Water temp setting on cast iron boiler

Leo G_100

Hi,

I have a hot water system with original 1940’s cast iron rads and a cast iron boiler that was installed in the early 1980’s. We had a baby last year and for this heating season, I decided to lower the water temperature guage on the boiler from the existing setting of 82C down to 65C. The reason is that my little guy is walking around now and I didn’t want the rads to be so hot.

My question: my t-stat on the main floor has a 1.2C temperature swing. When I had the water temp set to 82C, the boiler would run non-stop until the selected temperature on the t-stat was reached, or until the water reached 82C. If it reached 82C, the boiler would then cycle on and off to maintain that water temperature until the selected temp was reached on the t-stat. This was quite rare, as the main temp was usually reached before the water reached 82C.

Now, of course, the boiler is cycling off and on numerous times on any given cycle, which I expected. Will this cause it to wear out sooner by having it cycle off and on so much more often?

Although it now takes longer for the selected temperature to be reached (which I also expected), I prefer the heat this way because the rads aren’t so scorchiing hot and it’s much more comfortable if you happen to be sitting close to one. So as long as I’m not potentially damaging the boiler, I’m hoping I can keep these settings. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.