I was looking at a for sale house today and noticed that it seemed to be plumbed for 2 water heaters, one in the garage and another in the MBR sitting room, however I'm not certain and was wondering if anyone might have an idea what was going on here. I've included pictures (the water heaters have been removed but the plumbing remains). The black insulated pipes going to the ceiling from/to the garage go to similar pipes in the sitting room about 20 feet away. I guess I'm wondering if I would just bypass/remove the black pipes going to the 2nd WH in the sitting room? 474014740347402

I'd bet you that you'll need both water heaters. Here, most likely the plumbers piped each water heater to the closest fixtures. To test this, I would pump the HOT water pipe at the garage only to say 25 PSI OF AIR and then see what fixtures spew air when you turn them on. All local home supply stores sell push on type fittings (shark bite or gator bite) that you can easily push onto the hot water pipe and easily adapt over to a fitting that works with an air compressor or bicycle pump.

Let me know what you think, OK ?

Mark

Thanks for the ideas Mark, never even considered they might be plumbed independently, and the air idea is great, if we decide on this house we'll definitely give them a try.

If plumbed correctly, this is being done to increase hot water storage as well as - as Mark already said, to speed up hot water delivery to the target bathroom. You can use one of the other hook up and cap off the unused one, or use them both.

Milo