I have a hot water heater that has two extra pipes coming out the side with shut off valves. The top pipe is hot to the touch and the lower one is cooler. This is all in addition two the two copper pipes coming on on the top and a 5th pressure release valve on the side.The hardware store guy said, after looking at a picture that it was a radiant heating system for either the floors or the ceilings. The owners manual refers to these outlets as quot;heat exchangersquot; and I've also hear the term boiler and side mount boiler thrown around on here when I asked about it.Can anyone explain what it is doing such as is the hot water constantly being pumped*circulated) or only when I turn the furnace on. I am in a mid level apartment with units above and below me. Am I paying to heat my neighbors floor above me? What would happen if I just shut off one valve etc. etc.
The hot water heater comes with a commercial-grade heat exchanger for both residential and commercial applications and comes with MC-91-1US digital controller with error code indicator. Both natural gas and propane models are available and the hot water heater comes pre-set at 120 degrees F. All LS units contain a newly designed commercial-grade heat exchanger for maximum durability.
Couldn't tell you without seeing it. You need to find out where the pipes go. The cooler one is where the water returns. Whether the furnace has anything to do with it depends on whether the pipes connect with the furnace. I'd suspect they don't. Whether the water is circulating with a pump depends on whether you can find a pump attached to those pipes. Even without a pump, the water will circulate by convection (hot water rises) anyway. If it's your hot water heater, then go ahead and turn off the pipes and see what happens.
