Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Aquastat Problem

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sr1501
12-21-04, 08:04 AM
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I have an old (50 years old) oil hot water furnace. The hot water heater is seperate. The furnace has two aquastats, the "high" and the "low". This season, even when the weather wasn't that cold, I have had trouble bringing the interior temperature to where I want it, and maintaining it. The service person who "cleaned" the system this summer had set the high on 153 and the low on 120. I have adjusted that to 180/135 and it has helped somewhat. What seems to be happening is that there is a longer than usual time lag between cycles of the burner. Hence, the circulated water isn't always as hot as it should be. Should I set the "low" aquastat at a higher temperature? What should that be? Since this is an old system it doesn't seem to have any other controls that are visible. Any other ideas?

Thank you.

Steve


mattison
12-21-04, 08:15 AM
Is the high the "high limit" with a reset button on it??

sr1501
12-21-04, 08:53 AM
There is no reset button on the aquastat. The only reset button is on a box mounted on the exhaust pipe going from the unit to the chimney. The two aquastats are adjacent to the boiler inside the outer casing.


mattison
12-21-04, 10:32 AM
In that case bump the low up to 150º - 160º

sr1501
12-21-04, 12:26 PM
OK. I'll give it a shot. I assume that once the coldest part of the winter is over I should drop the low considerably in order to save oil.

Thank you for your help.

Steve

Ed Imeduc
12-21-04, 03:07 PM
With Matt here Id set the boiler at 160o on and 180o off.
50 Years old. Do you have a pump on the boiler?? Do you have a tstat upstairs that turns the burner on and off are works on the pump???


ED ;)