Why aren't electric water heaters more popular?

[Aplam]

Both my fiance and I live in apartment buildings (me in the State, my fiance in Canada) and while we've each lived in several apartment buildings, neither of us has lived in one that has an electric water heater (which became a problem today when I showered at my fiance's apartment and his much smaller gas water heater than mine ran out of hot water pretty quick... his neighbors weren't happy and I free netflix netflix free trial upcoming movies was left freezing). Electric heaters, especially in larger buildings, seem like such a smarter way to go since they can heat an infinite amount of water as needed rather than storing a pre-determined amount of hot water before you're stuck in a shower waiting for it to refill. Plus I would think that running on electric would be cheaper than running on gas, especially since some gas heaters still need electricity to stay on. And, come to think of it, not that many homeowners really invest in electric heaters either. So why aren't they more popular than they are?

 

[Trump the Plumber]

I also am from New York, and electric is the best, I mean the very best. Why use gas to heat water when you can plug your water heater into a toaster outlet. I remember my mother cooking with gas, and thought, that's just not very nice. Electric burners are very nice. Did I say nice? The sun uses electricity too. It must, because when I'm in a tanning booth, it also gives me a tan, and it's electric.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Dana]

Both my fiance and I live in apartment buildings (me in the State, my fiance in Canada) and while we've each lived in several apartment buildings, neither of us has lived in one that has an electric water heater (which became a problem today when I showered at my fiance's apartment and his much smaller gas water heater than mine ran out of hot water pretty quick... his neighbors weren't happy and I was left freezing). Electric heaters, especially in larger buildings, seem like such a smarter way to go since they can heat an infinite amount of water as needed rather than storing a pre-determined amount of hot water before you're stuck in a shower waiting for it to refill. Plus I would think that running on electric would be cheaper than running on gas, especially since some gas heaters still need electricity to stay on. And, come to think of it, not that many homeowners really invest in electric heaters either. So why aren't they more popular than they are?

There are a couple of 180-degree wrong misconceptions going on here.

1>The rate at which heat goes into the average electric water heater is SUBSTANTIALLY higher than with a gas fired water heater. A typical water heater is delivering heat a 4500 watts, which equal to 15,354 BTU/hour. A BTU is the amount of heat it takes to heat a pound of water 1 degree F. At 8.34 lbs/gallon a 50 gallon electric tank has 417lbs of water in it, and to raise it from 40F (wintertime incoming temp in NYC) to 105F (typical showerhead temp), a 65F difference, takes 65F x 417= 27, 105 BTU. At 15,354 BTU/hr that takes nearly 2 hours, if starting from 40F.

A typical gas water heater has a 36, 000 BTU/hr burner operating at 80% efficiency, delivering 28,800 BTU/hr, nearly twice the heat rate of a typical electric tank.

At a low flow 2 gallons per minute (1000lbs/hour) rate at a 65F temperature rise it takes a heat rate of 1000lbs x 65F = 65,000 BTU/hr to sustain a shower. So it's the size of the tank, not the size of the heating element or burner that is the limiting factor on showering time.

2>The cost of heat delivered in the form of electricity in most markets is typically 2-3x more expensive than natural gas- even more so inexpensive electricity markets like NYC.

The reason electric water heaters aren't more popular than they are is all about the math.

 

[Phog]

This gave me a good chuckle

 

[Jadnashua]

Electric might work out better if you have your own solar array and battery backup storage. Otherwise, in most places, while maybe simpler, to get the same amount of heat into the water, you'll be spending more money. Now, depending on how your electricity is being produced, it might be cleaner, but that isn't a given if yours happens to be made by burning coal.

 

[Dj2]

Natural Gas WHs are more expensive than electric WHs, but they are cheaper to operate. Therefore, when gas is available, most people will choose Nat Gas WHs.
I would and Phog will do too.