Hydrostat 3250 settings help

jbhulagirl

My oil company replaced my boiler and added a hydrostat 3250.  Currently my thermostat is turned off.  Hydrostat set to Econ 1, low 120, high 140.  The boiler runs every 15 mins or so bringing the water up to temp (as I think I understand it) my house is 76 degrees.  Oh and I’ve blown thru 1/4 tank of oil in a month. Remember my thermostat is turned off.  My question is what are the proper settings on the hydrostat to keep it from running the boiler so much and from roasting me out of my house.  

My old unit, didn’t have a hydrostat and only kicked off via thermostat and my house was always a comfortable 68 and my oil consumption was much much lower.  

My oil company is not very responsive and quite honestly I think they want me to blow through my oil faster.  

Please help.  

EBEBRATT-Ed

Need more information. Do you get your domestic hot water off the boiler?

How many zones do you have?

Do you have zone valves or circulators?

HVACNUT

It you're getting heat from the emmiters while the thermostat is off, then there's either a short in the thermostat wiring or a faulty flow check valve allowing the water to gravitate out of the boiler. 
If you have a tankless coil for domestic hot water, the economy setting should be off.

jbhulagirl

Only one zone.  And I have a separate hot water heater.  Not connected to my boiler.  

jbhulagirl

The oil company that installed said that Econ should be set to 1 and low 120 and high 160.  It truly is cooking me out of my house.  And like I said, I’m blowing through my oil much faster than I imagined.  

STEVEusaPA

If you don't use your boiler to make domestic hot water, lo should be off, high can be 160°, circulator hold off should be on (enabled). Like @HVACNUT said, if your thermostat isn't calling for heat, the burner shouldn't run.
It's also possible you are getting ghost flow from a failed/missing check valve.

jbhulagirl

I feel so at a loss because hvac isnt something I kind diddly about.  I only know that my last boiler, if I needed heat I turned up the thermostat.  This thing runs every 15 mins for about a minute with the settings I previously mentioned and my house thermostat is off and the current house temp is 71.  I appreciate all your comments and I have tried calling the installer but they dismiss me.  Very frustrating when I just want it to run as I expect and be more efficient than my 50 year old boiler I replaced.  So far that is not fulfilling my expectations.  

DJD775

This seems odd to me. I wouldn't think the boiler would fire every 15 minutes to maintain temp if the thermostat was not calling for heat. Sounds like you are getting flow through the heating system even though the thermostat is off. You can carefully feel the pipes coming out of the boiler to see if they are hot. If they are there is a problem. For reference I only use ~1/8 a tank per month in the summer to produce hot water.
BTW, what model boiler did they install?

jbhulagirl

Slantfin boiler model temperature-30-1.10p. All pipes coming out are warm to the touch 

DJD775

As mentioned earlier you could have ghost flow or the circulator is being triggered.

jbhulagirl

I don’t know what ghost flow really means or how to fix it.  But what I have done is set Econ to 1, low to off and high to 160.  That was an hour ago and so far it hasn’t kicked back on.  Hoping that is the magic setting!! I suppose the oil company had “their” settings so I buy more oil.  Fingers crossed you’all have helped solve my settings thank you

DJD775

Ghost flow occurs from the hot water rising and self circulating throughout the system. A check valve in the pump or after the pump stops ghost flow and should have been installed at the time of installation.
With the setting you now the burner should never turn on unless there is a call for heat.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@jbhulagirl

Ghost flow is water moving through the pipes when it shouldn't be. Water should only move when the circulator is running. Probably a bad flow check valve.

Check "find a contractor on this site" or post your location. Your contractor sucks. Someone here may be able to recommendation in your area

Post the city you are in

MikeAmann

jbhulagirl said:

Only one zone.  And I have a separate hot water heater.  Not connected to my boiler.  

The others are correct. Since your hot water is completely separate, the LO Limit should be set to off. The LO Limit is for maintaining a minimum water temperature for a tankless coil. You don't have that.

The ECONOMY setting of 1 is for a 1 zone heating loop, just like you say you have. That is what Hydrostat recommends as a starting point. But that will depend on where you are located and how cold it gets, how fast your house loses heat, etc. If your heat loss is low, then you can set the ECONOMY dial to a higher number.

EBEBRATT-Ed is correct - your contractor sucks! This is a great controller, but there is the possibility that the contractor either plumbed or wired things incorrectly.

Attached is the instruction manual. But if you are not comfortable with this, don't touch anything and call a pro.

jbhulagirl

I’m located in bel air Maryland. 

You all have been amazing.  The settings suggested worked and my house is now bearable and the unit hadn’t kicked off unless the thermostat calls it.  I have been trying to get help from the installer for a month!!! Thank you all again. 

EBEBRATT-Ed

Don't know if Bel Air is near Baltimore? @Steamhead

jbhulagirl

Bel air is close enough to Baltimore.