Electric Geyser Vs Gas Geyser – Which is Better and Why?

By Consumer Advise Team
Edited On

Geysers are nowadays one of the essential home appliances being the stand-alone device for heating water quickly. Using a geyser can save a lot of time and effort in transferring buckets for the conventional heater. It is also a common appliance that you can find in most houses.

A suitable geyser in your house can ensure a comfortable bath every day. It enhances your comfort in bathing to a whole new level with proper temperature and pressure. One should choose a geyser that can suit the needs based on the area you live in and the house’s condition or space. From this view, Electric Geyser vs Gas Geyser is one of the hot topics that confuse everyone while buying a geyser. Are you looking for the same answer for ages? Do you want to get a perfect conclusion for your confusion? Well, here is the best solution for your problems and confusion.

Both the electric and gas models of geysers have different significances. Each of them is for a specific group of customers with various benefits and drawbacks. In this article, let’s compare electric geysers and gas geysers. But, unlike anywhere else, we will go the depth of comparison and conclude the most beneficial one for today’s lifestyle.

By the end of this discussion, you will surely get the geyser, which meets your expectations from all aspects of outcomes. Thus, without any late, let’s dive into the crystal-clear comparison of Electric Geyser and Gas Geyser.

Electric Geyser Vs Gas geyser

Electric Geyser Vs Gas Geyser

Important factors Electric GeyserGas Geyser
Ease of usePretty effortless with a single touch and automatic operation.The water level and heating rate should be manually regulated.
DurabilityDue to electricity to heat conversion and the use of coils, it lasts over eight years quite easily.Works with the conventional heating mechanism, which can last from 6 to 8 years on average.
Working methodElectricity gets converted into heat energy from the copper wires/coil, and the heated water is delivered through the pipelines based on the convection principle.A gas burner is located below a large tank from which the heated water gets delivered through pipes.
VariantsInstant water heater and Storage geyser.Only instant geysers are available.
Time taken to heat waterTakes relatively more time than Gas models, but stored models can deliver instantly.Heats water quickly, almost three times faster than the electric models.
Space occupiedRequires less space or zero space due to the wall mounting build.Occupies more space and also an additional space to place LPG cylinder with proper ventilation.
Environment impact/ PollutionNo direct pollution as water is heated through electricity.High pollution, due to the emission of gas from the burning of hydrocarbons. Carbon monoxide can also be released.
SafetyThe safest option and is mostly recommended for domestic purposes due to various features and models.A bit risky compared to electric water heaters.
Ease of InstallationPretty easy to install.Quite tricky as a connection for LPG and arrangement of outlet for ventilation and fumes needs experience.
PriceA bit expensive, comparatively. The price varies from instant geyser to storage geysers.On the cheaper side.

What is a gas geyser?

As the name implies, a gas geyser utilizes LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) to heat up the water. It provides rapid heating and is highly energy efficient. Primarily used in Tier 2 cities, gas geysers have a higher carbon footprint than electric geysers. Also, gas geysers require large bathrooms with proper ventilation to operate efficiently and safely. 

Types of Gas Geysers

  1. Instant Gas Geysers: Instant gas geysers are often referred to as tankless gas geysers. These types of geysers do not have any storage capacity and thus solely rely on immediate heating functionality. In any case, instant geysers are not recommended for bathing unless you’re okay with waiting for a few seconds for the water to heat up again. 
  2. Storage Gas Geysers: Storage gas geysers have a large tank to heat up the water in large quantities. Unlike instant geysers, storage geysers are easy to repair and provide better usability and sustainability. However, these types of geysers are suitable for heating water in large quantities (e.g., to be used in a bathtub). However, having an enormous size, storage gas geysers are not so popular in India.

