When is electric hot water better than gas?

You’re showering before going out. Suddenly your hot water is gone. So you call a plumber and say, “I need someone to come fix this right now.” The plumbing company shows up and tells you you are going to need a new hot water tank. Your broken tank is natural gas powered so they recommend replacing it with a new gas tank. You agree since they’re the experts. They replace it and you have hot water again. No problems right? But would an electric have been better in this situation?

Well let’s step back and ask a couple of questions. The first question is: Will my gas furnace need to be replaced in the next few years? If the answer is yes then you will need to ask: Does my current furnace exhaust through the chimney? Because if both your furnace and hot water tank currently exhaust through the chimney then that could cause an issue in the future.

You see, once you replace your old mid-efficiency furnace with a new high-efficiency furnace (down the road) the way the furnace exhausts will change. New high efficiency furnaces exhaust through the wall of a home and not through the chimney. Once the furnace is no longer using the chimney the chimney is considered abandoned. At this point your new gas hot water tank does not have enough exhaust pressure to safely exhaust through the large diameter chimney and a liner will need to be installed in the chimney. This could end up costing you up to $2500!

So what is the solution? Well by thinking ahead we can look and see if an electric hot water tank is the better solution for your needs. An electric hot water tank does not need to exhaust fumes and therefore will not necessitate a chimney retrofit if you update your furnace. 

Of course every situation is different. If you are in need of having a hot water tank replaced please call a Next-Gen approved installer. He will come in and assess the situation and get it done right the first time. Possibly saving you headache and extra cost down the road. Thanks for your time and if you have any further questions about hot water tanks or anything else do not hesitate to contact Next-Gen Plumbing and Heating directly through our website at Next-genplumbing.ca