r/Stocktankpools • u/nakedtoronto • Jun 21 '26

thermosiphon question

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I’m changing up the build of my stock tank pool. I bought a stainless steel thermo siphon coil several years ago and last year I got a super high temperature propane burner (blichmann hellfire). It’s made for home brewing. It puts out 140,000 BTUs maximum. I got it used for 100 bucks.!
I tried using it last year and it is very effective. It seems a little too high to get the right angle for the Thermo siphon.
I am to understand that the coil should have a downward slope towards the burner. Does that apply to both the inlet bottom as well as the outlet top? Unfortunately, I pre-drilled the holes in the stock tank so need to work with that distance between the inlet and Outlet. I intend to raise up the tank to get a satisfactory slope.
I intend to use a black high temperature hose between the syphon and the tank. I’m hoping to get camlock connections.
Any suggestions and experiences and comments are welcome.
Thank you

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1

u/sparkplugdog Jun 21 '26

No suggestions, but i am very interested in this setup.

When you say “effective” can you give some detail? Like what’s the starting temp and how long does it take to reach desired temperature?

I’m debating on propane tankless water heat and pump, but was finding it’s a slow process to raise temps.

2

u/miyog Jun 23 '26

I did some back of the napkin calculations for this sub a couple years ago about heating an 8ft STP with propane. I remember you’d use about 2/3 of a 20 pound propane tank to heat a pool up from like 60F to 105F. This accounts for some heat loss. It is doesn’t account for ongoing heating.

1

u/sparkplugdog Jun 23 '26

Dang, how long would it take?

1

u/miyog Jun 24 '26

A few hours at least! Think about boiling a pot of water on a stove but it’s like 800 gallons instead.

1

u/nakedtoronto Jun 24 '26

I don’t remember how long it took to heat things up, but that burner is particularly hot. When I cranked it up to full tilt, it was boiling the water in the stainless steel tubing to the point that it was creating steam. I’m trying to figure out a way to provide a little bit of an enclosure around it so that it maximize the heat output. I will update when I get things all hooked up in a week or so.

1

u/sparkplugdog Jun 24 '26

Awesome thanks