Condensation comes from water vapor changing back to a liquid, so how did the "water vapor" get under the blankie in the first place if you don't have a leak?---- would be my question :bigthink:

Forget watching when running dishwasher... do it while the wife is taking her usual long hot shower. Dishwasher uses a lot less hot water than your wife.:biggrin2: I suspect a pinhole leak opens up on outlet line from the heat..and I'm not sure if the braided lines (or pex) are a good idea that close to hot water heater!

Forgot to post last night but I checked it while son was in the shower and didn't see anything leaking. And no more water on top of the WH eater. I'll take a look at it again after it gets light outside and see if anything accumulated overnight.

I couldn't wait until daylight I just grabbed my flashlight and went and checked and not a single drop of water on top from sitting overnight. In fact, no water period since I removed the insulation blanket.

These braided lines were labelled for water heater and just clipped right into my existing copper, so I guess they are safe for the heat. They are really thick and feel like they have some insulation built in.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/SharkBit...bvlf/202685676

I’ve has those on mine for a couple of years now.

I think I figured out the problem. The pressure relief valve is right on top of the tank and I added a drain line to it the same time I removed the blanket. I checked and water is ever so slightly dripping from that drain.

I bet the water was dripping from that valve and pooling on top of the WH but now that I've got a drain pipe it's routing elsewhere. Now to figure out why that valve is leaking. My city code only requires a pressure overflow tank if the pressure is over 80 PSI. I'm pretty sure the PSI isn't over 80 in my neighborhood and I didn't have an overflow on my old tank. So it's either a faulty TPR valve or it's got some dirty or something in it and not closing...

REPLACE.........The Pressure Relief Valve.

Do you have an expansion tank? I had to add one when we moved into our new house years ago. It was doing the same thing you are describing. My issue was, we have a check valve at our water meter.

There will be people that will say I am wrong and this is not the problem. This was my problem and a expansion tank fixed the weeping for me.

I was going to pickup a water pressure gauge to see if it is indeed over 80 PSI and if so I'll install an overflow tank.

But TPR valves are supposed to trip at 150PSI, not 80, so I will probably end up replacing it. I wonder if it covered under warranty? I mean it's not even 2 months old yet...

Easy, contact the Selling Dealer or OEM.