City of Sunrise, FL
Home MenuWhy Use Natural Gas
It's a Quality of Life Choice
Often it is the little things that make all the difference in the quality of our daily lives. Your home is your very own spot on earth. It’s where you can surround yourself and your family with the comforts to enjoy everyday life. Click on the links below to discover how natural gas appliances can make a difference in the quality of your life.
Water Heating
Cooking
Clothes Dryer
Barbeque Grills
Pool/Spa Heater
Emergency Generator
More Hot Water – When You Want It
Have you ever had to adjust the hot and cold water while taking a shower to try and keep the water warm?
Do you have to set time limits on showers to keep the peace because "someone" is always hogging all the hot water?
That’s because electric water heaters can’t heat water fast enough. This is not a problem for natural gas water heaters. All water heaters are required to have a First Hour Rating. This rating tells you how much hot water the heater can produce in the first hour of use. Natural gas water heaters have a higher rating than electric water heaters of the same size.
The ultimate in water heaters are the on-demand tankless gas water heaters. These small compact heaters only heat water when there is a demand for hot water, so they are super efficient and produce an endless supply of hot water.
Did you have to suffer cold showers after Hurricane Wilma?
Families with natural gas water heaters didn’t. They were able to enjoy a comforting hot shower during that stressful time. That’s because a standard natural gas water heater and some of the tankless models do not require any electricity to operate. It's one of those quality of life things when you really need it.
Hint: Set the thermostat on your water heater to 120 degrees. This will reduce your energy consumption and avoid accidental scalding.
Cooking With Gas
Ever do the two burner shuffle while cooking?
You know, that’s when you’re cooking on an electric range and you have to move the pot off the burner even after you turned the power down to keep it from boiling over or burning. That’s because on an electric range the burners take time to cool down. With natural gas ranges, when you turn down the flame the temperature adjusts immediately. And because you can adjust the flame to match the size of the pot or pan, you only use the amount of energy necessary.
Hint: Match the size of the gas flame to the size of the pot. Letting the gas flame extend beyond the edge of the bottom just wastes energy.
Did you survive after Hurricane Wilma by eating cold uncooked food?
Families with natural gas ranges didn’t. They were able to enjoy hot nutritious meals even while the electricity was off. That’s because the burners on a natural gas range can be lit with a match even though there is no electricity.
Hint: Add a stovetop coffee percolator to your hurricane supplies; it's one of those quality of life things.
Have you ever set off the smoke detectors when using the broiler on an electric range?
Odds are this won’t happen with a gas range. When using the broiler on a gas range most of the smoke is consumed in the broiler flame making for nearly smokeless broiling.
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Laundry
Have you ever had to leave a load of wet clothes in the washer while waiting for the electric dryer to be finished?
While natural gas dryers can’t dry clothes as fast as a washer can wash, gas dryers can reduce the drying time significantly. That’s one of the reasons commercial laundries and laundromats use natural gas dryers. Even though gas dryers are hotter, they are gentler on your clothes because gas dryers produce a slightly moist heat. It is this moist heat that prevents clothes from becoming overly hot which tends to fade colors faster, cause greater wrinkling (ugh! more ironing) and damages fabrics.
HINT: Do your lighter fabrics first and your towels or jeans last. Another hint is to not over-fill the dryer. Many of today’s front loading machines can wash more clothes in a single load than can fit in a single dryer load. Dry lighter fabrics first and then the heavier fabrics and you will find that drying two loads is often faster than trying to dry it all in one load. Remember to always clean the dryer lint filter before each use whether using gas or electric.
Barbeque Grills
Have you ever taken grief over running out of propane right in the middle of a family barbeque?
If you have a natural gas grill this will never happen again! Natural gas grills are connected to your home's natural gas line so you never have to wrestle that empty propane tank out of the grill, drive to get it refilled, and then struggle to get it back in and reconnected. Natural gas grills are available from most major manufacturers. An added benefit is that natural gas costs significantly less than propane.
HINT: Purchase a grill with a side burner. Although you may rarely use it for most barbeques, a side burner is invaluable if you ever need to cook on your grill during a power outage. It's one of those quality of life things when you need it most.
Pool/Spa Heater
Ever felt like jumping in your pool or spa, but then realize it will take like forever for the electric heater to warm it up?
A natural gas pool/spa heater does the job in less time than an electric heat pump. The maximum heat output for most electric heat pumps is about 115,000 BTUs under ideal weather conditions (80+ degrees and humid), but this output decreases significantly in cooler dryer weather. Hmm, efficient when you don't need it, but inefficient when you do.
Natural gas pool heaters, on the other hand, are available up to 400,000 BTUs of heating output and are not dependent on the ambient air temperature. Using natural gas allows you to heat up your pool in hours instead of days or your spa in minutes instead of hours. Now this is a real quality of life thing. In addition, natural gas pool heaters are smaller in size than electric heat pumps, which make it easier to fit into your landscape. They are also significantly less expensive to purchase.
Have a solar pool heater that can’t keep up?
A natural gas heater is just the ticket on those days when you just need to boost the temperature up a couple of degrees. Because natural gas heats water fast, you’ll be in the pool in no time.
Hint: You can reduce the amount of energy needed to keep your pool warm by up to 70% by using a pool cover! Here is another hint: If you are not using your pool or spa every day then there is no reason to keep it heated all the time. Just heat it when you need it. Of course you can only do this if you have a natural gas heater.
Emergency Generator
Do you spend hours waiting in long lines at the gas station every time a storm warning is issued just to buy gasoline for the generator? Or searching for an open gas station after a storm?
With a permanent natural gas generator this will become a thing of the past. You can ensure your family remains safe and comfortable during times of power outages, whether its for a couple of hours, days or weeks. Because our natural gas lines are underground, severe weather rarely impacts the delivery of a continuous supply of natural gas. Now we are talking some major quality of life things: air conditioning, television, and a cold refrigerator.
Hint: By converting the water heater, cooking appliances and clothes dryer to natural gas you remove three of the largest electrical requirements from your home, which allows you to install a smaller generator.