[FairfieldLife] Re: Gas vs. Electric

[tomandcindytraynoratfairfieldlis]

We lived in a house back East that was built in 1976 and no natural
gas hook ups were allowed when it was built. When I moved in we had a
60 gallon electric hot water heater that was very expensive to run.
Moved to 2 electric instant hot water heaters. Expensive as it
required two 220 X 40 amp lines one for each of the two heaters
required. Worked well for us and took up no space as each box is the
size of a cigar box. Still expensive but cheaper than the 60 gal, but
only came on when needed. Since we were at the boat on weekends for 7
months of the year. We switched from an oil furnace to gas in 1996 and
also switched from electric to a regular 40 gal gas heater. Cost went
down significantly. With the electric instant on demand heaters the
only way to get hot water is to restrict the flow through them to 2
gals per minute. That is not what most Americans are used too. I have
heard that the instant gas heaters are better at getting hot water
quickly and the flow rate can be higher. We did not have the option of
instant gas when we installed the electric instant. When the water
outside was near the 34 to 35 range it was warm but not hot water. The
frost line where we lived was down about 6 to 8 feet. THink longer
winter than FF. Because of the efficiency of the gas I would look hard
at the gas if you are going to go to an instant heater. Tom