If you're thinking about buying a new water heater, you may be wondering
whether to get one that is gas-fueled or one that is electric. Natural gas
fuels more than half of all water heaters; electricity heats most of the
remainder. A small percentage of water heaters burn propane (LP), oil, or
kerosene. And some use wood heat or solar collectors to heat water.
If natural gas is available, your next water heater should be gas fueled.
Electricity is the fuel of choice only where it is the only option--or where
it is impossible to run a flue out the roof to carry the water heater's
combustion emissions. Gas is both cheaper and much faster at heating a tankful
of water. So are propane, kerosene, and oil, but they're less convenient
because they must be delivered (not piped) to a house.
A 1991 study by the Department of Energy (DOE) rated residential energy
sources by the average dollar cost per million Btus of heat they produce.
Natural gas was found to be $6.05; heating oil $9.30; propane $9.74; and
electricity a whopping $24.15. Obviously, these amounts vary with local
energy prices and do change over time, but in the relative world of energy,
natural gas is by far the cheapest, most convenient fuel for water heaters.
If you have an electric water heater and want to take advantage of the economy
of natural gas or propane, check out Gas-Fired Products' Seahorse®.
With this innovative system, the electric heating element is removed from
the existing water heater, turning the heater into a storage tank. A new
gas-fired heating unit is mounted on an outside wall, where it doesn't require
a vent, and it's linked to the existing tank with two 3/4-inch water lines.
Gas is piped directly to the new heating unit. The new system has three
times the heating capacity of a standard electric water heater.
--Don Vandervort
