Gas vs. Electric Furnace/Hot Water Heater?

[yennyfire]

Does anyone have experience with this decision in the past couple of years? Hubby and I are considering purchasing a home from a production builder where we will get to pick everything from flooring to cabinets, etc. It's really appealing, but we just learned that they will be using an electric furnace and h2o heater. We live outside of Atlanta, so it's a fairly mild climate, though we can have multiple days in a row where it hits 90 in the summer and 30 in the winter. The builder is trying to get us some bills from existing home owners for comparison, but since this builder is new to our area, they don't have much data to draw from and using data from Michigan (for example) isn't a fair comparison. Our understanding is that while electric is more energy efficient than gas, they are also much more expensive on a monthly basis. All of the research I've been able to find online has been from 2008 or older and I do believe things have changed since then.

Thoughts? TIA!

 

[missy]

Hi Yenny, I have no experience with this either but I just asked my dh (he's in the environmental field) and he said it will be much more expensive. He said the only place he is aware of where the electricity is cheaper is the pacific northwest because they use hydroelectricity (or something like that- he's still working so I just got the gist of it) but it will cost you more where you are.

You can go with a tankless water heater. So it only heats the water up as you need it. Only issue with that is the water might not be as hot as you want it as they are still working out the kinks with the tankless water heaters.

Good luck with your new house project!!

 

[packrat]

We just replaced our furnace and water heater in August. I'd wanted to switch to all electric-I hate having two different bills, and I can never remember which company is gas and which is electric. Plus..I admit, I'm a bit of a freak about gas, worried we're going to burst into flames/explode or something. When I talked to my dad about it-they're all electric-he said gas is by far cheaper, even tho we would get a discount for being all electric, it's still more expensive. So, we stayed gas/electric.

 

[yennyfire]

Thanks Missy and Packrat, that confirms what we've been reading/hearing, but of course the builder is insisting that it's not that much more expensive. There is no way that they can put in a gas furnace because the specs on the house don't even include the duct work that we'd need to put gas in (though strangely, they stove is gas). If the builder can't prove to us that it's not that much more expensive, I think we'll be passing on this community. We've been looking for a couple of years and the house/lot have everything we want, but we're not willing to go in blind on what will be monthly expenses for many, many years. Sigh...

 

[ksinger]

Well, speaking as one who lives in Oklahoma, the state that is home to 2 of the top five US NG producers - Chesapeake Energy and Devon Energy, gas is the conventional choice around here. And I would not have an electric stove anymore, if you paid me to take it. Gas is the ONLY way to go if you cook a lot. I like gas a bunch, and have never had a problem with it.

Like anything, much depends on your habits and the size of your home. Our house is small - 1100 sf, and in our worst winter - I think I hit 125? And that was a year when gas spiked horribly. The average winter month sees around 60 - 80 per month (and we're FAR colder, longer than Atlanta). Average summer month is about 25-30. Unaveraged.

Whatever you do, I'd get on averaging. It helps smooth the spikes. Ours stays at around 50-60 year round.

ETA - I had to chuckle a bit at the "several consecutive days of 90 or more". This summer, in Oklahoma, from April 18-September 1, we had 97 days of over 100, with a statewide average temp of 100.5 and new record of like 115?. Needless to say, we could have dispensed with the stove and just set our pots on the driveway....voila! A nice hot, cooked meal in no time flat!

 

[D&T]

We have had experience with both on multiple homes and here are my thoughts. I live in AZ by the way so the winter is still pretty mild but I still use our furnace from Nov - March ish maybe April.

House 1 had a gas water heater/furnace, while it was nice in the summer because my bill was low the bill was just as high if not higher during the winter months than my house using electricity. I had an all ectric dryer in this house. The one really annoying thing for us with gas was that the burner would blow out on windy days. A few times it blew out during the evening and didn't know until we showered this was also during the winter, ours was situated in the garage. I don't like having extra bills come my way.

House 2 has all Electric, the one bill for us is high during the summer months, but I just signed up on 12 month budget plan now that we pay one price for every month, helps with the budget quite a bit. They do review every now and then to make sure the amount is current for our usage. We had to replace a the electric heating element (looks like a U) since there was a lot of build up and broke (wasn't too costly I'm sure it would have cost less than $160 if we did it ourselves)

The difference in square feet was only about 100 sq.ft 2 story and I would say they cost the same on average for the whole year, but Electricity just seems to be more consistent with cost, plus the heating element was never a problem, unlike our gas water heater that kept blowing out and was nervouse what my cost would be for say December

 

[yennyfire]

Ksinger, lol...we had a bunch of 100 + days too, but that's unusual, whereas 90s are more typical. I know it's cheaper for the builder to put electric in, but given the bad press they have, it seems like an odd choice. We will definitely use an average of some sort if we can even get the data we're looking for. I'm pretty bummed about passing on this house, but also don't want to end up with a house where we get a 600 electric bill every month!

