AngryOldWhiteGuy wrote:
It's not unusual for a small amount of water to wind up under a gas
water heater that's been fired up for the first time or after an
extended down time. The "small" amount of water is due to
condensation from the flue going up through the center of the heater. You
won't
see the water again after everything gets up to normal temperatures.
The standing pilot will prevent the formation of condensate until
the heater is shut down again. The colder it is, the more likely it
is for condensate to form. It also depends on the run time of the
burner and incoming water temperature. High efficiency furnaces that
extract all the heat from the combustion of gas have a drain to get rid of
the
condensate that forms. I curious about the location of your water
heater and how cold it was when you fired it up?

TDD

The water heater is inside the house and it wasn't really cold at all
here while we were gone - in the 60s.

And you don't thik 60 degrees is cold enough to condense water out of an open
gas flame?