Any suggestions? 15+ yr old electric 80gal water tank in uninsulated dirt floor basement in Ohio.
Looking at recovery period, energy factors, etc. between gas and electric. Of course, prices of both fluctuate depending upon the times.
However, is one consistently cheaper then the other? Gas heats faster so you need a smaller tank, electric ones i've seen have higher energy factors (.95 compared to .62 of gas) and are more insulated.
Thanks!
p.s. I've tried to do the math... does anyone know when they list the specs, the "Input BTU/Hr" or ""Input Watts", if that is how much energy its needed 24/7? or is that just getting the water up to the standard output of 90'?
I've tried using for electric the "Output: 3800 watts" times 24hrs (91,200 watts) divded by 1000 watts per kWh (91 kwh) times $0.07 and come up with $6.37 a day, or 2,325 a year. Does that seem a little high?
My math with BTUs must be waaay off. For "Input 40,000 BTU" I multiplied by 24hrs iand got 960,000 BTUs - divided by 91,000 BTUs per 1 gallon propane comes out to 10.55 gallons. This multiplied by $2.65 gallon is $27.96 day. Seems very wrong since our propane supplier says they estimate between 20 - 25 gallons of propane used per month.
So, how does one really do the math to see which is cheaper?
I like this one although it's for heating fuel comparisons, it is an excel spreadsheet that you can change the variable - to find what the water heater comparisons will be, just adjust the effiencies for electic or gas water heaters (95% for electric and 65% for gas is a fair estimate)
