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Gravel Road

Rancher

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15 Nov ’15 - 7:53 pm

I like the On Demand water heaters. Debating a bit on Propane vs Electric

Plan is to go with two electric units for the house, 1 in the main bath and 1 for kitchen and laundry. Going with 2 since there is a 30 ft span between the two areas and that buying 2 smaller ones is less expensive here.

I like that the electric units are less expensive to buy, don't need to run more gas line, less expensive to install, don't need to put in a vent system.

From what I have read, the electric is about 95% efficient and the propane is about 80%...need to confirm this.

In summary the Electric is lower cost to purchase as a unit, lower cost to install, no vent, higher efficiency.

...any thoughts about going electric over propane?

"The universe is wider than our views of it." -HDT

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16 Nov ’15 - 6:58 am

Only downside I can see is if you decide to go with solar at some point, how much is the electric on demand going to increase the size of your system by

icanreachit

Farm Hand

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16 Nov ’15 - 4:37 pm

Haven't looked into them but is solar an option with electric assist? Or is that a no go in them northern parts?

Gravel Road

Rancher

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16 Nov ’15 - 6:53 pm

Not sure about the solar aspect. I need to look into that down the road. Right now Propane has been a pretty steady price and so has electric...I am doing the Cost Benefit analysis at this point...I am surprised that electric is wining by a big margin.

I did tell my wife that the on-demand system automatically shuts down after 40 gallons so it doesn't over heat. She is too smart to believe that Smile

"The universe is wider than our views of it." -HDT

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17 Nov ’15 - 7:30 am

I just did a quick check of the wattages of the ones at home depot, if you used one of the mid ranged ones that use 17.5 kwh for just two hours a day that would increase your solar system by 1.62 kwh.

Here is a quick calculator to play around with.

http://www.civicsola.....calculator