Is there an idiot proof water heater?

[M Marie M.]

Or do my renters need to stop being idiots?

I'm on water heater #2 and I swore that if anything else went wrong I was going to replace the gas water heater with an electric water heater.

Well I have just been informed that the gas water heater hasn't been working for several weeks. Mainly because the renters failed to pay the gas bill. And every time they fail to pay, the gas company turns off the gas, which turns off the hot water. When the gas get turned back on the water heater has problems. I don't know why, it's less than 3 years old, (because they abused the previous one by leaning crap against it).

So my question is an electric water heater idiot proof?

[Jerry W.]

The vast majority of my water heaters are gas and I love them.  I can change them out in 30 minutes to an hour.  I even keep extra in my warehouse.  I have found little difference in life expectancy between electric and gas.  It costs a lot less to run a gas water heater so I only use those in my apartment buildings that have more than one tenant per water heater.  They also heat up faster after use than electric ones do.  I have had tenants not pay the gas bill and have worked out a deal with the gas company where I sign a form and they turn the gas back on without an inspection.  If electric water heaters work better for you then stock up on them.  They changed the requirements on all water heaters and they got more expensive and bigger so they may not fit your old space due to all of the extra insulation they have to have on them.  There are a lot of the old models still in stock so get some while they last.