How to hook up timer to the furnace?

[AstridK]

I live with my mother and my brother in an oil heated house. We have used oil heat for over ten years. In order to conserve oil, we turn the furnace off unless we need hot water for bathing. Usually we heat a pot of water on the stove to wash dishes. My brother will turn on the furnace to wash his clothes. I wash mine in cold. We have relied heavily on space heaters in the winter but I don't want to do that this year as last year buss fuses blew a lot. It's not safe. The problem is I want to use heat but not as much as it will come on automatically to heat water (most will not get used) over and over. I want it to come on less frequently--just enough to make the house warm enough. How do you hook up a timer to the furnace--if that's possible.

 

[Wisneaky]

I live with my mother and my brother in an oil heated house. We have used oil heat for over ten years. In order to conserve oil, we turn the furnace off unless we need hot water for bathing. Usually we heat a pot of water on the stove to wash dishes. My brother will turn on the furnace to wash his clothes. I wash mine in cold. We have relied heavily on space heaters in the winter but I don't want to do that this year as last year buss fuses blew a lot. It's not safe. The problem is I want to use heat but not as much as it will come on automatically to heat water (most will not get used) over and over. I want it to come on less frequently--just enough to make the house warm enough. How do you hook up a timer to the furnace--if that's possible.

Can you bypass it from heating your domestic water?

 

[AstridK]

Can you bypass it from heating your domestic water?

I don't know. I wouldn't know how to do that.

 

[Wisneaky]

can you tell us what brand and model boiler it is? If you could post pictures of everything that might help also.
Can you tell

 

[maple1]

You could save on DHW heating costs by putting in an ordinary electric water heater & leaving the oil off when not heating for heat.

Trying to use a timer in the heating system doesn't sound like something that would work out all that well, maybe not much better than just using thermostats. Did using electric heaters really save much on costs? I would think it wouldn't take too much of that to cost as much as burning a bit of oil once in a while. Plus oil has come down in price this year.

You have a boiler? Or a hot air furnace plus oil hot water heater? If a boiler you could try lowering the aquastat settings so it doesn't keep itself as hot all the time - maybe they're just set higher than they need to be?

 

[brenndatomu]

last year buss fuses blew a lot. It's not safe

You are right, if the fuses are the correct size, that means you were overloading your electrical system, please stop that.
Can you install a gas, or electric water heater? They are much more efficient than oil water heaters...
Not sure how it is going to help, but you could wire in a simple spring wound bathroom fan timer, just cut into one of the two thermostat wires, then wire the timer in series...when the tstat is calling for heat, the furnace will only run when the timer is wound up. As I said, I don't think this is gonna help much and it makes it so somebody always has to be home to keep the heat on. Your insurance company won't approve of a timer either, primary heat must be automatic.
Any interest in heating with a wood stove?

 

[Buzz Saw]

How does the boiler tie into the heater? If the HWH is calling for heat put a relay unto the thermostat circuit.

 

[Wisneaky]

How does the boiler tie into the heater? If the HWH is calling for heat put a relay unto the thermostat circuit.

One would think there would have to be a way to bypass it. Hard to know without seeing pictures of this setup.