Gas Water Heater vs Electric: What's Better for Your Home and Wallet?

The "natural gas water heater vs. electric" debate seems a bit confusing. After all, the end result of both is the same (your water gets hot), so surely they are more or less interchangeable?

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In this article, we'll explore the differences between gas and electric water heaters to help you decide which is best for your home.

As the name suggests, this water heater uses natural gas. Cold water enters the tank and is heated by the gas burner. As the water warms, it rises to the top of the tank and flows out of the faucet or shower head through the drain as needed.

While gas water heater explosions do happen, these mechanisms (very advanced in modern water heaters) make this unlikely. That said, gas water heaters are very effective and safe at cooling your home.

While we'll explore costs in detail later, it's worth pointing out in this section that natural gas tends to be significantly cheaper than electricity. This is another huge advantage of gas water heaters.

Standard electric water heaters work much the same way as gas water heaters, except for the obvious. Electric water heaters do not use a gas burner to initiate the convection process, but rather a heating element.

Other than that, electric water heaters and gas water heaters have the same components. The source of their electricity is a pretty big difference, though, because - as mentioned - electricity tends to cost a lot more in the US than natural gas.

Plus, when your electricity goes out, so does your hot water. This doesn't happen with most standard gas water heaters. Even though the units may use some power, they can operate independently.

Keep this in mind if you're considering an electric water heater but live in an area with frequent power outages.

Gas water heaters tend to be slightly more expensive than electric water heaters. For example, we priced a 40-gallon gas water heater at $999 and a 40-gallon electric water heater at $950.

You only really start to see the cost difference when you consider energy consumption. Because gas water heaters don't use electricity, users can often recoup any excess they pay for a unit of electricity. 

The above introduces the difference between electric water heaters and gas water heaters. In the long run, gas water heaters can save you more electricity bills and are not limited by electricity. If you plan to buy gas water heaters, please contact us.

Greaidea is a professional custom gas water heater manufacturer with over 20 years of experience. In our R&D department, 12 engineers are employed to guarantee our R&D advantage and innovation advantage. The test room and assembly line have been upgraded. Invest 3% of revenue annually on research and development. With an excellent manufacturing team and QC team, we have achieved an annual output of 500,000 gas water heaters of the best quality.