How do I know when to replace my electric water heater with a better and more efficient model?

Question

I want to find a way to tell when the unit is costing me too much to run so I better buy a new one and I can justify it.

Answer 1

Remember to include the cost, which may be high, in the new one and include the installation price and delivery. This is in the overall running price of the new one.

A good water heater that you've taken care of through the years, have flushed it twice a year and kept it clean, should last between ten and fifteen years, mine is almost fifteen years old now.
Check the gas rates and how much it uses and then the gas company, see what they say. Bring up all these costs and see what you get.

My new one is going to have a control switch that will have a timer one it, You may want to think about this.
There is only two of us now so, it will be set to turn on at four A.M. and then at six at night for several hours, the times are not exact yet.
The cost of gas has became so unreasonable I can't think of having this heater running while were not home for ten or fifteen hours at a time. I'm sure there will always be warm to hot water and I can turn it on manually if needed. A quick recovery will heat the water within forty-five minutes.

Answer 2

The aveage life of an Elect water heater now is only 7 years.
If yours is that old then you may want to start looking for rust around the tank. Any trouble at all and you should replace rather than fix. Your new one should be a lifetime water heater. They have better tanks that have rust proofing in them. New ones are also cheaper to use

Answer 3

federal regulations a while back made water heater manufacturers make the heaters more energy efficiant. There is more insulation on them, metal composition changed on gas WH for more heat transfer.On electric heaters, normally you have 2 -4500 watt elements that heat water, one at a time. a electric WH takes twice as long to reheat water as a gas WH, but tank life is usually longer.Only suggestion is to put WH blanket around heater and insulation on pipes