 

[lyra]

With a gas system you'll have all the ductwork necessary for a/c too, right? But with electric you don't? That ductwork is more expensive to put in, but in the long run gas is more energy efficient and lower cost. I wouldn't go for electric heat, and we have had it growing up and in rental places. It was always more expensive.

 

[D&T]

Forgot to add, that our bill now is $160/month every month but I'm not a SAHM and all of us our out for at least 9 hours during the day so I'm sure that factors into the cost as well (All Electric on their 12 month budget plan) until we utilize more or less I"m sure, 1700 sq ft home. OK insulation. I think the previous house didn't maybe had a poorer insulation than the one we currently live in now.

ETA: In AZ electricity is very common in fact more so than gas, so the pricing is very competitive. In UT it is the other way around.

 

[soocool]

My 3000 sq ft home is all electric (well water pump, septic runs on electric). We have a heat pump with an oil back up and heat our water with oil. (We have no gas in this area). We run the heat pump all winter long and if the temps drop drastically during the night/day the oil kicks on instead of the heat pump. To give you an idea of electrical costs in the northeast US (SE PA more specifically) our electric bill last month was $136. Out highest this past summer was $275 - that is with the air on all day and night (on programmable thermostat) and we have ceiling fans in most rooms, plus a dehumidifier in the basement(that draws a lot of electricity). We use about 500 gallons of oil per year mainly to heat the water and the home when the outdoor temps are too low for heat pump to run.

Mind you we pay lower rates in the winter to use electricity (due to heat pump) and that savings is going away. So check with the local electric company next year what their rates will be, because in your case it may be cheaper to heat with gas.

Is there anyway they can do radiant floor heating. More efficient in my opinion.

 

[DivaDiamond007]

My DH is a gas technician and says that gas is more efficient (cheaper) on the whole than electric because gas appliances tend to be more energy efficient than electric ones even though the gas used is more expensive to buy. The chances of your home blowing up due to a gas leak are very, very slim. He says that a builder would want to put in all electric because the appliances are generally cheaper than their gas counterparts.

Also, a close friend of ours had a tankless waterheater and it was a POS. It cost a lot of money to install and didn't save him a dime so he had it taken out and a standard waterheater put in. Only one person's experience but food for thought nonetheless.

 

[PinkTower]

I live in Georgia, too. My thoughts are not to pass on the house just because of no gas for heat or hot water. I have a gas stove, and I would not want any other kind. From what I am reading, you too will have that, so you are set. In summer, we cook almost exclusively outside, to keep heat out of the house. You could go ahead and have the line put in for your grill. We opted not to, because I like to move my grill around, so we just refill the tank at the store. I would also get a line put in for gas logs, so that there was a way to keep a room heated during an ice storm.

So far as the central heat, my thoughts are that we really don’t use enough heat down here for it to be an issue. I haven’t turned mine on yet, and probably won’t until next month. What is so expensive here is Air Conditioning. And, you are going to have the same bill for that whether or not you have gas heat. It would be different if you were living in the Northeast.

 

[JewelFreak]

Wow, your costs make me green w/envy. We have everything electric here in N. Carolina (except stove, which is propane, tank out back). 3200 sq. ft. house. We heat or cool both zones only 2 or 3 days/yr -- in summer, running a/c upstairs cools the downstairs too; winter, heating downstairs keeps upstairs warm. Still, our bills run around $275/month the hottest & coldest months, $175 autumn & spring.

Our last house, in Conn., had oil heat & that was quite a lot more expensive than this! For a house about 500 sq. ft. smaller.

 

[vc10um]

yenny, while I haven't looked into them much, is there a chance for adding on a solar hot water heater? DH is talking about adding one of these to our home when we decide to buy and he seems very excited about them. I can talk to him if you would like. We would still have a standard tank water heater for those days in a row when we don't get much sun, but most of the time would be dependent upon that for our hot water instead of gas or electric...

 

[yennyfire]

Thanks D&T, soocool and Divadiamond. So far, no one has had anything positive to say about electric furnace/water heater. I checked with a couple of other new communities being built in our area (builders like Beazer and Traton) and they are all using gas furnace/water heater. It makes me extra nervous that none of these other builders are using electric. There has to be a reason, since they are less expensive for the builder to install.

