There are many different kinds of pressure switches. This is because there are many different kinds of applications in which the measurement and regulation of pressure is necessary. Consider the following examples. Suppose that you work for a company that sells propane gas to supermarkets and other outlets that vend smaller propane tanks to consumers. Because your company buys and stores propane in very large quantities, your company needs access to storage equipment that can accommodate your stock. The largest propane storage tanks can be tens of feet in length and can store very large quantities of propane. These large storage tanks are equipped with pressure switches and other equipment that helps monitor and regulate the pressure within the tank during filling and emptying. Because there is so much propane stored in such tanks, high pressure gauges and switches generally are necessary for monitoring.

In contrast, the amount of propane stored in consumer propane tanks is quite small, which means that the kinds of heavy duty, high pressure gauges and switches used in the larger storage tanks is not necessary on the smaller tanks. In fact, in many case small, consumer propane tanks aren’t equipped with pressure measurement gauges or regulator switches. However, mid-size, permanent, stationary propane tanks, such as those used to store propane outside of rural homes and places of business, may be equipped with medium duty pressure gauges that indicate to their users when the tanks need to be refilled. Still, compared to the heavy-duty, high pressure switches used in the context of large storage operations, the medium duty gauges on home propane tanks are still quite small.

There are many other situations in which the use of high pressure switches is necessary, such as in the chemical processing industries, research and development and many other contexts.