Can I upgrade to 2 stage boiler?

[koiman]

I have a Trianco TRO 50/73 boiler which works well but the house suffers from temperature swings. It is possible to upgrade this to a 2 stage burner so that the heat delivery is less peaky?
The boiler is 22 years old and seems ok - should I consider getting a new boiler or is it still likely to last me a good few years?

 

[Killy Bing]

Ill go ahead and say not designed for a two stage burner, most you could differ them by would be your min + max ratings currently. Not even worth it.

 

[SimonG]

Id be looking at a controls/zoning upgrade/insulation before looking at the boiler.

Yes you would save a bit on the oil with a new boiler, but im very much a 'if it aint broke' etc etc

 

[Dotty]

The smallest 2 stage burner, Riello G20D, would blow the arse out of your boiler in no time at all. And it's bloody expensive, £700 notes plus.

Not only that you'd need to completely upgrade the controls to give you a changeover stat as well as your control stat.

Completely unviable in a domestic situation.

 

[kimbo]

Have you thought about weather compensation controls most boiler manufacturers do them they include a optimiser with an outdoor temperature sensor

 

[lame plumber]

its 22 years old, be happy with a few temp swings! or cough for some upgrades and a new boiler

 

[koiman]

Thanks, I'll check out the weather compensation controls option. This got me thinking:

Is there any reason why you can't add a further thermostat within the boiler which holds the boiler on for a longer burn (set for Higher water temperature). Power to this thermostat could be fed from another room stat, set for say 17 degrees. So if the room is less than 17 degrees, the boiler stat (set at High) overrides the normal boiler stat so the water is hotter and the house warms up faster. When the room temperature is over 17 degrees, there is no power to the HIGH stat so the boiler is controlled by the original stat (which would be set Low-Medium) - so boiler circulates warm water when the room temperature is near optimal.

...or am I thinking too hard! Perhaps boilers are less efficient when operating at lower temperatures?

 

[Dotty]

There's one boiler stat for a reason. You try to override it and you will find yourself in a hell of a lot of bother.

Ask yourself this. Why isn't the house holding it's heat?

Look at that before you try and blow yourself up.

 

[Best]

If your boiler power output is enough for house size & the pipework and rads are correctly sized, then assuming the circulating pump(s) is capable of doing the job, your house should heat up reasonably fast. If your boiler is shutting off on it's own stat a lot when the rads still haven't reached full temperature, then the heat is not getting away from the boiler fast enough for some reason - pipework too small in parts or circulating pump inadequate are some possibilities.
Check your system is properly balanced. Just have full controls on heating & insulate the house as best as you can afford.

 

[SimonG]

So what engineering discipline are you from?

 

[WHPES]

The boiler is 22 years old as you say and probably G rated, built when oil was about 5p a litre.

There's an old saying ....... You can't polish a turd.

In any case without proper thermostatic controls you're going to get temperature swings.

 

[koiman]

Yes, I'm aware that the boiler is low efficiency by modern standards but estimate that the cost of replacement would take around 15 years to justify by fuel savings. The house is big, old, drafty so the boiler does a great job getting it up to the thermostat temperature, then cuts out. The house continues to warm as the rads are still hot. By the time the thermostat kicks back in, the house has cooled considerably, creating the temperature swing.
Ideally I'd like to be able to run the boiler at a lower power output when the temp gets near the desired level to keep the temperature more even.
... but perhaps you can't teach a dinasaur new tricks!

 

[Dotty]

Leave the boiler and its stat alone.

As about upgrading the controls inside the house, room stat, trv's etc.

THEN you might get the result you're after.

 

[MarkOil]

Sounds like you got your room stat in the hottest room in the house, giving a bit of a false reading, like croppie said, need better controls and balancing etc by the sounds of it.
Boiler will kick in when room stat says "can I have some heat please"
Or possible invest in some wall or roof insulation?

 

[Worcester]

Along with sensibly upgrading the heating controls and insulating, insulating, oh and insulating, this is why buffer tanks were 'invented' about 150 years ago in the age of steam (calorifiers in them dark ol' days ) Install large buffer tank (1000-2000ltr) , boiler heats buffer tank flat out then stops, buffer tank delivers variable load as needed... Cost .... mmmm... runs to bank