sorry...
here is more info....
house is in allentown pa, and is a rental
5 br with full basement and three floors, row home.
the system has one burner in the basement, 275 gallon tank in the basement hallway.
the system has three loops, one for each floor. these are controlled by mini butterfly's, never seen these, they act like a butterfly valve, but have little 3/4 tabs to control flow, instead of a big 4 inch handle types....still butterfly valves and same principle, right?
system has one thermosat, a programmable one, cant remember the name
just bought last year, has touch screen, pain in the ass......7 day 4 time periods per day....
system is at least 25 years old, emf or emi burner.
new items in last 3 years
circ pump
honeywell controller/red button thingy
new electrodes
recent cleaning and tune up...(1/2 professional, not measurement of temps...stack temp stuff like that...what should be measured anyway and how?)
new shut off at burner....this is the second one, there is also an emergency shutoff at top of steps
new drain valve, press relief valve
system has expansion tank
when the thermostat is set at 45, (remember, just want to keep circulation to prevent heater pipes freezing....I am gonna shut off the water to the home....).....
HERE IS THE problem....
therm at 45 deg
room temp says 58 on therm
I would expect the burner to be shut off, along with the circ pump, until the temp trips below 45...
then the burner should turn on, heat till the upper limit of 140, (set down from 180, just to save fuel....no one in house, jsut want to keep heater pipes form freezing..)
then the circ pump should flow this hot water thru the system, and heat the therm back to above 45, .....then shut off.....circ and burner....
I want it to work this way, because, it has been warm during the day....45-50 degrees, but some nights it goes down to 27-30....
now, this week it is going to 17 degrees.....I am sure I will use the burner more then....
I want to conserve fuel, and only have the BURNER come on when the HOUSE THERM goes below 45 and triggers to circ.....
but it seem that when I turn on the burner, even if the set temp of 45 on the therm, and the room temp is higher, the burner still......
fires to get up to the upper control limit.....
pump wont circ, that is ok, room is warm.....
but why is furnace firing and warming to upper control limit, when room is warm enough>?
get it?
shouldn't both the circ and the furnace fire operate off the THERM?
al
BTW, I am new here,

sorry for the long confusing post, but hey, gotta start somewhere....
al
