Hi All, I'm new to this forum and currently obsessed with making my home as energy efficiant as possible. My first (and most likely my last) home bought July of last year. One winter on oil was enough. I recently purchased a pellet stove (Harman Accentra) for the 1305 sq. ft. I've opened up a new doorway b/w the kitchen and living room so the air can circulate properly. I've also just recently properly vented and insulated the attic.
This past heating season, I burned 864 gallons of fuel oil in my oil-fired Burnham tankless coil boiler. The aquastat was and still is set with a min 165, max 180 temp. The differential is set on 20. When running the hot water and watching the guage at the same time, it seems the boiler fires on at roughly 180, then clicks off around 200-205, but increases in temp to roughly 210 before beginning it's slow decent.
Since pellets will now be my primary source of heat in the winter, I am looking for advise on what I can do to make my DHW use more efficiant year round. I have not been able to track this thoroughly, but I am sure the boiler is clicking on numerous times per day, in an effort to maintain the HW temp. I have read numerous posts on this site, but get confused jumping from indirect tank posts, to solar HW posts, to large storage tanks etc...
No access to NG, solar prob a bit too expensive for me at this point. Maybe not? Not really sure. Not out of the picture in the coming years. Electric or enhancements to oil are my options at this point.
1) What does the differential of 10-15-20 on a Honeywell aquastat do?
2) Will lowering the min/max/diff settings help consume less oil? Are there any bad effects to the boiler doing this?
3) Could I turn the boiler off completely while at work and sleeping? (roughly 16 hours per day)? Bad to do this?
And most important, suggestions on how I can make my oil-fired boiler click on less often! Additions, like a indirect tank etc...
Currently just my wife and I demanding HW in the morning for showers and dishes at night.
Really appreciate this site for it's info. Thanks in advance. -Mike
This past heating season, I burned 864 gallons of fuel oil in my oil-fired Burnham tankless coil boiler. The aquastat was and still is set with a min 165, max 180 temp. The differential is set on 20. When running the hot water and watching the guage at the same time, it seems the boiler fires on at roughly 180, then clicks off around 200-205, but increases in temp to roughly 210 before beginning it's slow decent.
Since pellets will now be my primary source of heat in the winter, I am looking for advise on what I can do to make my DHW use more efficiant year round. I have not been able to track this thoroughly, but I am sure the boiler is clicking on numerous times per day, in an effort to maintain the HW temp. I have read numerous posts on this site, but get confused jumping from indirect tank posts, to solar HW posts, to large storage tanks etc...
No access to NG, solar prob a bit too expensive for me at this point. Maybe not? Not really sure. Not out of the picture in the coming years. Electric or enhancements to oil are my options at this point.
1) What does the differential of 10-15-20 on a Honeywell aquastat do?
2) Will lowering the min/max/diff settings help consume less oil? Are there any bad effects to the boiler doing this?
3) Could I turn the boiler off completely while at work and sleeping? (roughly 16 hours per day)? Bad to do this?
And most important, suggestions on how I can make my oil-fired boiler click on less often! Additions, like a indirect tank etc...
Currently just my wife and I demanding HW in the morning for showers and dishes at night.
Really appreciate this site for it's info. Thanks in advance. -Mike
