons. Twenty percent on a 250-gallon tank is about 50 gallons. That last one is a short list of cold nights, not a comfortable cushion.
Call before the needle hits 20 percent
We tell people to order while the gauge is still above 20 percent. Below that, you have almost no room if a storm slows the truck. In a hard freeze, a tank that is already very low can struggle to feed the house even before the needle sits on empty.
Our minimum home delivery is 150 gallons. That is why the timing of the call matters, especially on a 250-gallon tank. If you call while the tank is still high, there may not be room for 150 gallons. If you wait until the tank is nearly dry, you are asking for a fill on the worst day of the week. On a 250-gallon tank, a reading near 20 percent is about when a 150-gallon drop will fit. On a 500-gallon or 1,000-gallon tank you have more room to take that drop, but 20 percent is still the line we want you to respect.
Weather can delay a delivery. We will not promise a clock time. If snow is piled east of the Sandias, or the road toward Glorieta or Ribera is drifted shut, the truck waits until it is safe to run. Calling while you still have propane in the tank is how you stay ahead of that.
When you are ready, place an order with the office that covers your place, or call during business hours. We are open Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. We are closed Saturday and Sunday.
Will-call or automatic keep-full
There are two ways propane delivery works at our shop.
- Will-call means you watch the dial and you call us. It works if walking out to the tank is actually part of your week.
- Automatic keep-full means we watch how you use propane and schedule a drop before you get low. You still glance at the gauge now and then. You are not the one who has to remember in January.
If you would rather not watch the dial yourself, we offer tank monitoring on qualifying tanks. The reading comes to us. That helps on a house you do not visit every day, or on a place where nobody wants to walk out in the wind to look at a gauge.
If you are not sure which plan you are on, call the office. We will look it up. We keep records of deliveries and can provide them if you ask.
Cold nights at this altitude
We sit at about 6,000 to 7,000 feet. Clear nights drop fast. Wind across the Estancia Valley, and snow in the hills toward the Sangre de Cristos, both pull more heat out of a house than a calm afternoon in October would suggest. A tank that barely moved in September can drop a lot in one cold week.
Houses in Tijeras, Cedar Crest, Sandia Park and Sedillo feel that sooner than a place down on the flats. The elevation is a little higher, and the wind comes over the mountain. Check the gauge more often once the first hard freeze has come through. The needle does not fall in a straight line once the furnace is on all night.
If the tank runs empty
An empty tank is a stop. We cannot pump and leave. Anyone who has run out of gas, and every new customer, gets a safety check before the system goes back in service. A qualified technician also has to leak-check the system. That is required propane safety work, not a formality. Someone over 18 has to be there to give access and sign.
That takes time, and it happens on a day you already have no heat. Do not try to relight pilots or hunt for a problem yourself. Call us during business hours and we will tell you what has to happen next. If you run empty on a Saturday, the offices are closed until Monday, so call first thing Monday morning.
Carbon monoxide and a gas odor
Propane appliances work hardest in winter. Every level of the home should have a working carbon monoxide alarm. If you smell an odor like rotten eggs, or a CO alarm sounds, get everyone outside first, call 911 from a safe place, then call the office nearest you during business hours. Do not look for the leak yourself. Do not go back inside until responders say it is safe.
If the gauge is iced over, the needle looks stuck, or you cannot tell what you are looking at, do not guess. Call the nearest office Monday through Friday between 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM.
Moriarty - 2502 U.S. Route 66 W, Moriarty, NM 87035 - (505) 407-2260 (main)
Mountainair - 711 West Broadway, Mountainair, NM 87036 - (505) 847-1136
Pecos - 274 Glorieta Hwy, Pecos, NM 87552 - (505) 757-0977
Questions we get
How do I read my propane tank gauge?
The dial on your tank reads percent full, not gallons. Look at the number the needle points to and treat that as a share of the tank’s size. Forty percent on a 500-gallon tank means about 200 gallons of liquid are in the tank. Write the number down if you are on will-call so you can see how fast it is moving. If the face is iced over or you cannot tell, call the office during business hours.
Why does my propane tank only fill to 80 percent?
Your tank fills to about 80 percent so the liquid has room to expand when the weather warms up. Propane is stored as a liquid, and that liquid grows as temperature rises. The space at the top is there on purpose. A full 500-gallon tank holds roughly 400 gallons. That is the working number we want you to plan around, not the size stamped on the tank.
At what percentage should I order propane in New Mexico?
Order while the gauge is still above 20 percent. Below that you have little room if weather delays a truck, and cold nights at 6,000 to 7,000 feet can pull a tank down faster than a mild week would. Our minimum home delivery is 150 gallons, so a 250-gallon tank usually needs to be near that 20 percent mark before a full drop will fit. Call Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.
What happens if my propane tank runs completely empty?
An empty tank has to be leak-checked by a qualified technician before we put the system back in service. That is the fuel-gas code we work under, NFPA 54, and it is not something we can skip. We need someone over 18 there to give access and sign. We cannot skip that. Do not relight anything yourself. Call the office that covers your place during business hours and we will walk you through the next step.