Another water heater question...

[kaylie]

We have a 50 gallon which is fine for H and I, but if we are considering adding rugrats in a few years should we go a bit larger? We have three bathrooms, two with showers/tubs. The next size up with the company we're using is 80 gallons. Would it be crazy to have an 80 gallon tank? Would it up the electric bill significantly? I'm thinking that if we did two showers and one or two baths every night it might be tight for 50 gallons.

We're electric btw. Gas is not an option.

[kaylie]

They're an option for electric, but not a good one. They use way too much electricity to be efficient. Much better for gas.

[candreco]

Feb 20, 2013 11:44:29 GMT -5 kaylie said:

They're an option for electric, but not a good one. They use way too much electricity to be efficient. Much better for gas.

Really?  We have a gas tankless water heater, and I thought I remembered electric ones recouping the initial cost more quickly than the gas ones from the research we did, though since we already had gas we didn't look into electric much.

[susieq]

Gas is able to heat water quicker than electric is. Gas tankless are nice but I would not go electric tankless unless it was somewhere you just needed short bursts of hot water like at a sink in 1/2 bath.
I would be inclined to go 80 gal if you have the room for it. I like to shower when I want to and not have to worry about how long ago the last person used hot water.

[kaylie]

Feb 20, 2013 13:50:14 GMT -5 candreco said:

Feb 20, 2013 11:44:29 GMT -5 kaylie said:

They're an option for electric, but not a good one. They use way too much electricity to be efficient. Much better for gas.

Really?  We have a gas tankless water heater, and I thought I remembered electric ones recouping the initial cost more quickly than the gas ones from the research we did, though since we already had gas we didn't look into electric much.

I think so. I asked Fox about it and she didn't think there was much value in electric tankless. Also, for the size we would need we'd have to upgrade from 200amp electric service to 300amp. 300amp is kind of extreme for a house our size, you really only see it in the 4000 sq foot + mcmansions.

[FoxInFiji]

Yes no electric tankless!! They cost a lot to run and a lot to install and are less efficient than an electric tank WH. Electric is slower to heat up than gas so electric "instant"/on demand heaters need to have a huge oversized electrical feed and use a boat load of energy in the process. The things really shouldn't even exist IMO.



50 gallons should be enough kaylie for a two shower home.  We have a 40 gallon electric and two adults with 3 showers and we don't run out of hot water.  Obviously with only two people not all 3 showers are being used but that is how residential units are sized.  I don't necessarily agree with that but whatever.  The big thing for us when we remodeled the bathroom with new lower flow shower fixtures.  We used to sometimes run out of HW when the DW was running at the same time someone was showering on the weekends but now we never do.  So that's why I say calculate what you would need with the old way but take any upgraded DW, washing machine, and low flow shower heads into account.  Here's a calcing design guide.

[sju]

We also have a 50 gal electric tank and have never ran out of hot water in the 7 years we have lived here. We are a family of 4 and our families come to visit every so often. There have been times like during the holidays when we have had at least 10 people staying with us. We always have hot water. .....,And I hope I did not jinx ourselves now that we are getting estimates to move the tank from the utility room to the garage. Right now we can see the tank from the kitchen and it is not a pretty view. :-(

[boiler717]

We also ended up doing 50 gal instead of 80. We've had up 10 guests at once and it was even fine for that (and there were multiple showers and dish washing going on at the same time). I think it will be a harder decision once we have kids, but I'm hoping we can do a gas tankless then.

[kaylie]

Thanks ladies - I think we'll stick with a 50 gallon!

[lmdbww]

We have a 50 gallon and it's fine (the only reason why we can't do back to back showers is because DH is a water hog and is in there forever).

DD still bathes every other night and not at the same time as someone is showering usually, so we've never run into any issues.