Boiler Hour Meter

zoulas

I always wanted to know how many hours per day/week/month the boiler actually runs (burner running). Is there any such device like an hour meter on a lawn tractor that will tell you how many minutes or hours the boiler/burner was running? I am referring to a oil/hot water boiler. Thanks

Zman

Any 24 volt AC hour meter will do the job. Just wire it is parallel with the boiler enable circuit.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Depends what boiler you have. You can install either a 120 volt or a 24 volt hour meter depending on the boiler you have you have to figure out how to wire it.

If it is oil I would use a 120v meter wired in parallel with the burner motor. If gas it depends on what you have. WW Grainger would be one source.

Robert_25

Sure. I have a 120v mechanical hour meter on mine, it runs whenever the burner runs.

JUGHNE

So then would the hours X GPH nozzle give you a pretty accurate consumption for the season?
Do resi oil burners have any pre/post purge times that might throw the time off over a period of a season?
Haven't done oil for 30 years, just curious.

Gordy

Yes I wonder if actual “burn time” would be skewed from proving circuit.

Leonard

I also have 120v mechanical hour meter on mine. I installed it to measure my fuel use per day to figure out if I would make it thru the weekend if oil tank ran low. My old furnace has no purges.

IF have purges could measure purges and run time. Then if purge times are low compared to run times you could just ignore them. Or come up with a rough correction factor on run time, say 95% ?? of hour meter reading, maybe. Check if purge times are constant ( summer and winter)

Ideally maybe measure purges and run time both summer and winter, since longer run times in winter ( % purge/run time would likley be lower on long runs)

JUGHNE

Or add a cycle counter to count each time it started. Deduct purge/prove time for each start.

Alan Welch

Or wire in parallel with oil valve, which would be closed during pre and post purge

JUGHNE

I was wondering about that. Do resi oil burners have electric solenoid valves on the oil line?

Alan Welch

If the burner has pre and post purge it has to hold back the oil while letting the burner motor run , lots of burners nowadays do have them, gives smoother starting and stopping.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@JUGHNE some are built into the pumps now. remember the old days with the old delay solenoid valves?.

I forgot about pre and post purge. Suppose you would then have to know the # of cycles to figure out the deductions As long as you consider pump pressure (their not 100psi all the time) their accurate.

If I was doing a boiler replacement and it was a radical size change I would stick one on the old boiler for a few weeks or as long as I could to try and confirm the size. If you get a 30 unit apartment building you'll never get in there to take off all the radiation

Leonard

Simplifed hour meter for separate solenoid .........Could wire hour meter in series with added relay to burner motor power. Then wire relay coil to get power from solenoid that shuts off flow for pre/post purge.

That way meter only runs while burner motor is powered AND solenoid is flowing oil.