It used to be propane was a lot cheaper to use to heat hot water. a few years ago before we moved I remember paying 80 - 90 cents a gallon. At 80 cents a gallon it would have cost you around $230/year to operate the water heater. Now with the propane going sky high and the electric staying close to the same price as it was when propane was cheap, it now makes more sense to switch back to electric.

Natural gas has not went up that much and is still cheaper than electric. Here in Ohio there is talk about the legislature letting the electric company regulation expire and AEP the local electric company wants to skyrocket the rates. If the electric company deregulates in your area the price to run the electric water heater could shoot up to the same as propane.

the only reason I used propane to heat water because it was cheaper. Now it isn't. I never thought it was any more efficent. just the fact the source for the heat was cheaper than electric. I will tell you one thing, If I still owned that house and was paying that much for propane, you betcha i would rip out the propane heater and put an electric one back in. I would get the heaviest insulated one I could find.

Gas is faster but electric is more efficient. 100% of the heat from the elements in an electric goes into the water.

Thanks for the replies. I've checked with a neighbor and he confirmed we're paying 3.28 per gallon for propane and .11 per kwh for electric, at those prices the annual propane cost would be 931 and electric would cost 508! And it looks like I'm right to go with an oversized electric tank, the first hour hot water for it is 82 gallons, with a 25 gph recovery; a 50 gallon propane tank gives 87 gallons the first hour and 36 gph recovery. Seems like the electric is also a better built tank, with a 12 year warranty instead of 6 years. So glad I checked this out!

If you're going to switch to an electric tank, and have 6 people including 4 teenagers (eventually), you'll need one huge tank, or better yet, 2 tanks. Do a quick calculation. How many people will take back to back showers? How big is your tub?

For example. What if 4 people take 10 min back to back showers? A shower fixture flows 2.5 gals/min max. At at a 120-130F water heater temp, you'll be using about 85% hot water to get 95-100F shower temp. So, 4 x 10 min=40 min x 2.5 gal/min=100gal total x .85=85 gals hot water.

So, 4 showers back to back equal no hot water from your Sears tank's numbers. Now wait 2-2.5 hours to fully reheat.

You'll need a 100 gal tank or so, or 2 50 or 60 gal tanks.

So some number crunching and see what you come up with.

Thanks for the reply! You're right, we could eventually need more hot water capacity, but I think for now the 80 gallon will be at least as good as what we had in the 50 gallon propane. Down the road we could add a tank, or maybe a masterbath tankless. Most months of the year our "cold" water is pretty warm, at least 70 degrees, so we don't use the same percentage hot water as more northern climates.