Hot water heaters - which way to go?

[TR Custom Parts]

Got a 50 gal hot water heater that is electric. Always in a debate with my brother in law that this is the reason for my high electric bill every month.

Would it be worth it to switch out to an oil fired hot water heater and get rid of the electric one? With the price of heating oil skyrocketing I don't know if it would be worth it or not.

Don't have natural gas on my street so that isn't an option.

Tankless ones seem to be a good idea but most are gas fired.

 

[turbosam6]

I'd just go with a new electric. Don't go oil, its not worth the hassle. If anything see about setting an LP tank. I highly doubt your water heater is jacking you bill up, they don't use that much power unless you are showering 24/7.

 

[cruzn57]

electric or gas?

Go to home depot, they have a free handout on approx costs of running gas/ electric, rise times, and initial costs.
you will find gas is cheaper to run, but more costly to buy,
in looking---50 gal premium heater, annual cost for gas $146
electric $393, recovery rate for electric is much faster, and initial cost for electric is less, so .........
the choice is yours, you can see it in writing and show bro/ in law
thanks
cruzn57

 

[DAILYFLOGGER]

Good explaination of indirect fired

Mark, This is what I went with although not this brand. Pricey up front but the plumber convinced me it would be worth it over the long haul.

I'd be curious to hear the opinion of others.

 

[Night Train]

I always thought that electric was the slowest recovery. I have oil fired H/W and I can almost never run out of H/W. Also, if oil prices are up, you can count on electricity going up in kind as well. I have a warm air oil fired furnace and separate oil fired H/W in my New England home. My cost for oil last year was about $840 and it was our coldest winter on record. House is 2-story and about 2500 sq/ft.

 

[CHARGED]

If you don't have an oil tank or chimney for the flue then go with the electric as it will be much much cheaper to do and less of a hassle. If you have both it will still be much more expensive but cheaper and better in the long run.
I have oil heat and water and would never go to electric, I could take an hour long shower and never run out of hot water, infact I would have to keep turning the hot water down because it makes it so fast and hot even when its set on the lowest temp setting.
You would probably be looking at atleast 1k for a complete setup if you put it in and unfortunetly oil prices suck right now but I'm filled up

 

[jastrckl]

hot water doesn't need heating.

 

[BandAid]

http://www.designerplumbing.com/Mer...gory_Code=Tankless_Electric_Hot_Water_Heaters

I like the AE115,dont own it but seen it in action...nice..

 

[BandAid]

www.designerplumbing.com/Merchant2/...gory_Code=Tankless_Electric_Hot_Water_Heaters

 

[Mac in SD]

We have a tankless electric, and generally like it a lot. The only problem we've had is it seems like one coil burns out every six months or so. Replacements are free, and they're easy enough to change, but it's still a bit of a PITA. On the other hand, it's a few years old, and I would guess that they've improved the design somewhat. Advice: go with the largest one (three elements). The two-element model works fine, but you can't run, say, 2 showers and the washing machine at the same time and still get real hot water. Bosch bought out the manufacturer of our model - check their website.
One more thing, you need a heck of a circuit for these. Ours called for 4 40 amp breakers. When it's on, you can get a real nice breeze off the meter wheel. But overall, you use a lot less power for your hot water. Really.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Only have a 100 amp service in the house so a tankless heater is not an option for me. We have oil fired forced hot air for a furnace so adding an oil hot water tank wouldn't be that big a deal.

According to the energy scale on my present elec hw heater it is rated towards the least efficient side of the scale.

 

[CHARGED]

Easy then, tee into the oil line and flue, hook up water lines and electric and your done
I would say my water heater uses about a half a tank 150 gal(+- 25gal) of oil a year, so if oil is 1.80 gal?? $270.00 yr for hot water.

One thing that was expensive was my old tank got a hole in it after about 9yrs and was $650 for just the tank no oil burner,controls ect. just took everything off the old one and works fine.
A little bit of an initial investment but pays off IMO.