steam boiler using too much gas

meh485

So I have a super old steam boiler that used to run my radiators. within the past year I had a contractor remove the radiators and put in forced air. To help save money the contractor reconfigured my boiler to send hot water up to my air handler, and that's now how I have forced hot air in my house.
I've noticed extremely high gas usage on my gas meter compared to my second gas meter (i have 2 unit house with separate utilities) even when my heat is not on. So the question is does the boiler still consume gas when the thermostat turns the heat off? is there a way to configure it?

Fred

I have to assume the water is being maintained at a certain temperature using an aquastat or some other device? That would mean the boiler is probably running at times when there is no call for heat from the thermostat.

JUGHNE

Can you hear if the boiler is firing when your T-stat is off?
What heats your household hot water?
Turn the power switch on your boiler off and see if you run out of hot water in the shower. Or if the tenants run out.

How is the other house heated?

JohnNY

The boiler can be configured (wired) to maintain a minimum temperature all the time or it can be made to fire up on demand only. I really dislike having a boiler maintain temperature for any reason, but it's usually the easier option and may very well be what you've got going on there.

nicholas bonham-carter

You are probably stuck with a less efficient system, now that there are no sources of radiant heat, (radiators), which warm the objects in the room, instead of all the air, first, and then the people.
In addition to that, the volume of water in your steam boiler, now used for hot water, is far greater than a correctly sized hot water boiler, and therefore needs more fuel to run.--NBC

Jamie Hall

Shifting to forced air with hot water air handlers has almost certainly dropped your overall efficiency, causing you to use a good deal more fuel to maintain the same level of comfort. That type of system can work well in larger buildings, using hot water or, preferably, steam to heat remote air handlers, eliminating the need for big ductwork all over the place. In a residence, not so much.

But it is what it is.

You should also follow up the suggestions from the other folks, particularly on whether the boiler is being fired all the time to maintain a particular boiler temperature, or for domestic hot water use.

Steamhead

You've just discovered that forced air will never equal the comfort and efficiency of steam.