Two electric home water heaters cheaper than a single gas one?

[UncleDave]

I'd try to find a way to keep it on gas for run costs and the ability to run the house from a genset in a power outage situation.

A slightly bigger tank and a circuit for a low speed recirc pump would be sweet.

 

[Donald]

No, I get it. I was just saying, a lot of times I have the opposite problem.

I think a hybrid water heater is a great solution if you have the right spot. Mine is in unheated attached garage and I do not think it will get too cold in the winter. Dehumidification in garage is a side benefit that may not help a lot. Especially when one opens the garage door.

 

[Donald]

So what is the standard builder construction? 2x4 or 2x6? Fiberglass or spray foam or both? Building wrap or zip board? I see most houses in developments (Delaware) being built with building wrap which from my reading is an old way of building a house.

 

[Sumboodie]

After 10 years with an instant hot water heater (mine is gas), I could not imagine owning a house with a water heater that keeps water in a tank.

I'm not a fan of mine. Takes way too long for hot water, and have to leave water running or get a slug if cold and another 45 seconds till it's hot.
Cold water here is around 38*

 

[Sumboodie]

4000 Sq Ft house?! They have 15 kids?!

 

[Donald]

I'm not a fan of mine. Takes way too long for hot water, and have to leave water running or get a slug if cold and another 45 seconds till it's hot.
Cold water here is around 38*

That seems really cold for cold water. We have a well and tanks are in crawl space. So not anywhere close to being that cold.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I'm not a fan of mine. Takes way too long for hot water, and have to leave water running or get a slug if cold and another 45 seconds till it's hot.
Cold water here is around 38*

The heater itself for nat gas at least takes about 10 seconds to start making hot water. The rest of the time is clearing the pipes, which would be the same for a regular hot water heater.

 

[Quattro Pete]

You said it’s $1200 extra to install the 2nd one so until you know the cost to install the first one and the cost to install a gas one you can’t know.

The first electric one is included in the build. And it would be $1,900 extra to change it to a single gas one. Alternatively, for $1,200 I could add a second electric one to the first electric one.

 

[Donald]

The first electric one is included in the build. And it would be $1,900 extra to change it to a single gas one. Alternatively, for $1,200 I could add a second electric one to the first electric one.

I have no real comment except more expensive that it should be. But I guess builder has a profit baked into everything..

Depending upon the location of the water heater (would it be in a heated space) you could get a heat pump and run it on the coils in the cold months and heat pump in the summer months.

 

[Quattro Pete]

So far I'm inclined to just upgrade to the gas water heater. Looks like the gas water heater would pay for itself within 3 years or so...

 

[KevinMalone]

Gas seems like a no brainer at those numbers, even at the inflated installation price. Do you know which model gas tank would be used? Some power vented units have even higher UEFs, which would decrease the payback period further.