Will My Propane Ever Go Bad?

Find out if long-stored propane is still good to use

There are so many awesome things propane can do for your Hudson Valley or Catskills home. At Bottini Fuel, we provide propane for all of them.

Here are some ways propane improves the quality of life in, and outside, your home:

• Propane provides even, fast home heating at the best energy efficiency of any home heating fuel source. Today’s propane heating systems offer up to 95 percent efficiency.
• With propane water heating, you get a water heater that costs between 30 and 50 percent less than operating, which can save you lots of money as heating water makes up about 20 percent of your energy bill. And if you go with a propane tankless water heater, you can have endless hot water when you want it, no waiting!
• Cooking with a propane stove or cooktop gives you precise and instantaneous temperature control that gives you even cooking and great results that you’ll never get with an electric stove.
• Laundry becomes less of an onerous chore when you have a propane clothes dryer, which not only gets your laundry dryer faster, but also with fewer wrinkles which means less time slaving over a hot ironing board!
• Whether it’s summer thunderstorms are harsh winter snow and ice storms, we often have to deal with power outages. Protect your home, your family and all that food in your refrigerator and freezer with a propane whole house generator.
• Head outside and you’ll see that propane can do so much more than running your BBQ grill. Propane can heat your pool or spa tub, light your fire pit, and power deck and patio heaters so you can enjoy your back yard more often.

When you get a full tank of propane from Bottini Fuel, you’re getting more than a great energy source for your home. You’re getting peace of mind.

Does propane expire?

Another way you get peace of mind with propane delivery from Bottini Fuel is that propane doesn’t have a shelf life or an expiration date.

That’s because propane doesn’t go bad!

Other fuel sources can degrade over time, like kerosene, diesel, heating oil and gasoline. That degradation can affect how well it performs, and may have a negative impact on your home’s heating system.

Propane, however, doesn’t have those problems. It doesn’t degrade, and its potency and efficiency aren’t affected by being stored for a long time. As long as your propane tank is properly maintained, the propane within it is fine.

Can propane freeze?

The freezing point of propane is -44 degrees Fahrenheit.

When it’s very cold, as you know it can get around upstate New York in the winter, propane shrinks. That may affect the levels on your propane tank gauge and make you think you’re losing propane to a propane gas leak. In all likelihood, the lower tank gauge level is due to the shrinkage of the propane inside your propane tank.

The best way to prevent problems with your propane in cold weather is to make sure your tank doesn’t get low.

Cold weather has a negative impact on heating oil. It thickens in cold weather, a condition commonly known as gelling. If gelling occurs, that thickness in the heating oil can reduce the flow of heating oil to your home’s furnace or boiler, leading to reduced efficiency. And the thick heating oil could even block the flow of heating oil to your furnace or boiler, which could cause your furnace or boiler to shut down. If that happens, you could be facing not only no heat in your home, but an emergency service call and some potentially expensive repairs.

Avoiding the hassles and expense that gelling in gasoline and diesel can cause is why businesses, municipalities and school systems are turning more and more to propane autogas as an option to power everything from delivery vans to police cars to school buses.

Enjoy all the benefits of propane without any worries about it going bad! Get your propane delivery from Bottini Fuel by becoming a customer. Find out more about our services by getting in touch with us.