Space Heater Outlet

Hi,

I am a newbie to the forum. I have a Bradford White water heater with a separate space heater outlet. I plan to connect it to a heat exchanger. I have a couple questions that need some professional help as this is a DIY project

1. The diagram in the manual shows that when the outlet is used, a vacuum breaker needs to be installed on the cold water supply line. By vacuum breaker, I assume the manufacturer meant vacuum relief valve. I thought heaters with a top-feeding setup all have a built-in back-siphon prevention mechanism. And valve is only present in the diagram with space heater outlet connected. I called the manufacturer but the support guy couldn't give me a straight answer.

2. There is some sort of a plug in the space heater outlet connector, how is it supposed to be removed/taken out?

I have attached pictures showing the diagram and the outlet connector. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

1/2" drive wrench with and extension

Only some municipalities require a vacuum breaker on cold supply to wtr htr.

Thank you, Krazedav. Your response has been very helpful. I also did some research regarding the vacuum breaker. My understanding is that if the water is drained through an outlet lower in elevation than the heater is open when the main is cutoff, a vacuum can form inside which may lead to potential damage of the heater. That is why it is usually not required for top feeding heaters. I think this explains why the manufacturer only included the vacuum breaker in the diagram when the space heating outlets are connected as they are below the hot and cold water outlet. Funny how the tech support team of the manufacturer couldn't provide me an explanation.

The dip tube that is installed in a water heater is a vacuum breaker itself but yes some municipalities want one to be manually installed on installation