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[Roger2561]

At around 3:00am this morning I happened to be wide awake.  While laying in bed contemplating my day ahead, I heard my oil burner turn on.  It ran for about 45 sec to a minute before shutting off.  Thinking to myself that the fire was out in the OWB I got dressed and before going outside to have a look at the OWB, I decided to check the water temp coming into the house from the OWB; it was at 190 degrees, that's where it should be.  The water temp in the oil burner was ~180 degrees.  The triple aquastat settings on the oil burner are; HI=150; LO=140.  Knowing that, that begs the question;  Why did the oil burner turn on for the 45 sec to 1 minute?  It'll turn on around every hour, hour and half for about 45 sec to a minute.  I'm confused.  I'm counting on you experts for assistance.  Roger

PS; The oil burner was serviced by a professional this past summer.     

[slimjim]

That's a strange one Roger, has anybody physically changed the Aqua Stat, some of the new stuff has an exercise mode, perhaps that's it.

[Roger2561]

Slimjim - The only time I change the settings is when I fire up the OWB in fall to take over the heating chores and in the spring when I shutdown the OWB to have the oil burner take over the DHW.  Other than that, no one has changed settings through the winter. 

One thing I should add, it may make a difference is, yesterday morning when I got out of bed, I turned up the thermostat from 68 to 72.  Generally it takes about 45 minutes for the living space to warm to the 72 degrees.  When I checked it again a bit more than a hour later I noticed the temp still at 68.  Downstairs I go and all zones are calling for heat but the circ on the oil burner isn't running.  I tap it lightly with the end of a screwdriver (it's all I had handy) but that made no difference.  I decided to turn off the oil burner while I looked around for my suicide cord to by-pass the triple aquastat.  I couldn't find and I didn't much time to look it over so I turned on the oil burner again and the circ immediately began to run and it was running great when I got home from work.  Maybe a problem with the triple aquastat?   

[slimjim]

It could be but I think I would have a good look at the loop circ that supplies water to your oil boiler, it may have stuck temporarily. You know there is a much better way to control rather your heat comes from the wood boiler or the oil boiler automatically right. There is no need to change the settings on the oil boiler.

[Roger2561]

I think you may know this; I have 2 circs on the oil end of things.  One is plumbed in at the oil burner drain making up the loop from the oil burner to FPHX to keep the oil burner water hot at all times; it runs 24/7. The other is at the end of the zones before entering the oil burner, only coming on when heat is needed.

Fill me in on what you mean by not having to change the aquastat settings before and after each heating season.  I'm very much interested.  Roger

[slimjim]

It is done by adding an aqua stat onto the incoming wood boiler line, that aqua stat monitors the water temp and breaks connection on temp rise, typically I set it at about 155-160, anything above that setpoint the aqua stat breaks the power connection to the oil or gas burner so it cannot fire, if the temp goes below the setpoint then the aqua stat makes connection and the oil or gas burner returns to exactly the way it was before the wood boiler was installed

[Roger2561]

To add to the confusion; The oil burner hasn't run since it last ran on Wednesday morning about 4:30am.  I haven't touched a thing or done anything different other than let it be until I have time to look it over good.  Perhaps you were right Slimjim, something in the circ loop on the oil side of things may have stuck and now it's worked itself free.  When I shutdown the OWB for the season (may be next weekend) I'll flush the FPHX really good.  Plus, I'll have a look at the circ between the oil burner and FPHX, maybe something in the circ slowing flow.  I'll keep everyone posted.  Roger 

[mlappin]

To add to the confusion; The oil burner hasn't run since it last ran on Wednesday morning about 4:30am.  I haven't touched a thing or done anything different other than let it be until I have time to look it over good.  Perhaps you were right Slimjim, something in the circ loop on the oil side of things may have stuck and now it's worked itself free.  When I shutdown the OWB for the season (may be next weekend) I'll flush the FPHX really good.  Plus, I'll have a look at the circ between the oil burner and FPHX, maybe something in the circ slowing flow.  I'll keep everyone posted.  Roger

Thats the worst kind of thing to try and troubleshoot. Can’t really take the aqua stats part to look for partially burnt contacts that might have stuck….