I am building a home and am deciding on the hot water source. Our home will
most likely be all electric. I was pretty fixed on a tankless water heater
(electric) but a friend has two newer and efficient tank heaters with a
timer to allow heating only at night when electric rates are much cheaper.
So now I am no so sure. Any wisdom that could be spared is welcome.

Keith

"Hobbs Family" wrote in message
...
I am building a home and am deciding on the hot water source. Our home will
most likely be all electric. I was pretty fixed on a tankless water heater
(electric) but a friend has two newer and efficient tank heaters with a
timer to allow heating only at night when electric rates are much cheaper.
So now I am no so sure. Any wisdom that could be spared is welcome.

Consider solar also.

On Sun, 7 May 2006 20:48:29 -0600, "Hobbs Family"
wrote:
I am building a home and am deciding on the hot water source. Our home will
most likely be all electric

It depends upon the electrical and gas costs for your area... For most
people, gas is cheaper... If you want to have an outdoor gas grill,
it's nice to have natural gas available and not have to resort to 20
lb tanks of LPG... Personally, I would suggest that if gas is
available, have it installed... I prefer a gas range to an electric
one... My current house has a gas range, but an electric oven... Good
enough, I guess since it only gets used for making garlic toast and
the occasional batch of frozen chocolate chip cookies... One major
advantage of gas is that during periods of severe storms, it is
significantly more likely to stay on than electricity... Being located
on the Gulf Coast, that's a significant concern for me...

Hobbs Family wrote:

... a friend has two newer and efficient tank heaters with a timer to allow
heating only at night when electric rates are much cheaper.

The timer is a good idea. Solar water heating is better.

Nick

I was pretty fixed on a tankless water heater
(electric)

Does such a thing even exist for a whole house? It would take one hell
of a lot of current to heat water instantly to supply anywhere near the
simultaneous worse case demands of a house. Also, it was indicated
that the electric rates are cheaper for off peak water heating.
Usually they are significantly less and that is likely the deciding
factor which would make an electric tank type the best choice.

Tankless are the most efficient, you only heat what you use, but why
electric, electric for most of the US is still 50% more then Ng.