Main vent replacement- add others somewhere?

Yea, I didn't think the Ecobee was recommended for Steam heat because of some limited capabilites but like I said earlier I don't have any experience with that unit. I have the Honeywell 7000 series (predecessor to the 8000 series). I have been happy with it.

jch1 said:

The highest setting I can set the Ecobee to is a minimum of 20 minutes between cycles. I have a Honeywell thermostat en route which can be programmed to allow one cycle per hour. I wish you could choose two cycles per hour, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Thinking about it, would a 20 minute minimum (Ecobee) be much different than 1 cycle per hour (honeywell)?

With the Honeywell you can select 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 cycles per hour.

jch1 said:

A quick question- how long do the better-quality vents last? I'm also going to pick up some Gorton 5, 6, and Cs.

- I have Hoffmans that are 10 to 15 years old and still going fine. The Gortons will last similarly, I don't have any experience with Ventrites. Seen mixed reviews on this site. Hoffman 75's and Gorton Main vents will last for years also. Most can be soaked in vinegar if they start to stick. Life probably has a lot to do with keeping the pressure down, water quality/mineral content.
Boiler running for an hour/hour and a half to bring the house up 6 degrees is pretty typical (especially if its cold outside). Running that long without reaching pressure Cut-out is really good.

Keep in mind a Pressuretrol and/or a vaporstat are there mostly as a safety device to ensure the boiler shuts down at some reasonable pressure. They are not 100% accurate and you don't want a 6 degree recovery as a regular practice. Short cycling may occur if the boiler is over-sized and/or it is extremely cold outside.
You do have to run the boiler for an extended period to really test the Pressuretrol.
I posted a procedure a few months ago to adjust the accuracy of the Pressuretol but you will have to make the adjustment and run the boiler to determine how close you are to the desired setting. It is posted below.
After I got my Pressuretrol adjusted, I ended up putting a Vaporstat on my boiler as well just to get the operating pressure down even further on those occassions when it is really cold outside (like this past week here in Ohio where we've had a few nights with the wind chills down in the -20 to -30 degree range). My Vaporstat cut-in is 4 oz. and Cut out is 12 oz. Oddly enough, and contrary to what you might think, with adequate Main venting, it doesn't short cycle any more than the Pressuretrol did at higher pressures.
Calibrating a Pressuretrol
Inside the Pressuretrol, right below the micro switch, there is a pivot arm. At the end of that arm you will see a screw pin that is activated by the diaphragm at the bottom of the Pressuretrol. If you look very carefully at that screw pin, you will see it actually has a tiny (I mean tiny) hex head on it. It takes a .050 hex wrench and you can turn it clockwise (Towards the bottom of the Pressuretrol to decrease the Cut-out pressure or counter clockwise to increase the cut-out pressure (which none of us want to do but who knows, your Pressuretrol may be really screwed up!). Turn the power to the unit off first. You may find the first attempt to turn that screw a little bit stubborn (relatively speaking) because it has some Locktite on it but it does turn. Don't turn too much, a fraction of a turn goes a long way towards getting it adjusted where you want it (maybe 1/32 inch turn to start with). You may need to play with it to get it exactly where you want cut out to be.

My radiators with varivalves will inhale loudly at some point after a recovery cycle. It takes a while for the radiator to cool enough for them to open but it is almost like a vacuum in the radiator gets suddenly relieved (or prevented). I believe that is normal under those circumstances. The suddenness and loudness of it is pretty strange sometimes.

@wmtandson - I agree that it is annoying and I'm concerned about the wear and tear as well.

The wait time may or not be significant. In my case it is 90 sec + 13 sec for the damper to close. If you have the 60 sec model it is better.

Do you have the SmartCycle feature enabled? With it enabled my boiler shuts down for the brief test 10 m after the burn begins. There is a 13 sec delay from tstat call initiation for the burn to begin because of the flue damper. I don't have a pressure gauge that measures fractions of an ounce of pressure, but sometimes I wonder if the delay doesn't increase efficiency if it shuts down after steam has started to build a little pressure. That's what a vaporstat would've done if I had one and had it set super low. The 20 m model would be so much better.

Having said all that, I really do want to disable the intermittent test feature.

@‌ Hatterasguy -

Captain Who said:

Having said all that, I really do want to disable the intermittent test feature.

You're misrepresenting me. If I "seem to prefer the feature" why the heck would I want to disable it........?? Also, I said previously that I have already bought two of these things since I had to buy a 24V CycleGard 8 yrs or so ago (I don't think they had SafGard then) and have a brand new 120V CycleGard sitting on a shelf.

It's more an issue of not wanting to give Hydrolevel a total of $480 of my money, which would be about what it'd be if I went out and bought a 3rd unit from them. I will figure out how to hack it and disable the Intermittent test feature. I'm sure it is not difficult.

That's very generous of you. I think I can only use the 24V model though, because even though you or somebody pointed out the trick with the jumper position, I believe I can't use the SmartCycle feature on a 120V CycleGard if I don't have a 120V burner valve. Mine's 24V nat gas.

It would help to see if the same chip #'s are used. I'm pretty sure it is a different circuit board. Yes it would be interesting. I'm mainly interested in the difference between circuitry for CG400(and450)-1090 and CG400(and 450)-2060.

I will try to post a picture of my CycleGard innards soon. Uh oh ......are we hijacking this thread. Too late Are you sure that is a DIP switch. I was thinking it looks like a 555 timer chip (just guessing).

I was trying to say that if they are using a 555 they might have been better off using something like a 4060. My life has been almost all analog electronics but even an old horse can see his way to using digital circuits for some things.

Bob