Should I get an electric water heater?

[Jukeboxfun]

I have an oil fired hot water furnace. This also heats the hot water for the house. The last 2-3 years I have been primarily been heating the house with my wood stove. Would it make sense to put in an electric water heater rather than use oil to heat the water for every day use?

 

[juddspaintballs]

It depends. Is your oil fired water heater on it's last legs or is it still in good shape? How much would it cost you daily to burn oil to heat your domestic water versus how much would the electric cost you? If your oil water heater is still in good shape and will last you for a few years, you probably won't save any money on switching to electric even if the cost of operation is less with electric.

 

[Jukeboxfun]

It depends. Is your oil fired water heater on it's last legs or is it still in good shape? How much would it cost you daily to burn oil to heat your domestic water versus how much would the electric cost you? If your oil water heater is still in good shape and will last you for a few years, you probably won't save any money on switching to electric even if the cost of operation is less with electric.

My burner is old but in good working condition. I don't know the cost difference between using oil or electric. I was just thinking that in warm winter months I wouldn't use any oil, just electric to have hot water.

 

[ewdudley]

I have an oil fired hot water furnace. This also heats the hot water for the house. The last 2-3 years I have been primarily been heating the house with my wood stove. Would it make sense to put in an electric water heater rather than use oil to heat the water for every day use?

This topic has been discussed often and there's no clear answer until you can quantify the key parameters of your situation.

For me it paid off over time, saving $30 to $40 per month in $3.00 oil and costing net $15 to $20 more in electricity. The oil boiler was in pretty good shape and had an automatic flue damper, but even so just sitting there hot all the time and short-cycling all summer is a big waste. When oil was $1.50 a gallon I liked keeping the boiler on-line, hot, and dry all year, and it made more sense to me.

Also you might want to measure the electricity used by the boiler itself and throw that into the equation, it's not insignificant.

Then again we normally heat water for a frugal household of two. If you're using a lot of hot water that can definitely help favor the boiler solution.

One thing that I always wanted to try before we got the wood boiler was to set up a tempering tank behind the wood stove, which would help with hot water costs even in the summer by bringing makeup water up to room temperature at least. But I never came up with a corrosion resistant solution that would fit in without being too unattractive.

--ewd

 

[jebatty]

If you decide to go electric, I strongly recommend adding extra insulation (6" fiberglass top, sides and bottom; build wood base so you can insulate the bottom), adding heat traps on the cold and hot water lines and not relying on the built-in traps, and insulating all hot water pipes you can. We did this and cut our hot water electric bill in half. For another frugal household of two, and a non-peak rate cut on electricity, our monthly electric bill for DHW is $4-5/month.

 

[DBoon]

There have been a lot of posts on this topic - I would search around and take a look at the other posts. They contain a lot of good information.

In general, with oil above $3/gal, electric makes a lot of sense regardless of how much water you use unless your electric rates are really high. For instance, oil (with 140,000 BTUs per gallon) used at 65% efficiency (generous in the summertime, and probably generous in the winter also, depending on the boiler you have) and costing $3.50/gal will provide 26,000 BTUs/$. Electricity (at 3413 BTUs/kWh) and used at 100% efficiency and costs 12 cents/kWh will deliver 28,441 BTUs/$.

If you use a lot of hot water, then you can go with a heat pump water heater and up the electric efficiency by a factor of two or more and get a drier, cooler basement in the summertime as well.

As Jebatty indicates, getting a good tank and insulating it well is key. I have a Marathon tank with very good insulation. Or, you can get a less expensive tank and insulate it better yourself.

 

[Duetech]

If your older unit was a higher efficiency model it is really debatable from the quick cost recovery angle. I have an old propane water heater and it is definitely worth the change. Operationally there is an exhaust hole that your unit uses to heat the water and as soon as the fire goes out that same hole starts using thermal induction to remove the heat from the heated water. Certain days, when the fire is out and with the wind just right you should be able to feel the draft going up the chimney. That draft is sucking heat right out of your water. If you can get an electric wired in it would begin paying in fewer cyclings especially at todays volatile fuel prices (that don't mean electric is that stable though).

 

[WES999]

Here is something I posted earlier.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/39434/P0/

You may it find interesting.

 

[Skippydo]

Used propane water heater when I built the house, propane was cheap compated to todays prices.
On very windy days, unit would go off from the wind.
Installed electric hot water, is located in the utility room with my pellet furnace which keeps the
utility room nice and toasty (sometimes I want to put in a bunk bed and sleep in there...love that
heat).
Cheap installation, dedicated circuit, circuit breaker, and hot water tank. Posssibly fittings on top of
the tank.
Off topic: Has anyone been using the "shark bites" for installations? Bit pricey, but wow, the installation
is seconds to do.

 

[Duetech]

It's still a bill no matter how you heat your water but the link WES999 poated is really worth a look see. Buy the electric and add some compatible insulation and you should see the break even point in as little as 4 years or less (without crunching a calculator the savings could be 40%+ per year).