Propane – how the extreme cold and heat affects demand and safety in the propane industry

Propane is delivered in liquid form inside pressurized tanks, like any other pressurized containers it is sensitive to temperature changes.  Being either too hot or too cold can create a host of issues with a pressure vessel; especially one filled with a fuel such as propane.

DEMAND

As temperature drops, the 12 million US households that uses propane for heating would increase their usage hence demand, and to be able to forecast the temperature changes ahead of time would help reduce purchasing cost from ordering ahead of time for both the clients and the provider, reduces storage, pre-arrange logistics and other part in the supply chain. 

Seasons with low temperature is when the demand is highest, thus much higher chance for snow and logistics to become more difficult, hence to be able to not only create a more accurate forecast for usage for customers but pre-arrange/ logistics that adapt to a foreseeable road conditions to reduce the customer’s wait time to lowest as possible. 

SAFETY

State of matter changes for hydrocarbon such as propane at low temperature, the pressure of propane pressure will start to drop and at -44F propane would turn into liquid and might not turn into gas form into the instruments like gas burners or heaters for usage.  This causes a pressure drop in the tank and can affect a customer’s ability to utilize their fuel.

https://www.elgas.com.au/blog/2084-can-and-does-propane-freeze-does-lpg-freeze/

On the extreme end of the scale, propane would also be affected by high temperature; despite that there are many safety mechanism build into propane tanks, under direct sunlight, recorded high temperature users should still pay attention to check if the safety values are working correctly, and if the pressure does build up and have propane released, are the storage area ventilated. 

Using automatic forecasting and weather risk mitigation tool like Climatility can alert you and your customers to such potentially hazardous operating conditions and allow you to minimize the risk by either shielding the propane tanks under hot weather or warming them in the cold.

https://www.elgas.com.au/blog/2084-can-and-does-propane-freeze-does-lpg-freeze/

https://www.expertinstitute.com/resources/case-studies/weather-conditions-allegedly-cause-propane-tank-to-explode/

https://www.powerblanket.com/blog/prevent-propane-pressure-loss-winter-months/

https://culinary-choice.com/en/qa/page=31f54c6ef200edb734fc32b50402c32a_qa