Sorry guys I posted this and have been completely offline since then. Thanks for all the replies!!!

Just to clear things up the tank and heater WERE lifted off the ground. No UTH sandwiching here.

And now thanks to all you lovely helpful people, I know the probe in the picture, should not be on the inside of the tank, like it was. But here is how it looked... The red wood underneath had the tank lifted off the ground. The small probe runs to a digital thermometer, the large one goes to the thermostat. You can see how the pad is melted off the tank and barely hanging on. The pic looks a little confusing cause you can see the wires that are running under the tank too.