School me on water heaters.

[MrPrena]

Picking a right water heater+pickup+hauling it to basement+Installation was much easier than trying to find out how to get a permit.

Water heater should not even require a permit.

eta: I bought one with closest size to what I originally had. I had to go with 40gallon version. It actually heats up faster and don't need to wait longer due to higher btu.
Mine was Lowes version of the AO Smith power vent.