What is an Electric Water Heater?
An electric water heater is one that heats water using electricity as its main power source. There are a couple of different types of electric water heaters. One is the traditional tank electric water heater, which comes in a couple of variations. The other is the electric tankless water heater. A traditional electric water heater, one with a tank, is criticized for being one of the most energy inefficient forms of water heaters available. Therefore, many contractors recommend choosing an electric water heater only if there are no other options available. The most common alternative is a natural gas water heater. The efficiency of an electric water heater, or any other heater, is measured by how much it costs to produce a million British Thermal Units (BTUs) of heat. Natural gas water heaters cost $12.18 US Dollars (USD) to produce a million BTUs on average, according to the United States Department of Energy. In comparison, an electric water heater costs $31.21 to produce the same amo
Energy in electrical form is most expensive because the primary energy source (eg gas or oil) has had to be processed into an alternative energy type … electricity. However the big positive spin-off is the ease of installation, the wonderful convenience and range of appliance and heaters that can use this form of energy. Safety considerations are also much less than for gas fired or oil fired heaters whether storage or tankless heater types. There is another very important factor in deciding to use electricity to heat water. Consider the following … When oil or gas is used in a water heater a lot of energy is wasted because fuel is burned and the hot gases all got to atmosphere as wasted energy. When an electric heater is used there is no wasted gas. When you buy any heater you will notice that there is a something called the “Energy Factor” quoted … in simple terms this is an efficiency factor. Electric heaters have 99% energy factors in most cases whereas gas or propane (LPG) h
