Water heaters electric or gas?

I get this question alot, should I go with a gas unit or electric water heater. I always tell them it's a matter of preference and try to get them to stay with what they have presently.
Which one is the most economical now? Natural gas is steady going up in my area.

Just replacing whatever is already there is certainly logical, but I like keeping all the heat inside the house rather than sending it up a chimney. Also, the next water heater I buy is going to have an auxillary fluid-fluid heat exchanger on the inside so we can heat water from any of several possible sources.

Depends very much where you live. You need to do an energy comparison. Gas can heat the water faster. Electric is as close to 100% efficient as you can get. Gas has a flue going up the middle which isn't insulated (otherwise you'd get no heat into the thing). Electric components may be easier to repair. If your power panel is marginal, you may need to upgrade to support an electric heater. In many places, gas is less expensive, but not all.

look at the energy ratings

I tell people to go to the hardware stores
and simply look at the energy rateings on
both the gas and electric heaters.....

usually the average cost to heat a gas heater
is about $195 per year

the electric says about $475

at least that is what is says on
the yellow energy rating tag...

Those labels are based on national average energy costs...some places, electricity is dirt cheap (not where I live). You need to run those numbers by your local costs. Gas almost always comes out cheaper, but not always.

jadnashua said:

Those labels are based on national average energy costs...some places, electricity is dirt cheap (not where I live). You need to run those numbers by your local costs. Gas almost always comes out cheaper, but not always.

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I believe it truly depends on the area where you live. Like Jadnashua says, costs vary wildly. Out here in the pacific northwest, our customers get twice as much hot for half the cost by switching from electric to natural gas. Propane and electricity seem to be about the same. Standard gas tank heaters will produce twice the gallons per hour, so that is important for many. We don't do many gas to electric conversions. We do many "electric to gas" though.

I just did a tankless for a propane customer yesterday, he told me his last purchase was nearly 3.00 a gallon. I don't know how that compares to natural gas (in quantity), but our customers who use propane are some of our happiest tankless customers.

Most people who ask me the question have electric and want to switch to gas.

In most cases the switch is just cost prohibitive because of gas and / or flue piping costs.

wh

Most of the time gas is much cheaper, unless you live in the TVA area where it is heavily subsidized. Some people are just uncomfortable with gas because if its explosive nature if there is a leak, carbon monoxide, etc. and just want to go with electric, regardless of the costs.