Ok, from what I have researched, electric water heaters (traditional tank style) are always more efficient than the gas counterpart. Looking up energy factor, the metric for looking at efficiency, it seems that a common average for gas is .58, where as an electric tank of the same size may be .92. So, electric is more efficient.
You also have to look at cost though, and it sounds like historically, it is cheaper to use a gas water heater, vs an electric, since the cost of gas is cheaper than the cost of electricity. Another thing to look at though, is the cost of an electric water heater is less than a gas one.
So, does anyone have any experience with both, and have a preference? I currently have a gas style, but it would be nice to go electric for a few reasons, including it would be more efficient, as well as I wouldn’t need a vent, so I can easily move the tank to a more convenient location in the basement.
Everything I’ve been told about heating anything (water, air, clothes etc) has said you save money using natural gas over electricity.
Beck… Any issues with your tankless and large demands for hot during the really cold winter months when our incoming water temps are really cold? And do you have any non-low flow shower heads?
Same question as JayS…do you ever have a shortage of hot water?
Can you do a load of wash, run the dishwasher, let the Mrs. take a shower, and then you hop in after but still get a shower that could peel paint off the walls?
I am always waiting about 20 minutes after to take a hot shower just to be on the safe side.
When going tankless if its a larger unit go gas, leave the electric ones to if you only have a few sinks in a barn or something similar…the gas ones will be more efficient. With tankless you wont run out of hot water, however you will have a small delay to receive hot water as compared to a tank type. Having a good return loop will help this out. Keep in mind that many of these high effiecency units do need to be direct vent and cannot be a shared vent with outher systems such as a boiler if you have radiator heat, regardless of what the manufacture says you may run into waarrenty issues.
I am not planning on going tankless, I think I want to stick with the traditional tank style. Just debating on gas or electric, as per the first post :tup:
The thing that concerned me about going tankless is that I like a real shower. Aka, I ripped out the US mandated 2.5 GPM head and put in a 6 GPM one. It’s like standing under Niagara Falls. Well, not really, but compared to a US spec 2.5 GPM shower it’s amazing. Back when tankless heaters were new a friend with a similar shower setup installed one and had issues with the heater keeping up to demand in the middle of winter when the incoming water temps were so cold. Sounds like you can size them now so this isn’t an issue, which means I’ll really give it some thought when my current heater dies. Currently the wife and I can’t take back to back showers without the tanked heater running out of hot.
Please do start with any “oh the humanity, you’re wasting so much water” crap either. This isn’t Las Vegas… ECWA pumps my water straight out of Lake Erie and when I’m done with it Amherst gives it a little scrubbing and dumps it right back in Ellicott Creek. I also don’t care about how much extra it’s costing me in natural gas because sometimes little things that make your life better are worth the money. When ever I travel one of the things I really look forward to is that first shower at home under my torrential downpour shower.
None. I have it at the coldest setting and it will still scortch my hot little tush all the while running the washing machine and dish washer. I believe my shower head is ~4-5 GPM.
I have a gas unit and it has it own seperate dump out the back of the house. It takes maybe 30 seconds to get my shower water really really hot, mind you it’s flowing 3 floors upward, so I don’t complain. I just run the shower and then brush my teeth while I wait. The fact that I can fill up my 70 gallon jacuzzi tub and it never gets cold, should say something.
:tup:
As for your question Mark, go with gas. Seems much more logical.
I’m starting to get that. It seems that both gas and electric are really cheap in western NY, compared to the rest of the country, but they still seem to be on target, where gas is cheaper than electric. I like the idea of having the electric unit be more energy efficient, as well as no vent, but I won’t want to offset those luxuries with higher cost, unless it’s negligible.
super efficient…most likely the cheapest operating cost…you can still move it around…or you can vent it depending on if you want to get rid of the ‘cold air’…expensive but still cheaper than most tankless systems
also for all of those concerned with tankless heaters producing enough hot water…as long as you size it correctly to begin with you should never have any problem. i believe even the cheapest ones usually are over 6GPM and if you get a middle of the road one you are somewhere around 10GPM. even most tank water heaters that are decently made have recovery rates that more or less mean you will never run out of hot water. if you have a problem with running out of hot water with back to back showers you have a severely undersized hot water tank.
what kind of heat does your house have? if you really want to get efficient you could piggie back the hot water off of the boiler if you have baseboard or the heat pump if you have one…although i doubt it if gas is available
Generally only people without natural gas in their area have an electric.
is yours vented outside or into your furnace? i don’t see how it can be made more convenient considering you would have to rerun water lines also… do you plan on moving your furnace too if it is vented that way lol?
So crunching the numbers, with current pricing, and the estimated usage, it’s $54 a year for gas vs. $170 a year electric. So… That’s an easy decision! I just had to find the right numbers I guess.
