That's a little less confusing..
bummer, didn't do my job right :-)
So for electricity it doesn't have much effect ...
Yes, but it does give you a nice clean way of adding adding thickness to tracks that need it. I am currently doing a few more P/Supply pcbs that have some 20A tracks that
need 4oz, but also have tiny s/mount comonents. SO I'll do them in 1-2oz and thicken the ones that need it.
however for heat distribution it is helpful and more cost efficient than throwing in heavy hook up wire along that track?
Adding hook-up wire along the track is WAY more effective than plain exposure !! As I said, simply leaving it exposed is
not a big help !! Where you have convection cooling,
it
does help. This is for our case. As others have said, fabs do it because it is MUCH chaper to run an extra pass through the wave solder than the cost of extra copper.
Solder is not as good conductor as copper, but it's better than nothing.
Hope I've confused you again :-)