How to Check Your Propane Tank for Leaks

I thought this winter was rather warm, considering, but my propane bill did not agree.  In fact, I had just filled our tank with about $500 worth of propane less than 2 months ago.  I went out to check the tank today, and it had less than 5% left!  I couldn't believe we had gone through that much, so I immediately suspected a leak.

Here is the process we used to confirm and locate the leak.  It's a bummer to think that we wasted all that propane (not to mention that it was a hazard to have it leaking), but we can now take action before refilling it again.  (You can actually hear the gurgling of the leak in this video!)



Do you have an outside propane tank?  Have you checked it lately for leaks?  While many gas providers will check leaks for you for free, our supplier didn't, leaving us on our own to figure it out. I recommend performing this simple check at the end of every season (and again before the heating season starts) to be sure you aren't wasting your heating money!