about 5 years ago. The furnace and water heater (both porpane) were located in the center of my basement. When the furnace quit about 10yrs ago, I relocated it to a corner of the basement to free up some space for future finishing of the basement. When the water heater finally gave up the ghost, I wanted to relocate it in the same area as the furnace. If I went with a propane, I would've had to ran an exhaust out the side of the basement wall and up above the roof line or get a more expensive one with a power exhaust fan. Our electric company offers a rebate to customers who switch from a propane water heater to an electric one. The rebate pretty much covered the cost of the water heater. The breaker box was close by as well as the water supply, so that is the route I took. I will agree that the recovery rate is not as great as a propane, but we really haven't had any instances where it created a problem. The maintenance is a little more involved since we have hard well water. I have to drain the heater about 2x a year, pull the lower heating element and vac out all the lime deposits that have accumulated. Cost of operation seems to run about the same with current propane prices. JM2CW.