Donna Ohl, Grady Volunteer Coordinator wrote:
On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:14:46 -0800, Anthony Matonak wrote:
I'm only one person but I average about 5 therms a month.

Wow. 5 therms a month is extremely low, it seems to me.

The US Department of Energy assumes the "average" houshold uses a bit less
than 1/2 a therm a day *just* for the water heater alone!

That is really low. But how much hot water do you use and how well
insulated is the tank? Also, that average is probably for a 4 person
household.

43,302 kJ/day = 41,045 Btu/day = 0.4105 therm/day

OK. That's about 62 gallons of water raised 80F each day (That's 2 1/2
CCF / month), not including losses. An good insulated blanket will cut
tank thermal losses dramatically for much less cost than a tankless.

That would be 15 therms a month just for hot water for the average
household in America. I wonder if Europe uses the same amount?

Nobody wastes energy like the US.

Jeff

REFERENCES:
Calculating water heater costs for meaningful comparisons
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclo...ater_cost.html
365 × 0.4105/EF × fuel cost (therm) = estimated annual cost of operation

Review of hot water heaters
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/ho...rs/review.html
365 X 0.4105/EF X Fuel Cost (therm) = estimated annual cost of operation