Hi All. I am the proud owner of a 50 gal tank style propane water heater that is 23 years old. While still barely just broken in and for various reasons I want to replace it soon.
A little about the home, it’s a second home that is occupied about 3-4 days/week, about half of that time with a single person (myself), and the other half a family of 3.
A little about myself, I like to do things myself and have the ability to do what I need to to install this and get things properly inspected. Add to this I have installed a tank water heater in the past.
Now I’m looking at my options: Propane tank, propane instant, electric tank electric instant. Considering the low usage of the home I really don’t want to have a pilot light which is enough to keep the water hot while I’m away, and looking for something that we can heat water as we need it (and are there), so I am leaning towards one of the instant choices and would value the input of the dope. Thanks
Running on natural gas around here would cost you less than electric, but propane might not have an advantage. Electric water heaters cost less than gas. You’ll need a dedicated 220V line for an electric water heater. Pretty simple to install otherwise. You should have flexible copper pipe connecting you current water heater to the cold and hot water lines. You might be able to re-use them but if there’s any sign of corrosion it’s a good idea to replace them. You can use PEX instead. If you don’t have check valves currently you should get some. For a propane heater you can shut off the gas line if you’re not using it. I think they now all come with a sealed pilot chamber and push button pilot lighting so no sticking matches in a little opening anymore. You still have to make sure your gas connection is tight and leak free and that it is properly vented if you go with propane. I’d go with electric myself, YMMV.
Our 30 year-old water heater failed in 2020. It was a 40 gallon propane unit made by Bradford White.
I wanted to minimize any changes that needed to be made to the gas line or venting system. So I emailed Bradford White (who’s still in business), gave them the model number for the existing water heater, and asked them if they currently make a unit that would be a drop-in replacement. They said this unit would be most similar.
I bought it and had it shipped to my house. I had to make some minor changes to the gas line. But other than that, installation was pretty simple. Has been working perfectly over the past three years.
Around here they don’t require a permit to replace an appliance. However, if you had to add a 220V line to switch from a gas to electric water heater you would technically be required to pull a permit but they don’t really enforce that. The other way round, if you were adding a gas line you’d need a permit and inspection.
Propane is somewhat cheaper than electric but not by much. But electric would be easier to shut down when I’m not here. I think, but do not know that a large savings would be from not heating 50 gallons of water that I leave most of it for 3-4 days unused. And think if I can more target my making the hot water to the amount I need I would save more then the electric vs propane thing. For a tank I think that would work well for daily usage, but not as well for occasional weekly usage.
I mentioned before that we replaced a traditional WH with an on-demand NG heater in our last home. Two reasons: we took many RV trips, which meant an empty house; there was no floor drain in the basement in the event of a rupture. It required a dedicated gas line, which was expensive, and it wasn’t cheap to have the unit installed, but the energy payback was good and we got an energy tax credit that paid for about half of it.
If it is NG or LP you may be required to have it inspected due to possible modifactions to the gas lines and for the venting to the outside. Being 23 years old, the code may have been updated to require things such as a liner for the chimney if that is how it vents. Had one guy claim I needed a liner when I already had one (and knew it). If the height of the water heater is not the same as the one you are replacing you may need new venting lines.
Nothing is ever as drop in as they may make sound.
The last time I researched this (about 10 years ago), electric tankless are not really up to whole house usage. They are best for point-of-use applications.
I have a largish propane tankless for my home and couldn’t be happier. Electronic ignition and can be run with a small generator if needed. Will supply two or more showers at the same time.
Propane/NG tankless are not cheap, though. Purchase and installation could easily be double the cost of standard tanked-type electric or gas heaters.
One thing to consider is that the tankless gas water heaters require considerably more gas flow than the ones with tanks.
We had ours replaced a few years back, and were told that if we wanted the tankless gas heater, we’d have to get a larger line run from the meter all the way to the heater, but that the tank-style was a drop-in replacement for our old one, albeit 10 gallons larger.
It was a no-brainer, considering how much digging and trouble inside the house that would have been.
They can be, but it depends on the temperature of the incoming water. Up here, you are looking at as low as 3C/38F in the winter. The other issue is that they need up to 3 40A 240V circuits, so minimum 200A service is required. Add on other large electric appliances or a car charger and you may need 320A service.