How Much Does a 40 Lb Propane Tank Weigh Empty or Full?
Tare weight. It may sound like the word ‘tear’ when you rip something, but it is an important word. The tare weight of any object is what it weighs when empty. You will hear this word often when you use propane tanks and get them refilled often.
When empty, or tare weight, a 40-pound propane tank will weigh roughly 32 pounds. That is not too heavy but when you add the weight of propane that number goes up to 72 pounds. Which may be a bit heavier than many RV owners can manage.
To learn more on this topic, just continue to read our article. It gives you the answers you are looking for when you want to graduate from a 20 or 30-pound propane tank to a 40-pound one. The weight just keeps getting higher, the larger you go.
How Heavy Is a Full 40 Lb Propane Tank?
Let’s put it this way, when the propane tank is full, you are looking at lifting almost 100 pounds. You have to figure in the weight of the metal tank with the weight of the propane and propane is not that light.
Even though it is a lighter than air gas, when placed in a propane tank that gas adds more weight than the steel does that made the tank. That may boggle the mind a little bit but those are the facts.
When you add propane to a 40-pound propane tank, you may make it too heavy for some RV owners to lift. Once you get past a certain age, things seem to weigh a lot more than they really do.
Make sure to lift with your back when needing to relocate the tank or put a full one in its proper place. Protect your back at all costs.
How Much Does a 40 Lb Propane Tank Weigh Empty?
We have come across three different weight measurements for this propane tank size. One website listed the empty weight as 27.4 pounds while another listed it as 32 pounds.
A third website listed it as weighing 18 kilograms which translates into 39.6 pounds. It is possible that different tanks made by different companies will come in different weights.
You can always put your specific propane tanks on a commercial scale and get the right weight measurement. When you do this or try to move a full tank of propane, make sure you have some assistance. A trolley or a wagon would be good options to use.
Keep in mind, that a 40-pound propane tank will not hold 40 pounds of propane. The tank should only be able to hold 80% of that capacity which puts the total amount of propane at 32 pounds. The reason for this discrepancy is expansion. Propane needs room to grow.
How Much Does a 40 Lb Propane Tank Weigh Full?
The average weight of a gallon of propane ranges between 4.2 and 4.3 pounds. S0me say 4.25 pounds and then round up per elementary arithmetic lessons. That will bring you to a total of 4.3 pounds.
The average 40-pound propane tank can hold about 9 to 10 gallons. But since you can only fill the tank with 8 gallons of propane, 80% of capacity, you are looking at increasing the total weight to 66 pounds approx. Other tanks may be heavier than that total.
The total weight of the propane comes to just over 34 pounds according to some measurements. If you are used to using only 20-pound propane tanks, just double the figures for that tank and you will get your approx. Weight for a 40-pounder.
40 Lb Propane Tank Dimensions
An average 40-pound propane tank should have these dimensions- length- 27 inches; diameter- 14.5 inches; width- 14.5 inches; and height- 14.5 inches. Your propane tanks may be larger or smaller than those measurements.
Given the larger size, you may have trouble fitting more than one tank on your trailer’s tongue or proper storage box in a self-drive RV. In comparison, a 20-pound propane tank measures- length- 18 inches; Diameter- 12 inches; width- 12 inches; and height- 12 inches.
A 30-pound propane tank measures- length- 24 inches; diameter- 12.5 inches; width- 12.5 inches; and height- 12.5 inches. This means you will have to take measurements to ensure that your new 40-pound tanks will fit the available space.
How Tall Is a 40 Lb Propane Tank?
As you can see by the preceding dimensions, the height of the propane tank reaches 14.5 inches. That makes them over a foot tall and may give you location issues.
Those location issues will depend if you put a bike rack above the propane area on the tongue of a trailer, or built a custom propane box to protect the tanks, and so on.
When you go to upgrade to 40-pound propane tanks, accurate measurements will be needed. Not all available space can handle more than one tank. In contrast, a 50-pound propane tank comes in a height of 15.1 inches. Or only 0.6 of an inch higher than the 40-pound tank.
These dimensions are important because you only have so much room to work with. Then make sure to subtract the weight of the 40-pound propane tanks from your total cargo weight capacity.
Those 72 approx. pounds means that something else may need to be left at home.
Some Additional Words
Upgrading to a 40-pound propane tank may give you extra fuel to work with when you are camping. But it can also give you headaches as the size and the weight may not match your available space.
Measure carefully so you know how many tanks will fit on your RV or trailer. Having the extra fuel cuts down on your refilling trips as well as makes sure you have more than enough fuel to handle power outages and over use of the appliances.
Just be aware that furnaces and water heaters will use the most fuel at any given time.
