It requires 1 btu to heat 1 lb of water 1 degree F. 600 gallons of water weighs 5000 lbs, therefore 5000 btus are required to raise the temperature of the tank 1 degree. For example if the water comes out of your well at 50 degrees, to heat the tank to 75 degrees would require 125,000 btus (5000 x 25).
If electricity is available, 1000 watts for 1 hour is 3410 btus. A stock tank heater is typically 1500 watts and would require 24.4 hours [125,000 / (1.5 x 3410)] to heat the tank from 50 to 75 degrees. This assumes no heat loss so you would want to up size the heater (use two stock tank heaters) to account for a cold windy day. Also keeping the tank covered until use would reduce the heat loss.
If electricity is not available, propane contains approximately 90,000 btu per gallon. Assuming a heater efficiency of 70% approximately 2 gallons [125,000 / (90,000 x 0.7)] of propane are required to deliver the 125,000 btus to the water. If the propane heater is rated at 10,000 btu/hr it would require 12.5 hours (125,000 / 10,000) to heat the water to 75 degrees, again assuming no heat loss. A standard 20 lb propane cylinder contains a little less than 5 gallons of propane. Again I would keep the tank covered to prevent/minimize heat loss.
Hopefully this helps in selecting or fabricating your heater.
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Today's Featured Article - The Day Mom Drove the 8N - by Brian Browning. My Dad was wanting to put in a garden but couldn't operate the 8N and handle the old horse drawn plow he had found and rigged up to use with the tractor. Well, he decided to go get Mom out of the house and have her drive the tractor while he walked behind the plow. You got to understand that while my Mom is a hard worker who will always help whenever she can... she had never operated farm machinery before that day. Dad got her out there, explained how the clutch was the same as in our o
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