I did.an inspection and found underneath this platform that the water heater is sitting on there is a water tank of unknown depth and size buried in the ground. This house is always been in the city and hooked up to City connections since brand new and to City septic since brand new. I am stumped as to why there would be a water tank does anybody have any ideas? I looked everywhere and couldn’t find any other obvious sources of plumbing to or from the tank even in the crawl space.
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Your guess is as good as anyone’s.
Are the two water heaters tied together?
This looks like a poor man’s high efficiency system.
The big tank has a re-circ and the instant-on heats it as needed. I’d need to see the top to determine if there is a primary and secondary loop like a high efficiency boiler would have. Depends on if the tank has the plumbing taps for it.
As to the tank in the ground under the platform? Any funny smells coming from it? Missing neighbors?
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Maybe some type of “prepper” situation. Never hurts to have the capacity to store some fresh water.
Request disclosure from the vender or there agent.
If none given, refer to a licensed plumber for further evaluation. Remember, it is a limitation.
Could be the old thermal expansion tank.
As for the water heaters. Enough there to write up. Water stains on landing. No safety pan plumbed to flor drain. TPRV tube too long. Mixed plumbing pipe material, copper and galvanized.
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When was the home built? Looks like an abandoned well.
2004 is when it was built
From the pictures it’s hard to gauge the size of it.
Possibly a clean-out?
Or was it more the size of say a portable propane tank? Or was it more like the diameter of the water heater?
If it was me I would make a recommendation in the report for the buyer to make an inquiry with the current owner as to what it is and or what purpose it serves.
Reminds me of…
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It was a larger tank of unknown depth. The platform was nailed down. Similar to what Jeff just showed. Maybe 7 or 8 feet across
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I use whatever my Mac Pro uses to lighten pictures. I really don’t care which is better, it made it easier for ME to see what the OP was referring to.
The platform is barely 7 feet square but Jeffrey could be onto something.
I did not measure the dimensions of the tank or the platform but the width of the tank was my full arm strand as part of the tank is buried in concrete sending past the front of the platform
Thank you Cory, for that explanation. Very kind of you.
Underground has excellent insulation qualities for a hot water storage tank—or possibly storage for other reasons (such as prepping, as mentioned above). Apparently, the platform was built oversized to cover it up, perhaps the whole plan was scrapped. 