Electric vs Propane Water Heater

[notharry]

Questions: do you have solar? if not propane. I have had store brands last just under and over the warranty. One store brand that is over 23 years old that is still working reliance brand? (The company went out of business = Joke) Some will argue get tha longer warranty brand. 400 for the tank. 800 to have plumber install it. last one i paid 1200 for a rheem pro series 10 year warranty. I years ago, I always did them myself for 300 home depot brand and always replaced the relief. (That device is critical. Never dont change it. a bad relief cans cause the tank to explode under the right conditions.)

The electric company would lease you a tank years ago. some would go that route because they would last forever. Vaugn commercial

Electric is 100% efficient. meaning whats put in comes out. its puting it in thats expensive. nearly Three times more

 

[OVERKILL]

WoW. A lot of extra charges we do not see where I am. How long have you folks had to pay all the extra fees in your gas bills?

It's been getting progressively worse over the last 10 years or so.

 

[Owen Lucas]

In Ohio, our electric and gas utilities are partially deregulated and the utilities have to allow "alternate" suppliers that we are allowed to choose. We only choose the "supplier" and that's the $0.065/KWH rate I referred to. The utility itself still gets to charge a "delivery" fee which we have no control over (and it keeps going up, surprise, surprise).

Are you able to choose a different electric supplier where you are ? The normal utility still owns the power poles or power lines, still are the ones that maintain them, etc, etc.

Ok i called the utility. The actual cost of electricity is .088 but all the taxes, fees, surcharges etc. bring it up to just under .19.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Are gas heaters really this efficient? I thought they were closer to 70%.

The newest tank heaters that use condensing to capture some of the energy from the exhaust heat are 90 % efficient (my bad, I said 95). You are correct that an ordinary tank heater is closer to 70%.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Electric is about is $.20 / kWhr and propane is $2.05 / gal last fill-up.

I find the best way to compare costs is to compare the costs of 1 million BTUs.

One million BTU of electricity is 293.1 kWhr. So if you pay $0.20 per kWhr, you can multiply $0.20 by 293.1 and get $58.62 per million BTU. (I initially made a mistake by plugging in $0.20 CDN instead of $.20 USD into my spreadsheet).

For propane, one million BTU is 10.9 gallons of propane, so you can multiply your costs of $2.05 per gallon by 10.9 to get $22.35 per million BTU. But, if you have an ordinary tank water heater, you have to divide by the efficiency number which is 0.7. Now the costs is $22.35/0.7 = $31.93 per million BTU. Electricity is 100% efficient so it gets divided by 1, which doesn't change anything.

So, we are comparing electricity for $58.62 per million BTU with propane which is $31.93 per million BTU. Electrical power for water heating is 84% more than using propane for water heating. Hope that works.

I have found that the net contains inaccurate data in several sites. I have also found there is a terrible error in the nomenclature used in the USA. For instance, take a look at air conditioner sales. The units are often rated in " BTU". That is absolutely incorrect. The units should be " BTU/hr ". This is laziness on the part of the sales people. Understandable if you saw some weird numbers out there.

 

[Rmay635703]

It's wild isn't it? On a $249 bill, $107.19 of it is tax.

Oh I know the feeling, I’m low use and fixed taxes are most of my bill.

 

[Owen Lucas]

So, we are comparing electricity for $58.62 per million BTU with propane which is $31.93 per million BTU. Electrical power for water heating is 84% more than using propane for water heating. Hope that works.

Thank you, @Snagglefoot ! I did not consider the efficiency factor which adds to the operating costs. Propane is still the way to go for me here and once the winter is over, I expect to have my propane tank, I believe a 500lb unit, to last until next winter.

Now the fun part, getting a 180lb water heater into the basement and lugging that old one out!

 

[Cropduster172]

I wish you the best with that. I replaced one in our beach house 10 years ago...on the second floor. First one I bought was a Sears Kenmore...Sears was in business then. Hauled it up, installed it and it was leaking from the bottom of the tank.
Returned it...rinse and repeat with a Whirlpool from Lowes which has been rock solid. Although, I have replaced the anode rod twice with zinc ones.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Good point about the anode rod, years ago I bought a water heater that had a magnesium rod from the factory. I'll see if I can find one of those again.

 

[Hall]

Now the fun part, getting a 180lb water heater into the basement and lugging that old one out!

Getting them downstairs isn't anywhere as bad as getting the old one out. With the new one, and depending on your stairs, you could (gently) slide it down while still in the box. With our old one, it was so full of scale that it wouldn't drain. Well, it drained so slow that I left it down there for at least a week just trickling water. I know there's tools but I just let it go.... And I STILL injured my shoulder moving it !!

 

[Owen Lucas]

Getting them downstairs isn't anywhere as bad as getting the old one out. With the new one, and depending on your stairs, you could (gently) slide it down while still in the box. With our old one, it was so full of scale that it wouldn't drain.

My thoughts exactly. The boxes are usually pretty sturdy in my experience and they even have reinforced corners, so damage is not likely if one is careful.

Well, it drained so slow that I left it down there for at least a week just trickling water. I know there's tools but I just let it go.... And I STILL injured my shoulder moving it !!

I'm contemplating stripping the unit down to lighten it up and make it less bulky.

 

[Cropduster172]

Good point about the anode rod, years ago I bought a water heater that had a magnesium rod from the factory. I'll see if I can find one of those again.

Amazon has pages of them.