Water heater leak collector

Claim 1

In a water leak collecting apparatus for appliances such as a water heater or the like and adapted to be mounted atop an underlying support surface, the improvement comprising: a collector member including a base having a centrally disposed opening, a peripheral wall bounding said base and extending upwardly therefrom, inclined upper and lower faces on said base extending downwardly and inwardly from said peripheral wall toward said opening, a plurality of separate unitary spaced apart support elements extending through said base and spaced from said peripheral wall, each said support element including an upper surface disposed above said base inclined upper face and an integral lower surface disposed in a plane beneath said base inclined lower face, whereby following disposition of said plurality of support element lower surfaces upon an underlying support surface, an appliance disposed atop said support element upper surfaces is fully and directly supported by engagement of said support elements upon the underlying surface without said base being supported by its underlying support surface.