Hi, its hard to answer if you would save any money by going the electric-wifi route. In some areas, electricity is crazy expensive vs gas.
Being able to lower or turn off the heater for 35% of the time, thats attractive - but the water still needs to be heated back to temperature each time it is turned down, lots of variables to tell if its worth it.
I think as a very rough estimate, if the per-unit cost of electricity was no more than 35% more than gas in your area, then you will save money or break even in operating costs over time. The closer they are on par together, the higher the savings.
IMO, I think the simplicity, lower upfront cost and (likely) lower operating costs of a gas heater would make a better choice for a rental unit.
Oh, totally agree. My home H/W is propane, so I know what you mean. Its still cheaper here than electricity though.
Try this calculator. You just need to know what you pay per kwH for electricity, and what you pay per gal of propane. It also has efficiency factors for each tank, you may want to double check those against what you’re buying.
One other thought - Assuming you have home assistant running at your rental? You could control a propane powered HW tank with a remote ON/OFF plug in switch. The burners have Piezo ignition so will auto light when powered from off to on. This would allow you to turn the heater on before the renters get there, and have hot water in less than an hour. Or you could totally automate this with motion sensing in the rental - upon motion, turn on the HW tank. This would safeguard if you forgot to turn it on ahead of time (or just warn the renters in your agreement that the HW will take an hour before its fully up to temp). Then, if no motion was detected for a day, turn off the HW.
?? The propane WH I see do not have power, so there is no on off switch?
In any event, OMG… Thanks for the calculator. The only values I changed in the calculator were cost. I do not know where the energy factor comes from.
Propane is killing me
So electric will be half the cost and then if I can put it in vacation mode as needed, I should save even more.
ah - your older propane WH would have a conventional pilot and no power requirements. Anything bought these days would likely have a power vent and piezo igniter.
But - this doesnt matter in your case, since it looks like electric would be the way to go! Only thing to consider is make sure you have the space in your service panel for a dual breaker to feed the WH.
I cannot find a gas water that requires power. I have seen some that have a display panel powered by the thermocouple Can you send me a link for a for water heater that requires external power?
And yes, I do have an issue with my breaker panel. It only has one slot left but it is semi covered with the Siemns generator breaker.
First thought is electric water heaters are CRAZY expensive to run compared to gas…and they tend to run out of water easily. With a 40 gallon water heater we can get about 15 minutes of hot shower time before there’s no hot water left at all, and we have to fill a soaker tub over 2-3 hours because there isn’t enough hot water to fill it in one go.
Our 40 gallon hot water heater can take 2+ hours to fully heat itself back to 130F if its been completely drained (or shut off for an extended vacation - I turn off its power and shut off the main water supply in case anything bursts to not flood)
Since it sounds like you already have gas available…why not look at a tankless on-demand water heater? Then its not running when it doesn’t need to be, heats up to safe temps instantly, and also won’t run out of hot water?
Note if you do go electric and had a gas water heater, it can also be a very costly electrical install…you need to have a 30 amp 240 volt circuit run dedicated for the water heater and if its like most houses with the main panel in a garage and the water heater in a basement or laundry room…likely requires ripping out of lots of drywall to access where cable needs to be pulled.
Also consider the tradeoffs adding “smart” expensive devices vs simpler alternatives…what is the increased failure rate and maintenance cost? When a normal electric water heater thermostat fails its like $10 at any hardware store and a few minutes with a screwdriver to fix. What’s the MTBF and cost of that WiFi controller failing and how quickly can you get it repaired when you have a call for no hot water?
I think my problem is the cost of propane. Google says the us avg ~2.60 a gallon and I am being charged 4.15 I just called tractor supply who is normally “cheap” and it is 3.99 today
According to the calculator even tankless propane would cost about twice as much as electric.