Weighing up the Pluses and Minuses of Installing an Electric Water Heater
The choice of installing a water heater is one that should not be cast aside without weighing up the pros and cons of the situation. There is no doubting the fact that gas water heaters have a lot of advantages, but it doesn't mean that choosing an electric water heater should be dismissed without taking at least a few factors into account. For small families or single people who are not liable to be expanding their hot water usage in the foreseeable future, electric water heaters may be a very viable consideration.
The reason being that the cost of acquiring an electric heater is considerably less than a gas heater and installation costs are next to nothing. Admittedly the cost of gas is a lot lower than electricity, and people who are in the stage of making a decision which type of water heater they will opt for need to take into account their expected energy use over the long term against the cost of buying and installing a new water heater.
Electric water heaters have not always enjoyed a positive reputation, however in recent years upgrades in their design have made them much more energy efficient, basically, electric water heaters are simple and uncomplicated and not as prone to breakdowns as they once were. Consisting of a glass-lined steel tank and usually encased in some type of insulating material Today's more energy efficient electric heaters are classified by their Energy Factor (EF) ratings. EF ratings are based on the percentage of energy used to heat the water compared to the retained heat of the water over various time scales. Electric water heaters that have an EF of at least 0.95 will be considerably more energy efficient than gas heaters, as they need to burn off a lot of energy sending gas fumes up the chimney.
There is no escaping the fact that electric water heaters enjoy a considerable advantage over gas in that they can be fitted into a much tighter space, as they have no need for flues or any form of exhaust pipe to be rid of these worrisome gas fumes. All that is needed is inlet and outlet water pipes and a source of electricity, and the water will be heating in the tank in minutes.
So when it comes down to choosing which water heater is for you, you should know that the electric heater is putting up a pretty strong case, especially for smaller families whose hot water requirements will be less than that of a large family that uses an awful lot of hot water. The higher cost of electricity will be offset by the lower cost of the heater, as well as its proven reliability over the years.
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