"sf" > wrote in message
...


>>
> We had a hot water heater, not a boiler, when I lived in Michigan.
> Water heaters have boilers in them, but no one and I mean NO ONE calls
> the entire unit a boiler. Like I said before, commercial and public
> buildings have large units called boilers but it is not a term used in
> single family residential.
>


Domestic water heaters are different that the home heating units.

In my last house, we had a water heater that was stand alone, gas fired. We
also had a furnace that made hot air heat to keep the house warm. As you
mentioned, many furnaces can have refrigeration coils installed to cool the
air also. . It was very common in that t ype of house in the area. In
Philly, there could be hundreds of houses build at the same time with the
same heating systems. Some have furnaces, some have boilers, depending on
the design and the t ime period built.

Units that make both hot water for domestic use and are combined with the
heating water are boilers. That, your opinion aside is a fact. Just ask
anyone that makes boilers, designs boilers, installs boilers, the IBR, the
Hydronics Heating Association, and every boiler technician. Yes, some
people do incorrectly call them a furnace, but if you call a tomato an
apple, that does not mean it is correct.