Advantages of Gas Geysers 

  1. Faster Heating: Gas geysers demolish their electric counterparts when it comes to heating water at a faster rate. These geysers are suitable for larger families where geysers are used extensively in short intervals. 
  2. More Control to the Users: Anyone can easily adjust the intake of gas flow and control the rate of heating required. In this was the level of heating can be controlled. Elecric geysers do not have this function.
  3. Operate without Electricity: Unexpected blackout in your area? Not to worry, gas geysers will prevent you from taking cold showers. Gas geysers become especially helpful if you live in an area that encounters frequent power outages.
  4. Suitable for Large Families: Gas geysers have a more enormous size and capacity. Thus, it is suitable for medium to large families.
  5. Easy to Repair: Gas geysers are easy to repair as they do not have any complicated components.
  6. Affordable: These types of geysers are comparatively cheaper in price.
benefits of gas geysers

Drawbacks of Gas Geysers

  1. Requires a Spacious Bathroom: Gas geysers need an additional LPG cylinder that takes up a lot of space. Furthermore, the bathroom requires proper ventilation to house a gas geyser. 
  2. Complex Installation: You’ll require expert assistance to install a gas geyser in your bathroom correctly. The installation process itself also will cost you a lot of money. 
  3. Less Safety: Gas geyser are comparative less safe than electric geysers because of handling of combustable gas.
  4. Unhealthy: Due to the toxic gases generated by burning of PNG and LPG, a gas geyser is not a healthy water heater for home use. Prolonged exposure to this gases can cause gas geyser syndrome.
  5. Needs Proper ventilation: As gas geysers handle inflammable gas and produce harmful gases like Carbon Monoxide, you must have a proper ventilation in the room/bathroom.
  6. Less longevity: Gas geysers have comparatively less longevity along with a shorter life of their gas burners.
  7. Increasing Cost of Operation: As the price of natural gases is continuously increasing in India, the cost of operation is significantly increasing.
  8. Energy Loss: When heating water with a gas geyser approximately 10-30% of the generated heat is wasted making it 55-62% efficient in working.

Applications of Gas Geyser 

Gas geysers are best utilized for larger homes housing a large number of family members. After all, a typical gas geyser can heat 50 gallons of water in less than an hour. Gas geysers can also be used in factories where rapid heating is required for multiple taps. However, make sure not to opt for gas geysers if you don’t need them, as these aren’t very environment-friendly. 

Bajaj Majesty Duetto 6L Gas Geyser

Bajaj Majesty Duetto Gas 6-Litre LPG Water Heater

What is an Electric Geyser?

An electric geyser has a rather complex mechanism of heating the water. It utilizes a copper coil to convert electric energy into heat energy. And, since the function of an electric geyser doesn’t require burning fuel, it causes less harm to the environment than its gas counterpart. 

Types of Electric Geysers 

  1. Instant Electric Geysers: Instant electric geysers have no storage tank to store the heated water. They solely rely on copper coils to produce enough heat to heat the water instantly. Just switch on the geyser, and hot water will come immediately. However, instant geysers are not recommended where large quantities of water are used (e.g., bathing). 
  2. Storage Electric Geysers: Storage electric geysers work on the same fundamentals, but they utilize a storage tank to heat up a massive quantity of water. However, storage electric geysers cannot heat the water immediately, although they can heat up a good load of water at once. 

Advantages of Electric Geysers 

  1. Easy to Use: Since electric geysers don’t involve flammable gas, handling them is way easier.
  2. Environment-friendly: Electric geysers do not cause any pollution and have a significantly lower carbon footprint. Moreover, electric geysers are very energy efficient. So, if environmental concerns are something you care for, electric geysers are the way to go. 
  3. Longer Lifespan: These types of geysers last longer than their gas counterparts, thanks to advanced technology. In addition, electric geysers also require less maintenance as compared to gas geysers.
  4. High-Efficiency: Electric geysers have a higher efficiency of 80-94% making them the most useful appliances for heating water at home.
  5. Adequate Safety: Electric geysers are the most safe water heaters you can get in the market. Unlike an immersion heater or a gas geyser, it does not need much manual handling.
  6. Easy Maintenance: Electric geysers are almost maintenance-free or need minimal yearly maintennce. Raparing these geysers is also easy.
  7. High Durability: Electric water heaters are built with heat-safe materials that make them highly durable. With high longevity, it can last even more than 10 years.
benefits of electric geysers

Drawbacks of Electric Geysers 

  1. Susceptible to Power Outages: Since electric geysers utilize electricity and not fuel to heat the water, they’re useless in case of an unexpected power outage. Moreover, abnormal voltages can cause a short-circuit blowoff in the electric geyser. 
  2. Slow Heating: Electric geysers use a copper coil to heat the water instead of supplying direct heat, which makes the heating process relatively more uneventful than gas geysers. 
  3. Higher Price: Electric geysers are costly when compared to a gas geyser.

