Propane delivery software that forecasts the fill and keeps the cargo tank legal
Propane delivery is the retail distribution of liquefied petroleum gas by bobtail and transport to tanks a supplier owns or services. The work is forecasting: a K factor per tank turns accumulated heating degree days into a delivery date, and the truck follows that list. Wrapped around it is hazmat law, so an MC 331 cargo tank is due an external visual inspection every 12 months and a pressure test on a 5 year interval. Neurobird keeps the tank record, the route and the expiry dates in one place.
Drag a job onto a driver to assign it.
Neurobird Propane Delivery in short
- Hold a K factor per tank, recalculated from delivered gallons and degree days, so the next fill date is arithmetic
- Build the day's board from tanks that are actually due, and keep the sequence when a will call lands at 10am
- Capture metered gallons, percentage on arrival and the leak check at the tank, so the ticket closes before the driver pulls away
- 1 year The periodic test table in 49 CFR 180.407 puts every specification cargo tank other than the vacuum loaded types on a 1 year external visual inspection and a 1 year leakage test, with internal visual and pressure tests on a 5 year interval. eCFR, 49 CFR 180.407
- 12 years Table 1 to 49 CFR 180.209(a) sets requalification periods of 5, 7, 10 or 12 years for DOT 4B, 4BA, 4BW and 4E cylinders, depending on the requalification method and whether the service is corrosive. eCFR, 49 CFR 180.209
- Pricing runs 180 to 720 US dollars per month across 3 tiers. Early access is free.
What propane retailers and bobtail fleets actually deal with
Why it stays broken
Propane retail is a delivery business wearing a hazmat licence. Route software vendors treat it as parcel delivery and compliance vendors treat it as trucking, so the K factor that predicts the fill and the retest date that grounds the truck never end up in the same system. Most operators bridge the gap with a spreadsheet and a dispatcher who has been there 14 years.
An MC 331 bobtail is due an external visual inspection every 12 months and a pressure test every 5 years, and neither is negotiable on the morning it lapses.
Propane expenditures are a household-weighted average of the Northeast, Midwest, and South regions.
Neurobird Propane Delivery Dispatch Platform
Keep the tank and the truck in one record. Consumption history predicts the fill, the fill closes the ticket, and every expiry date sits on the asset that carries it.
- 1Hold a K factor per tank, recalculated from delivered gallons and degree days, so the next fill date is arithmetic
- 2Build the day's board from tanks that are actually due, and keep the sequence when a will call lands at 10am
- 3Capture metered gallons, percentage on arrival and the leak check at the tank, so the ticket closes before the driver pulls away
- 4Track cargo tank tests, cylinder requalification and driver endorsements against their expiry dates rather than a binder
What changes with Neurobird Propane Delivery?
The same work, read left to right: how it runs today, and how it runs once the record is in one place.
| Today | With Neurobird Propane Delivery |
|---|---|
| Heating degree days decide which tanks go on tomorrow's board, and on most days that decision is a dispatcher's memory plus a wall map | Hold a K factor per tank, recalculated from delivered gallons and degree days, so the next fill date is arithmetic |
| A bobtail that runs out of route before it runs out of product costs the same as a run out at the customer, and neither shows up until the tickets come back that evening | Build the day's board from tanks that are actually due, and keep the sequence when a will call lands at 10am |
| Cargo tank tests, cylinder requalification dates and driver endorsements expire on three different calendars kept in three different places | Capture metered gallons, percentage on arrival and the leak check at the tank, so the ticket closes before the driver pulls away |
Who is this for?
Same tank record, three different delivery operations.
You keep tanks full
Several hundred residential tanks spread across a wide county. You need degree day forecasting that survives a warm February and a route that absorbs a will call without collapsing.
You move cylinders
Racks at retail sites and a fill plant behind them. You need requalification dates per cylinder and a count that reconciles at both ends of the swap.
You feed equipment
Forklift fleets, crop drying and construction heat. Usage is lumpy, contracts are priced per gallon, and the billing has to follow the meter rather than the estimate.
How does Neurobird Propane Delivery work?
Every tank is a record
Size, location, regulator, tank monitor reading, last fill and the delivered gallons behind it, held per tank rather than per customer address.
The board builds from degree days
Consumption history and accumulated heating degree days rank which tanks are due, so the route is a filtered list instead of a memory test.
Compliance rides on the asset
External visual and pressure test dates ride with the cargo tank, requalification dates ride with the cylinder, endorsements ride with the driver.
What the numbers say about propane delivery
Useful if you are writing route rules or preparing for a cargo tank inspection. Each source links out.
