Nope, heat is heat. If the water tank is being heated by gas or the air is
heated by gas, it still takes 1 btu to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree F.
Now, if you do the science MAYBE it might come out to $10 a year if you have
a 90% furnace, but I doubt even that.

Call the electric company, they may have a special rate for electric hot
water heating which may be cheaper than using gas. In our area gas is now
more expensive to heat a home even with a 90% gas furnace verses a heat pump
and all electric home.


"Fred" wrote in message
oups.com...

I currently have a 50 gallon gas water heater that is being used. I
also have a new electric 50 gallon water heater still in the box. I'm
wondering if it would be worthwhile to connect the electric water
heater in series before my existing gas water heater to use strictly as
a storage tank that will allow the water to come to room temperature
before going into the gas water heater. I wouldn't even connect the
electric water heater to power.

I live in Colorado, so the cold water supply into the water heater is
very cold ... even in the summer time. I'm wondering if a significant
amount of the water going into the gas water heater has had a chance to
warm to room temperature (or close to it) before being heated, will I
see any significnat savings on my gas bill?

Questions:

1. Would this work? If I don't have power to the electric water
heater, will water go from it to the gas water heater? Does water move
to and from water heaters just from water pressure, or is there
something else involved?

2. If this would work, am I likely to realize any cost savings versus
what it's going to cost me (plumbing, may do it myself) to put in the
electric heater?

3. If I'm only using the electric water heater as a storage tank, is
there any other reason to run power to it that would justify the cost
of running a circuit into my utility room? I don't think replacing my
gas heater with the electric will save me enough to justify the costs
of installing it and running power to it, but the jury is still out on
that.

Thanks in advance for any information regarding this. I couldn't find
anything on the internet that says whether this would be a good or bad
idea and why.

Mike