Best Use of an Electric Geyser 

Electric geysers work best in smaller bathrooms with a small number of users. Most households prefer electric geysers as they require less maintenance and are relatively safer than gas geysers. Electric geysers are primarily suitable for domestic uses. These water heaters are also the safest among all types of geysers.

Bajaj Flora 1 L Electric Geyser

Bajaj Flora 1 L Electric Geyser

Here are two of our recommendations for electric and gas geysers that are most popular in the Indian market.

Bajaj Flora Instant 1 Litre Vertical Water Heater, White wall mounting
Bajaj Flora Instant 1 Litre Vertical Water Heater, White wall mounting
Type : Instant; Capacity : 1 Litres; Wattage : 3000 Watts; Pressure : 6.5 Bars; Inner Tank Material: SS 304; Outer Body Material: ABS

Comparison of Electric Geyser and Gas Geyser

Here we have selected the 10 most important comparable advantages of electric and gas geysers. Each of these points is made after thorough research on these geysers.

Which geyser is easier to use?

Gas geysers should be operated manually using knobs, whereas electric
geyser features automatic operation. If you have an electric geyser, you can get hot water with a push of a single switch and in storage models. The need is just to set the time.   

Modern electric geysers come with advanced temperature and pressure control. It can be done with a simple operation. Gas Geysers normally don’t have pressure and temperature control.

Winner: Electric Geyser

Electric geyser or gas geyser – Which is more durable?

Gas Geysers work with the conventional heating method which can sustain up to a maximum of 8 years. The continuous burning of hydrocarbons and heat reduces the life of the geysers. For electric geysers, this is a completely different story. They work with simple yet efficient energy conversion which lasts longer.

Gas burners are known to damage often due to several reasons. One may need to visit the service centers often for spare parts and repairs. On the other hand, electric geysers come along with simple electric circuits. These circuits won’t get affected unless there is a voltage surge.

Winner: Electric Geyser

Working methods of Electric and gas geysers

Gas geyser uses LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) for the heating process of water using burners. It delivers hot water instantly using limitless power that you can operate manually. On the other hand, Electric Geysers make use of copper coils for energy conversion from electricity to heat. The copper wires emit heat, which is used to increase the water’s temperature. The heated water travels through pipelines, and standard water outlets can provide it. Although gas-based geysers are less energy-efficient, rapid heating makes it a bit convincing.

Which geyser gives more control to the user?

Both the geysers are available in instant and storage models, but the storage type of Gas geysers is not yet practically beneficial. The heat dissipation from the tank while storing the heated water wastes a lot of energy, and thus gas as well. However, the practical model and application for both the geyser types include

Instant Gas Geysers

Instant Gas Geysers are the practically accepted model available in the market these days. These are tankless geysers that don’t need a large quantity of water and can provide an instant hot water supply.

You can even find storage gas-based geysers. The availability of a large tank to store both regular and hot water consumes a lot of gas. Storage Geysers emit a lot of gas. You can keep the hot water for a longer time. Both the models available for electric geysers are available in the market and serve different purposes. Those two types of electric models include:

Storage Electric Geysers

These Geysers can store the hot water using the auto-cut feature. This feature prevents the overheating of the geyser and increases efficiency. It is a convenient option for household purposes as you can switch on and forget about it. The tanks used in the electric geysers are mostly heat resistant and reduces the wastage of heat. Almost all electric geysers these days are non-corrosive, which restricts their reaction with water.

Instant Electric Geysers

As per the name itself, these are used to heat the water instantly. You can use these geysers for immediate purposes, such as bathing using the same coil-based heating procedure. Although they can be helpful in some instances, they are not considered viable in most markets.

Electric geyser vs gas geyser: Time taken to heat water

Almost all kinds of Gas geysers can immediately heat nearly 50 gallons of water. There is no need to rely on electricity, and thus power cut won’t bother you as well. When it comes to electric geysers most of them are automatic and require no effort. Heating time is specified for every electric model thus you can rely on the hot water whenever needed. Besides, extra ventilation or outlets for fumes are also not needed for the electric geysers.

