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Which is more economical - electric or natural gas water heater?
Some Guy wrote:
When all taxes and other charges are factored in, I pay: 10.62 cents per kWh for electricity 50.46 cents per cubic meter (1.43 cents per cubic foot) for natural gas. These are in CDN dollars (which is irrelevant since I am quoting both forms of energy with the same currency but in case you're interested the conversion between USA/CAN is about 1.16 CDN per 1 USD). Given the above costs, what will be a more economical hot water heater - electric or gas? (This is assuming I buy a tank, not rent it from my local utility, and this also is just looking at the monthly energy consumption of the tank - not the initial cost to purchase and install). I assume that both types will be equal when it comes to insulation (or rate of heat loss) but perhaps not identical when it comes to potential for problems (since a gas heater needs a void or space running through the center, which means it has a more complex contruction, as a pressure-vessel there are more seams that can ruputure or leak). I notice that new electric hot water tanks are almost half the cost of a similar-sized NG tank (ie advantage=electric on initial purchase price). An electric tank is also more "controllable" - I can more easily control it in terms of powering it for time-of-day and day-of-week operation. So I think conceptually that electric hot water tanks are a better way to go. But for long-term energy usage assuming the costs quoted above (or more importantly their ratio) holds into the future - which type will be cheaper to run? Your electric utility uses natural gas to generate electricty then charges you for the privilege. If you had to buy your NG at the green-grocer and bring it home in a paper bag, NG would STILL be cheaper at heating water. |
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