Help, constant cycling on boiler
I cannot figure out for the life of me why my boiler keeps cycling every minute. I am not even sure if this is normal. It will be 60 degrees and my target temperature is 65. My boiler will cycle on and off every minute until it hits 65. Is something wrong? My gas bill…
I cannot figure out for the life of me why my boiler keeps cycling every minute. I am not even sure if this is normal. It will be 60 degrees and my target temperature is 65. My boiler will cycle on and off every minute until it hits 65. Is something wrong? My gas bill killed me last month! Does this not help? I have gas / steam / boiler. Please help. Thanks.
Thanks eman1234, I appreciate the offer and I might eventually take you up on it.
Thanks Master Plvumber. That is what I thought too. With steam leaking out like that it must screw up all the pressure. I think I can change out the inlet valve or the fitting that joins the radiator (it looks like the leak is coming from the elbow piece), but the pipes are so old I am afraid I will crack them if I put a wrench to it (house built in 1930s).
Master Plvumber, if the boiler is just too big like you suggest, am I basically screwed? Can’t I “fire down” the boiler and not allow it to burn so strongly? Thanks.
I wouldn’t dismiss that leak.
You’re definitely loosing pressure through the leak and it may be contributing to your short-cycling.
I would bet your boiler is just too big, but to establish that, you’d need an EDR calculation to add up the surface area of all the radiators.
all i can say is that i offer a free site consultation…it sounds like you have a minor leak at a valve… no big deal..but the short cycling is way more important..let me give it a look , email me at errol832000@yahoo.com
Well today I replaced all the air vents with new ones on the radiators. Boiler still appears to be short cycling, but slightly different now. Instead of very minute what I observed now is that the boiler runs for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds and stops for a minute. Runs for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds and stops for a minute……also the pressure guage is showing about 2.5 psi now (before it was showing 2 psi). All this just from changing the air vents.
I still notice steam leaking from the pipe joints underneath one of the radiators. Is this a big issue?
Well today I replace all the air vents with new ones on the radiators. Boiler still appears to be short cycling, but slightly different now. Instead of very minute what I observed now is that the boiler runs for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds and stops for a minute. Runs for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds and stops for a minute……also the pressure guage is showing about 2.5 psi now (before it was showing 2 psi). All this just from changing the air vents.
I still notice steam leaking from the pipe joints underneath one of the radiators. Is this a big issue?
Master Plvumber, thank you for your response.
1. Your response to the pressuretol is interesting. I turned the heat on last night and watched the boiler. It burned for 20 minutes straight, before it started cycling every 1 minute again. I looked at the pressure guage and noticed the boiler went on when it was slightly under 2 psi. When it hit 2 psi, the boiler would go off. On for a minute, off for a minute, on for a minute, off for a minute…….and so on and so on. My pressuretol looks like this HoneyWell one : http://www.pexsupply.com/categories.asp?cID=285 and the little metal switch on it is all the way down
2. I released the sludge from the boiler (blowing it down) for the first time last night (I just moved in 2 months ago). Boy was it brown and sludgy!! I will continue to do this once a week. Once I did this, the water in the glass guage went all the way down. I have an automatic water filler, but it didn’t seem to go off (nor did I hear it)
3. I have a RiteTemp digital thermostat I bought from HomeDepot. I don’t think it has a heat anticipator on it?? http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100625727
Thank you for your response eman1234
I don’t think I have any master vents and I do not hear any sloshing noise when the boiler kicks in, The boiler is about 5 to 6 years old, and this is my first heating season (I just bought the house). I just signed a service contract with National Grid (before I found this board….doh!) and I blew down the boiler for the first time last night.
I also found something very disturbing, I have hissing from my radiator for two rooms upstairs. At first I thought it was the air vent and replacing that would take care of it. As I looked closer tonight, it is not the air vent but the actual pipe and valve underneath the radiator that is hissing. I actually see steam coming our of the pipe joints underneath the radiator and the valve!! I would suspect this is not a good thing?
Thank you for your help in advance!
check to see if your master vents are working (the vents on the main runs found at the base of the front and back riser)…is there a sloshing noise when the boiler kicks in?…how old is the boiler, is this your first heating season , and when did you last have the boiler serviced..finally have you been blowing down the boiler on a weekly basis?
Three controls on a gas-fired steam boiler will make it short cycle:
1. The pressuretrol. If your system isn’t vented well enough or if you’re boiler is too large for the system it serves, the pressure will rise and fall quickly, opening and closing the electrical contacts on the pressuretrol to start and stop the boiler.
2. The low water cut off. A dirty or oversized boiler will push the water out and toward the ends of the return piping, tricking the device into thinking the boiler is out of water. With the boiler off, the water returns and the boiler starts back up. This will happen all day long forever until it is addressed.
3. The thermostat. If the thermostat has an anticipator setting, make sure it is set for steam or hot water (digital) or you’ll need to take an amperage reading of the control circuit and match that value on the sliding scale setpoint in a mechanical (analog) thermostat like the older round Honeywell type.
Short cycling is not normal and will increase fuel usage, as you’ve noticed.
This is me:
http://www.GatewayPlumbing.com