Electric vs. Gas-Powered Conventional Storage Water Heaters

One of the most important plumbing decisions for the typical homeowner is the best water heater to buy and install at home. There are very many types and brands of water heaters in the market today. This means that this decision is not that easy to make. You have to consider several important factors before picking the right water heater for your home. For starters, you have to consider your homestead’s water consumption needs in order to determine the right size of your water heater. You should also consider the best functional design of your water heater.

There are several types of water heaters by functional design including the conventional storage water heater, the tankless water heater, and the hybrid heat pump water heater. You should also consider the efficiency of any water heater before purchase. And you should also compare the purchase and installation costs versus the operating costs of various water heaters before making the purchase decision.

Lastly, you have to consider the type of fuel that a water heater uses and its availability in your house or even in your locality. Most water heaters use gas or electricity. And because conventional storage water heaters are still the most popular water heaters in residential plumbing throughout the United States, today we are going to compare electric and gas-powered conventional storage water heaters.

Efficiency

As mentioned above, one of the most important factors to consider when choosing a new water heater is efficiency. At the most basic level, the efficiency of a water heater is determined by its functional design. That is why tankless water heaters are far more efficient than conventional storage water heaters. All water heaters that come with a hot water storage tank are highly inefficient. But because we are looking at differences in the fuel type, we will ignore the fact that both water heaters are highly inefficient. Typically, electric conventional storage water heaters are more efficient than gas-powered water heaters. The main reason for this is because gas-powered water heaters keep the water hot at all times. And while this is highly convenient to the user, it’s also highly inefficient because it means that the hot water keeps losing heat energy at all times. But modern conventional storage water heaters feature highly insulated hot water tanks to reduce standby heat loss.

Performance

In order to compare the performance of any type of storage tank water heater, you have to consider the recovery rate of that water heater. This is the amount of time it takes for the tank to reheat after all the hot water is used up. Gas heats up faster than electricity. This means that the recovery rate of a gas-powered water heater is much faster than an electric water heater. If you need a lot of hot water urgently in your house, the gas-powered conventional storage water heater is perfect for you.

Purchase And Installation Costs

The price of both electric and gas-powered conventional storage water heaters is almost the same. But electric water heaters can be a little bit more expensive than gas-powered water heaters. You also have to take into consideration the availability of the fuel. Connection fees can be quite hefty.

Operating Costs

Gas is far much cheaper than electricity. This means that a gas-powered conventional storage water heater is cheaper to operate than an electric model. Both water heaters have minimal maintenance costs. You will spend the same on Cincinnati plumbing services when using either of these water heaters.