An instant electric geyser could be a better choice in this case as you can save a lot of time with storage geysers at a specified time. However, instant geysers can add even more convenience by delivering hot water instantly for a bathe or urgent use.

Winner: Gas Geyser

Which water heater needs less space?

Electric Geysers are mostly wall-mounted and consume almost no space in your bathroom. But, when it comes to Gas Geysers, they are available in bulk sizes and need a lot of space in your bathroom. Additionally, LPG gas and outlets should also be placed thus increasing its footprint to a great extent. One should probably go for electric geysers unless there is a spacious room.

Winner: Electric Geyser

Gas vs electric geyser : Environmental Impact/Pollution

In Gas Geysers, the presence of LPG gases, the release of carbon monoxide, and the burning of hydrocarbons are indeed dangerous. But, when it comes to Electric geysers, they are probably the safest option out there. They neither dissipate harmful gas or fumes like the gas models.

Winner: Electric Geyser

Electric or gas geyser – Which is more safe?

Electric Geysers never release any harmful gases due to the absence of any hydrocarbons. From this point of view, they are entirely safe for the environment. But, Damage or leaks in Gas Geysers is extremely dangerous and may lead to death as well.  Thus, Gas Geyser is not recommended for domestic purposes unless there is a need for quick heating for a large family.

Winner: Electric Geyser

Which geyser is easier to use?

Installation is quite cumbersome in Gas Based Geysers. Only professionals can install the tanks and make proper ventilation. But, Electric Geysers are easy to install although professional assistance can be of great use.

Winner: Electric Geyser

Price and Maintenance cost

In Gas Geysers, the traditional heating procedure is followed using burners to burn hydrocarbons. For this reason, the life expectancy aspect would wobble slightly. Even the price of all accessories, such as an outlet, ventilation, and LPG cost, is more than the electric geysers.

Although geysers’ cost is less than electric ones, increasing gas prices will eventually drain the pockets. However, Electric Geysers has quite an opposite scenario when it comes to price and maintenance.

Copper coil and heat conversion from electricity are quite reliable; thus, it will last longer. The price of electric geysers is a bit more than the gas models, but these require less maintenance.

Winner: Gas Geyser

Useful Tips to Compare Geyser Models

1. Type of Geyser to be preferred

By now, you should be clear about choosing Electric Geyser or Gas Geyser. Nevertheless, the conclusion has become one-sided from some perspectives. Yet, Gas Geyser holds some benefits and can be a perfect appliance for big families.

You can probably choose the Gas Geysers if you need immediate heating. But, proper ventilation and spacious rooms for fume outlets are essential in this case.

However, Electric Geyser is a useful household appliance with all safety and extended-lasting features.

2. Maintenance requirement

Both the Geysers require care in the long term, but electric models require relatively less maintenance. Keep in mind that the Gas Geysers will cost you a lot over time as burners are more prone to damages. Thus, you have to keep them clean always.

On the other hand, short circuits and some other factors can cause damage to electric geysers. Thus stabilizers and proper grounding are compulsory.

3. Expense for Long Term

Electric Geysers require almost no maintenance cost unless there is heavy damage to the circuitry or the coils. Thus, you won’t need to invest in the prolonged usage of electric geysers even if you use it regularly.

When it comes to Gas Geysers, the presence of burners and LPG gas will undoubtedly drain your money in the long term. The increase of LPG and natural gas prices will increase the maintenance cost as well.

4. Safety point of view

If it is about safety, Electric Geysers are way better than Gas models for domestic and industrial purposes. Likewise, electric geysers can’t deliver the recovery rate as in Gas Geysers. But, we can always compromise on speed when it is about safety.

Gas vs Electric geyser: Conclusion

Not that all essential factors and aspects are considered and compared, you indeed have a clear winner for your requirements. Electric Geysers are the safest and efficient means of heating. It is the easy win to electric geysers, concluding electric water heater v/s gas water heater.

If you are looking for a geyser for your home usage, then an electric Geyser is highly recommended. Large families can make the right use of the immediate heating feature of the gas-based Geysers. But, you can get the same benefits in electric models.


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Last update on 2024-10-13 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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