I have one of those weird houses with a basement that isn’t fully recessed into the ground.
What most would consider my first floor is truly elevated and has to be accessed by stairs in the front and back of the house.
When you get to the basement, the windows looking out are larger and the ground is at chest level as you walk from room to room. Typically a basement is recessed to the point where only a foot or several of space above one’s head overlooks the ground outdoors. As a result, my basement isn’t as tornado safe as a traditional basement, even though I live on the east coast so it doesn’t matter. I have a fan-forced furnace in the basement. It has separate HVAC duct that isn’t connected to the air conditioner. The HVAC duct for the oil furnace is along the ceiling in the basement, while the HVAC duct for the a/c is inside the attic above the main floor. When the oil furnace was installed several years ago, I told the heating and cooling business to put the fuel reservoir underneath the front porch. Putting the oil tank here meant that the HVAC servicemans who stop to refill my fuel have access to it from my driveway. They can run the hose from the truck without needing to drive into my side or backyard. I know that my heating and cooling corporation prefers having full access to the oil tank in the front of the house. However, sometimes I have to get my snowblower out to clear the driveway after a large snowstorm, otherwise they can get to my house.
My furnace’s oil tank sits below my front porch for straight-forward refill access