mm wrote:
I may be in real trouble but I'm not sure.

I'm not sure I can make a good connection from the water heater to the
pipes, or that the WH itself isn't going to leak.

I'm installing a replacement water heater in the basement, and when I
opened the box, I saw that the flat top of WH as crushed in about 4 to
7/16". It was like a stadium sloped at the sides and flat in the
middle.

I would take it back and get another. Installing a damaged unit is just
asking for trouble.