250-Gallon Propane Tank Dimensions (Length, Diameter, Weight) (2024)

250-gallon is the most common propane tank size in the US. It is a standard propane tank size for an average house in a climate with:

• Warmer climates.
• Shorter heating seasons.

Now, you can either get an above-ground or below-ground tank 250-gallon propane tank. The key information you will need to adequately reserve the space for the tank are the 250-gallon propane tank dimensions.

We’ll first look at the dimensions of the 250-gallon tank. Further on, we will also look at the 250-gallon propane tank size as far as BTU content and propane content is concerned (80% rule actually dictates that a 250-gallon tank can hold at most 200 gallons of propane).

250-Gallon Propane Tank Dimensions (Length, Diameter + Weight)

A standard 250-gallon propane tank is 92 inches long (7 feet and 8 inches). It has a diameter of 30 inches.

If you want to install a 250-gallon tank, you will need to roughly reserve a space that is:

• 8 feet long. You need a few additional inches for piping, hence not 7’8″, but 8′ is recommended.
• 2.5 feet wide.
• 2.5 feet high.

You can install it in your garage (above-ground) or dig or reserve an under-ground space for a propane tank (below-ground installation).

An additional piece of information you might find useful is the weight of the 250-gallon tank. You will need to be able to handle it, and these tanks do have a considerable weight.

For example, a 250-gallon propane tank weighs about 483 lbs when empty and 1,333 lbs when full. As you can read in a more detailed version, 1 gallon of propane weighs 4.11 lbs at 77°K.

The best practice is to install it empty (that’s will almost 500 pounds of weight), and then fill it up.

You can get all the sizes, dimensions, and weight of 100, 250, 500, 1000 gallon propane tanks listed in this table.

How Much Propane Can 250-Gallon Tank Hold?

To see how long will a propane tank last, you should also look into how much propane can a 250-gallon tank hold.

It might be surprising to some that a 250-gallon tank holds 200 gallons of propane (not 250 gallons). That is a safety precaution.

When filling propane tanks, we use the 80% rule. Why can’t we put 250 gallons of propane in a 250-gallon tank?

The reason is the thermal expansion of propane. At higher temperatures, propane expands and creates an outward pressure on the 250-gallon tank. To account for that pressure, we only put 80% of fuel (propane) in the tank.

200 gallons of propane in a full 250-gallon tank contains 18,300,000 BTU of energy (or heating).

That means that a full 250-gallon tank will last, based on average heating consumption, for:

• 212 days for heating a 500 sq ft house.
• 106 days for heating a 1,000 sq ft house.
• … and so on.

You can check how long does a 250-gallon gas tank lasts here, given the square footage of your house.

This is a short summary of 250-gallon propane tank size, dimensions, weight, and BTU content. If you have any questions regarding this propane tank size, you can use the comments below and we’ll try to help you out.