Pinktower, you make a good point. We do use more A/C than heat overall, though we definitely use heat at least 4 months a year. We are looking into a generator in the event that the power is out, since with electric we would then be without heat.

vc10, pardon my ignorance, but what would be the benefit of a solar water heater? Just getting hot water faster or the fact that we wouldn't need electricity to heat it up, thus saving money??

We don't know what to do. My gut tells me to pass but the fact is that this is the only community that's been built in our area in the past 15 years that has swim/tennis in it and our kids wouldn't have to change elementary schools, we'd be gaining a flat front yard (for a basketball goal) and would be on a cul-de-sac, which would be great for bike/scooter riding. Other than the fact that this house is a lot more expensive than the one we're in, this whole "gas vs. electric" thing is the only real downside, and with interest rates so low, our mortgage would be almost identical. Aarrrgghhhh....why can't this be an easier decision???

 

[ksinger]

Thanks D&T, soocool and Divadiamond. So far, no one has had anything positive to say about electric furnace/water heater. I checked with a couple of other new communities being built in our area (builders like Beazer and Traton) and they are all using gas furnace/water heater. It makes me extra nervous that none of these other builders are using electric. There has to be a reason, since they are less expensive for the builder to install.

Pinktower, you make a good point. We do use more A/C than heat overall, though we definitely use heat at least 4 months a year. We are looking into a generator in the event that the power is out, since with electric we would then be without heat.

vc10, pardon my ignorance, but what would be the benefit of a solar water heater? Just getting hot water faster or the fact that we wouldn't need electricity to heat it up, thus saving money??

We don't know what to do. My gut tells me to pass but the fact is that this is the only community that's been built in our area in the past 15 years that has swim/tennis in it and our kids wouldn't have to change elementary schools, we'd be gaining a flat front yard (for a basketball goal) and would be on a cul-de-sac, which would be great for bike/scooter riding. Other than the fact that this house is a lot more expensive than the one we're in, this whole "gas vs. electric" thing is the only real downside, and with interest rates so low, our mortgage would be almost identical. Aarrrgghhhh....why can't this be an easier decision???

Do consider the generator regardless - you will be without heat with a gas system too: remember, the pilot ignition on a gas system runs on electricity as do the blowers. So,without electricity, you are just gonna be cold!

 

[vc10um]

vc10, pardon my ignorance, but what would be the benefit of a solar water heater? Just getting hot water faster or the fact that we wouldn't need electricity to heat it up, thus saving money??

That's pretty much exactly the benefit, yenny! With the solar hot water heater, you may be able to reduce your dependence on gas or electric heating to the point where it probably wouldn't matter whether you were using gas or electric. Especially if you were able to combine it with a tankless water heater. Not to mention it's much more friendly to the environment. Some basic information from the Department of Energy can be found here if you care to learn more.

 

[yennyfire]

Thanks vc10, I'll check that out!

 

[lyra]

Yenny, electric heat IS a dealbreaker where I live, but maybe it's really not so bad where you are. Can you find any info online or by phoning the utiliity company? If you do an equal payment plan, it should be manageable. Given your requirements, this new home may be an option for you. I've been trying to find info online but don't understand a few things. What is a heat pump? It's supposed to be good in your area, but is it electric? And purely out of curiosity because I don't understand your a/c system I think: is your a/c system ductless? Where I live, heat and a/c come out the same ductwork, with the furnace in the basement and the a/c unit outside the home.

I think if you budget carefully, you might make this work. The downside might be that when you go to sell your house, people may not want electric--unless it does turn out it's comparable to gas. You need more information.

ETA: I just noticed in your original post you said that the builder is new to your area. That does raise a few flags, in that they may not be fully aware of the costs incurred with electric systems. This IS a hard decision! Are there other neighbourhoods in the area that are also electric? I don't know what to think now, sorry.

 

[jimferguson]

Cost is always a consideration when upgrading systems within a home. There should not be a major problem with selling the home in the future because electric heat was chosen over natural gas, or vice-versa. Electric furnaces have several heating elements that replace the combustion chamber and heat exchanger in a gas-fired appliance.

Overland Park heating and cooling | Kansas City heating and cooling

 

[Arcadian]

I live in massachusetts and have gas/forced hot air system. in the winter our gas bill is around 249. Electric around 75. We have electric and solar on our house (do get solar if you can!) and though we don't get a lot from the solar in the winter, it more than makes up for it in the summer. We have a dual zone cooling system which along with everything else we run in our house, we used to pay 300/monthly in the summer and our gas bill would be 10 dollars. With solar its never over 100.

So if you cant get gas or they won't spring for it, ask about solar.

-A