[EternalArianne]

I know most people on this forum are mechanically inclined, so I figured I'd take a shot with this question here before joining a home improvement forum.

Last month I replaced a 20 year old water heater that was in my house when I bought it. It's under the house, one of those 38 gallon "lowboy" varieties, and it's sitting on a concrete platform.

It's working fine but I noticed upon install that the original wiring was kinda shoddy so yesterday I was going to run new wire from the breaker to the water heater. Low and behold, when I open the electrical compartment on top of the WH, it's full of rusty water. How it didn't catch fire already is beyond reckoning...

I can't find any leaks in the water lines so I'm not sure where it's coming from. I'm pretty sure it's not seeping up from inside the tank due to it being rusty water and the tank is brand new. My neighbor thinks it's condensation since I've got the included insulation blanket wrapped around the WH, but again why would it be rusty?

Has anyone ever seen this before? I soaked up all the rusty water from the compartment, I'm going to check it again in a few days to see if it has returned.