The periodic test table in 49 CFR 180.407 puts every specification cargo tank other than the vacuum loaded types on a 1 year external visual inspection and a 1 year leakage test, with internal visual and pressure tests on a 5 year interval.
eCFR, 49 CFR 180.407Table 1 to 49 CFR 180.209(a) sets requalification periods of 5, 7, 10 or 12 years for DOT 4B, 4BA, 4BW and 4E cylinders, depending on the requalification method and whether the service is corrosive.
eCFR, 49 CFR 180.209Table H-23 of the OSHA LP gas standard scales minimum separation distance with container water capacity, from 10 feet at 125 to 250 gallons up to 50 feet once a container holds 2,001 to 30,000 gallons.
OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.110The federal Winter Fuels Outlook put average household propane expenditure across November through March of the 2025 to 2026 winter at $1,286, a figure that moves with degree days rather than with anything a dispatcher controls.
EIA, Winter Fuels OutlookThat same outlook put the United States average at 3,140 heating degree days for the winter, which is the raw input every K factor forecast is built on.
EIA, Winter Fuels OutlookPropane delivery software questions, answered
Key terms
- What is a propane K factor?
- The K factor is the number of heating degree days a tank consumes per gallon of propane. It is derived from the last delivery, the gallons that went in and the degree days accumulated in between, and it is what turns a wall map into a forecast. Keep it per tank, because two houses on the same street rarely share one.
- What are the inspection intervals for a propane bobtail?
- Under the periodic test table in 49 CFR 180.407, an MC 331 cargo tank is due an external visual inspection and a leakage test every year, with internal visual and pressure tests on a 5 year interval. Certain small dedicated propane MC 331 tanks sit on a 10 year interval instead.
How often do propane cylinders have to be requalified?
Table 1 to 49 CFR 180.209(a) gives DOT 4B, 4BA, 4BW and 4E cylinders requalification periods of 5, 7, 10 or 12 years, depending on the method used and the service. The date is stamped on the collar, which is why a rack count is not the same thing as a compliant rack.
Does it do the invoicing?
It closes the delivery ticket with metered gallons, the price basis and the driver's checks, then hands that across to whatever you bill from. Replacing your accounting system is not the job.
Will the driver app work without signal?
Yes. The app holds the day's stops and captures the ticket offline, then reconciles when it finds a connection. Half of a rural route has no bars and pretending otherwise wastes the driver's evening.
Where does OSHA end and DOT begin?
OSHA's 29 CFR 1910.110 governs storage and handling of LP gas at the site, including separation distances and odorization. The 49 CFR rules govern the container and the vehicle in transport. A propane retailer lives under both at once.
Why we are building this
Propane retail is three businesses in one truck. It is a forecasting business, because the fill date is a calculation nobody has time to do 400 times. It is a delivery business, because the route decides whether the day pays. And it is a hazmat business, because the paperwork on the vehicle is what keeps it on the road.
Software usually picks one of the three. Route optimisers do not know what a K factor is. Compliance systems do not know what a will call is. So the dispatcher holds all three in their head, and the business runs on one person not taking holiday.
We would rather build this with people who dispatch bobtails than with people who read the regulation. Tell us how your board gets built, and where we have got it wrong.
Where the requirement comes from
The federal rules a propane retailer is inspected against.
- 29 CFR 1910.110, LP gas storage and handling OSHA's liquefied petroleum gas standard: container separation distances in Table H-23, odorization, filling density and site rules.
- 49 CFR 180.407, cargo tank test and inspection The periodic test and inspection table for specification cargo tanks, including the MC 331 bobtails and transports that carry propane.
- 49 CFR 180.209, cylinder requalification Table 1 gives the requalification period for each cylinder specification, including the DOT 4B, 4BA, 4BW and 4E cylinders used for propane.
- 49 CFR Part 172, hazmat communication Shipping papers, marking, labelling, placarding and emergency response information for hazardous materials in transport.
- PHMSA hazardous materials registration Who has to register with PHMSA to offer or transport hazardous materials, and how the annual registration works.
- EIA Winter Fuels Outlook The federal forecast of household heating expenditure and heating degree days, updated through the winter.
How much does Neurobird Propane Delivery cost?
Priced per depot because routes, trucks and inspection calendars are depot level things. Tanks, drivers and tickets are unlimited on every tier.
- Tank records and K factors
- Degree day forecast list
- Route board
- Metered delivery tickets
- Email support
- Everything in Single depot
- Driver app with offline capture
- Will call insertion
- Cargo tank test calendar
- Named contact
- Everything in Fleet
- Cylinder requalification tracking
- Tank monitor feeds
- Cross depot reporting
- Onboarding included
Get free early access
If you run propane delivery, tell us where the forecast still lives and what a run out costs you in a cold week.
Straight answer on where this is: In development. Early access gets the working preview, a say in what ships first, and early access pricing. It does not get you a login today.
Prefer email? Write to office@neurobird.com and a person will reply. No autoresponder.