I too am thinking my time away from home practically begs for such an appliance. Before the dust (mud in this case) settles, I'm probably looking at $1500 to $2000 installed. If the ground water temperature was higher here, I could save quite a bit by buying a unit that doesn't require as much energy to supply any possible needs (and eliminate the electrician from the installation process), but it sometimes gets too cold here to go that direction.

That's a big chunk of change for a water heater, but that's probably what I'm gonna do. Less to wear out, and a whole lot less to break or replace ...and in this (not new, but not old) neighborhood, it should increase the value of the home, just in case I decide to sell it sometime in the future.