Gas v. Electric hot water heater

S

Shann

Joined
Sep 2, 2004
Messages
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My Mom is on a very limited income. Her hot water heater died and she needs a new one. She currently has a propane fired heater. The gas man suggested she look at either electric or propane.

I run my hot water heater off of my oil burner so I don't have any real idea what is better. Propane is awfully high right now, but electricity of course isn't any bargain either.

She lives alone, limited hot water use, but obviously needs something. She is looking for something economical.

What is the opinion of the forum regarding which is cheaper to install, run and maintain.
 
If she doesn't need much hot water I would go electric. It sucks for our needs though. Small child, pregnant wife, and myself...seems like we are always running out of hot water. Not to mention we only get about 5 mins of usuable hot water till it starts getting cold.
 
the tankless hot waters are nice (in lawas have one) but for limited hot water use it would take awhile to recoup the savings from the installation, because they aren't cheap to put in.
 
You can get a gas or electric instant hot , which heats the water as you use it ! Very efficient because your not paying to keep the water hot 24/7!!
 
Shann said:
My Mom is on a very limited income. Her hot water heater died and she needs a new one. She currently has a propane fired heater. The gas man suggested she look at either electric or propane.

I run my hot water heater off of my oil burner so I don't have any real idea what is better. Propane is awfully high right now, but electricity of course isn't any bargain either.

She lives alone, limited hot water use, but obviously needs something. She is looking for something economical.

What is the opinion of the forum regarding which is cheaper to install, run and maintain.
Click to expand...

You might want to look into a a "weatherization" program for your state, they'll replace water heaters and furnaces that are dead or old as well as insulate houses as well as replace light bulbs with CFLs and such.

The catch is that theres a waiting list for it, and the furnace/water heater needs to either be dead or dieing (or in the case of the water heater be old/dangerous/inefficient. However once you get on the list if your furnace dies you can call in and you get bumped slightly up the list.

You can read up on it here some: http://dcf.vermont.gov/oeo/weatherization
 
if the old one is propane, it's cheaper to stick with that.
while a 40 gallon electric heater generally costs less than a 40 gallon NG/LP model, switching to electric means running a new circuit, which may also require a new sub-panel or main service depending on age of her house.
the other thing is, in a power outage, she'll still have hot water so long as she has water if it's a pilot light heater. (as opposed to high effficiency pilotless heaters)
 
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