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[kayakerski]

Hello everyone, I'm new here but I've already read a lot of posts and this seems like a good resource. I hope someone here can help because I really don't have the cash to call a home heating expert into my house.

I have a Central Boiler E-classic 1400 and it is plumbed direct into my oil/hot water furnace. This is also how I heat my domestic hot water. I had the wood boiler installed last year and I'm very happy with it's performance when it's cold out (below 25 degrees). The only issue I'm concerned with is that my oil furnace seems to kick on a lot unless there is an almost constant call for heat. Does anyone else have this issue? It's only when it's warmer than about 25-30 degrees and it only runs for a few minutes.

I already have adjusted the high and low knobs on the oil boiler to 220 and 120, respectively which is as high as I can go on the high and as low as I can go on the low. Now I'm wondering if it's ok to flip the lever on the top of the oil burner and manually shut it off. I've heard there can be problems if you do that but I've also heard that's due to letting the furnace cool off. Is it ok if I still have hot water flowing through the oil furace keeping it warm?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Gregg

[Scott7m]

Is your system allowing your old boiler to mix with the wood boiler!?  Like is it sharing water or are they separated

[kayakerski]

Yes, my water mixes. The supply and return are plumbed directly into my oil boiler without a heat exchanger.

Gregg

[Scott7m]

Hmm....   I assume your existing boiler was a pressurized unit!? 

I hate seeing them installed this way, it causes potential for a lot more issues

[slimjim]

First of all stay out of the aquastat when you don't know what it does, by what you are saying you are taking the boiler to steam, the low setting is for domestic hot water protection, the high is what the boiler shuts off at, turn it down to 185. A strap on aquastat can be used to kill the burner automatically but you must do it the right way, never take the unit to 220.

[kayakerski]

Hmm. What kind of issues? I can't remember if it was pressurized or not. The guy that installed it said the boiler was real old and that's what he recommended. My dealer wasn't much help either. Everything seems to work good to my uneducated eye except the oil burner kicks on more than I think it should.

[Scott7m]

Hmm. What kind of issues? I can't remember if it was pressurized or not. The guy that installed it said the boiler was real old and that's what he recommended. My dealer wasn't much help either. Everything seems to work good to my uneducated eye except the oil burner kicks on more than I think it should.

It's just never a good idea to depressurize something that was essentially designed to be ran under pressure.  Part of why these old boilers last so long is that they are pressurized and there is no o2 in the system and therefore no rust. 

If you woulda separated the 2 using a plate exchanger, the loop from your stove could have ran constantly through it, you could have then used a strap on aquatstat on your old boiler "linked to a small pump" that would circulate water through the plate when the water in your existing boiler began to cool

[kayakerski]

I'm gonna go down and look at the aquastat closer. Maybe I described that part wrong. It was my understanding that turning the high knob up to 220 makes it so the oil burner won't kick on until the water reaches 220 (which it never does) and turning the low down to 120 makes it so the burner doesn't kick on unless the water goes below 120 (which it also never does). My preexisting settings were 180 for high and 160 for low. Am I explaining that right?

[willieG]

heed slims advice on this one..you are gonna hurt yourself!

[Scott7m]

I'm gonna go down and look at the aquastat closer. Maybe I described that part wrong. It was my understanding that turning the high knob up to 220 makes it so the oil burner won't kick on until the water reaches 220 (which it never does) and turning the low down to 120 makes it so the burner doesn't kick on unless the water goes below 120 (which it also never does). My preexisting settings were 180 for high and 160 for low. Am I explaining that right?

No....  It should be like it kicks on at 160 and off at 180, but I'm no oil boiler expert.... It's hard telling

[baldwin racing]

First of all stay out of the aquastat when you don't know what it does, by what you are saying you are taking the boiler to steam, the low setting is for domestic hot water protection, the high is what the boiler shuts off at, turn it down to 185. A strap on aquastat can be used to kill the burner automatically but you must do it the right way, never take the unit to 220.

I agree with slim jim I was going to say the same thing set the aquastat back to 180. your boiler now trying to reach 220 and your wood boiler is only going to 170-185 or so I am guessing......we hooked up my father enlaws boiler like mine up the same way you did but our boilers are pressurized like the oil burner boiler....
kelly

[kayakerski]

Yes! I can understand maybe setting the aquastat so the oil furnace doesn't kick on until water cools to 120 but why touch the high setting to kick it off at 220. It NEVER gets nearly that high BTW. I guess I'll change my settings back.

[kayakerski]

Ok, the temp gage on the boiler only goes to 190 even with h=220. I turned the h setting back to 180 like it was when I had only the oil furnace. Then when I turned the L up to 160 from 120, the oil burner fired up. Is it ok to keep that setting low?

Thanks for all the comments!

[slimjim]

What temp does water boil at?

[baldwin racing]

Ok, the temp gage on the boiler only goes to 190 even with h=220. I turned the h setting back to 180 like it was when I had only the oil furnace. Then when I turned the L up to 160 from 120, the oil burner fired up. Is it ok to keep that setting low?

Thanks for all the comments!

try turning your high down below 180. how far can it go down? that way it don't kick on because the water temp will be at 180 unless your temp drops down below your high temp setting on oil boiler. it wont kick on
kelly