Good Afternoon All,

I came across a web page that was referenced for propane consumption calculations. This page was a US Carburetion page, and I know they and their motor snorkel are highly regarded on this site. The page gave the basics needed to help one determine their Propane Requirements when running generators. While the formulas aren't perfect, I believe they are sound, and a good place to start for a newbie, such as myself when determining exactly how long they might expect that 20# tank to run.

https://motorsnorkel.com/propane-consumption-rate/

What I have done is create a calculator to help one quickly determine if they have enough on hand or how often they may have to refill their propane tanks. Again, please take this with a grain of salt, because it doesn't appear that the formulas account for inefficiencies in the electricity creation process.

The link below has table where one can enter in their expected BTU burn rate (based on manual input from the wattage table below the calculator). In the example, it's 80,000 BTUs, based on 4,000 continuous watts. One can also put in the number of 20# tanks, 40# tanks 100# tanks etc, along with propane cost, to end up with totals such as number of gallons, hours total run time and total days. It also is calculated to de-rate all original inputs by 20% since that is the safe fill capacity.

I hope this is useful, and if not, mods, please feel free to take it down. It's not a gurantee, it's a simple exercise in the basics, but elevation, generator efficiencies, and even temperature will effect your real world results.

The sheet is locked, it's a google sheet that would need to be downloaded. I know that will probably turn a lot of people off, I'm just not sure how to leave open and not expect people to be people and mess it up accidentally.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1q-kbCXvkWLq27mGG86nYDb8KcC92Gg-onEWY11dMg44/edit#gid=473915882

Picture of calculator:

Attached File

This type of info is always useful.

I have about 20 years of generator use and repair and the numbers appear to match several of the OEM ratings. So it’s great for folks to have the info consolidated.

Thanks