Should I get an electric or gas water heater?
Keep the fuel you already have unless you are switching to a heat pump. Gas tanks run cheaper and recover faster than electric resistance tanks; a heat pump tank brings electric running costs to or below gas.
Modeled yearly energy cost for four people is about $467 for a gas tank, $1,271 for an electric resistance tank and $334 for a heat pump tank, at $1.35/therm and $0.18/kWh.
Switching fuels adds a gas line and venting, or a new 240 V circuit, which can cancel years of savings. Propane usually costs more than natural gas, so propane homes should price a heat pump.
Confidence: multi-source · Based on 3 cited sources.
Sources
- Heat Pump Water Heaters · U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Saver
- Tankless Water Heaters: Gas vs Electric (2026) · HVACBase
- Heat Pump Water Heater Brands · Green Building Advisor
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Best Water Heater for the Money: Tank, Tankless or Heat PumpBy Purchasd Research. We used DOE and ENERGY STAR material for sizing and heat pump requirements; an independent HVAC reference model for running costs; contractor and cost-guide ranges for installed and repair prices; manufacturer warranty documents for transfer terms; city utility guides for serial-number dating; and owner and installer forums, a Reddit aggregation, and 18 Reddit threads read in full (about 2,500 top-level comments) for brand sentiment, recurring complaints and reported prices. Three sources were read in full; the rest were read from search excerpts and are marked unverified. Forum evidence was used to find recurring complaints and disagreements, never to estimate failure rates. Prices are published ranges, not quotes, and no specific model was priced. Purchasd received no manufacturer payment, review units or affiliate consideration for this research. Several cost guides earn from contractor leads or product sales, and one brand-reliability source sells anode rods; each source is labeled by bias. Purchasd has not installed or tested any of these units.