Guide to Heating System Boiler Limit Controls & Strap-On Aquastats, their Settings & Wiring InspectAPedia® -
Guide to single limit controls on heating boilers and water heaters
Guide to strap-on aquastats or limit controls on heating boilers and water heaters
Links to common heating control aquastat installation and adjustment instructions
Heating efficiency and boiler temperature explained
How to save money by setting the Honeywell R8182D and similar controls optimally
Guide to the Honeywell L7224U1002 Universal Oil Heating Boiler Electronic Aquastat Controller
Questions & answers about temperature limit controls used on heating boilers: strap-on type limit controls & aquastats - diagnosis, repair & replacement advice
Strap-on aquastats or limit controls on heating equipment: Here we explain the functions and typical settings single function limit controls and for strap-on limit controls or aquastats used on both hot water heating boilers and on water heaters.
InspectAPedia offers impartial, unbiased advice without conflicts of interest.
We will block advertisements which we discover or readers inform us are associated with bad business practices,
false-advertising, or junk science. Our contact info is at
InspectAPedia.com/Contact.htm.
This website answers most questions about Heating System Boiler Controls on central heating systems to aid in troubleshooting, inspection, diagnosis, and repairs.
The photo above shows a Honeywell R8182D combination heating control, also called an "aquastat". Contact us to suggest text changes and additions and, if you wish, to receive online listing and credit for that contribution.
Guide to Single-Function Heating Boiler Limit Controls
Use of a single function limit switch on boilers & tankless coils
Here (above left) is a photo of a more traditional single-function heating boiler limit controls. In this example the aquastat or limit switch is being used on a tankless coil that happens to be on steam boiler. If you click the image to enlarge the photo, you'll see that the temperature limit on the control is set to about 140 degF.
Our second photo (above right) shows a limit switch used on direct vent Energy Kinetics System 2000 boiler installed in 2004. Click to enlarge the right hand photo and you'll see that this limit control is set to keep the boiler temperature between 96 degF. and 102 degF. A dab of red paint show at the 5'o-clock position on the dial enables the service technician to detect if someone has adjusted the control off of its factory setting.
When a heating boiler uses a tankless coil to produce domestic hot water, a third single-function control may be installed for that purpose. In this photo a Honeywell limit control switch is being used to monitor hot water temperature at the tankless coil which is in turn mounted on a steam boiler of an older home in Portland, Maine. You can see the black-handled mixing valve in the lower right of this photo.
Cold water from the building is entering the tankless coil via the bottom pipe (green corrosion) and hot water, heated by the coil is leaving at the upper part of the tankless coil, where it turns downwards to enter the left side of the mixing valve.
Additional cold water is permitted to enter the bottom of the mixing valve, and tempered (non-scalding) hot water then leaves at the right side of the mixing valve in this photo.
More information about tankless coils, how they work, what goes wrong, and their controls, is at TANKLESS COILS.
Use of Single Limit Control Switches to Control Heating Boiler Hi and Low temperature settings
On heating boilers where individual limit controls are installed, you will find two similar devices, but mounted at different locations on the boiler, controlling the boiler's HIGH limit, or cut-off on a call for heat, and the boiler's LOW limit or cut-on point as the boiler water temperature falls.
Guide to Strap-on Aquastats as Heating Boiler or Water Heater Controls
An older type of aquastat used to set boiler temperature limits was strapped to the hot water riser pipe close to the top of the heating boiler. This device is shown in Carson Dunlop's sketch at above left, and in our photograph (above right)
Rather than a temperature probe inserted directly into the heating boiler's water (as used by modern aquastats) the strap-on type aquastat relies on metal-to-metal contact between the control and the boiler water riser pipe.
If your heating system is controlled by a strap-on aquastat such as shown here in Carson Dunlop's, you'll want to check that it has remained securely in place.
If the aquastat becomes loose its contact with the hot water pipe is lost and the system is unsafe.
Questions & Answers regarding this article
Questions & answers about temperature limit controls used on heating boilers: strap-on type limit controls & aquastats - diagnosis, repair & replacement advice
Critique, contributions wanted: Contact Us to suggest corrections or additions to articles at this website, and if you wish, to receive online listing and credit as a contributor. Particular thanks are due to the many experts and also consumers who read and critique technical articles at InspectAPedia.com.
Additional technical contributors & reference sources for this article are listed below.
Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.
Thanks to Bottini Fuel service manager Ron Thomas for discussing aquastat functions, low limit controls, oil burner short cycling causes, and boiler maintenance, reliability, and service contracts 4/13/2010. Bottini Fuel is a residential and commercial heating oil distributor and oil heat service company in Wappingers Falls, NY and with offices in other New York locations. Bottini Fuel, 2785 W Main St,
Wappingers Falls NY, 12590-1576
(845) 297-5580 more contact information for Bottini Fuel
We provide links just below to several aquastat installation, setting, and adjustment documents in response to reader requests and comments that people sometimes have difficulty finding this information. But readers looking for specific aquastat control information should always first try the control manufacturer.
Armstrong 24-hour time and aquastat control accessory: provides on/off pump control according to preset operating times, designed only for use with specified Armstrong Astro series wet roto circulators installed in indoor hot water re circulation applications. Typical timer applications will cycle the pump at preset times, allowing the user to select
operation of the circulating pump during high peak usage periods in order to decrease the
delivery time to outlet fixtures and reduce wasted water, also available at www.honeywell.com
Honeywell Corporation, control installation guides for Honeywell aquastats and other heating and cooling controls: see http://customer.honeywell.com
Honeywell L4008E Aquastat high limit,manual reset, aquastat controller instructions
Honeywell L4006, Manual Reset Strap-On Aquastat (high limit control, 100 to 240 degF) [we consider strap on controls less accurate and reliable than immersion type sensor controls; these were commonly found on older heating boilers including the GE series downfired boilers]
Honeywell L4026B Aquastat control instructions (contact Honeywell Corporation) Here is some basic description of the Honeywell L4026B control, also available at www.honeywell.com
Honeywell L6006 and L6007 Aquastat Controllers, installation instructions for the trained service technician, these controls combine low or high limit and circulator control, with or without an immersion well depending on the control model A,B, C etc., also available at www.honeywell.com
Honeywell L6191 Dual aquastat immersion thermostat, also available at www.honeywell.com
Honeywell L7224 Aquastat Controller, oil electronic controls allowing high limit, high limit differential, low limit, and separate low limit differential settings - set to the specifications of your oil heating equipment manufacturer - 69-1957-1 L7224 Series controls, also available at www.honeywell.com
Honeywell L7224U Oil Electronic Aquastat Controller - 69-1720-2 series instructions. These newer aquastat controllers are often used to replace the older Honeywell L8124A series that was and remains widely used, also available at www.honeywell.com.
Honeywell L8124A,B,C,E,G,LO,M Aquastat Relays immersion type controllers for forced hydronic heating systems that include domestic hot water service (such as a tankless coil), also available at www.honeywell.com
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
The Home Reference Book - the Encyclopedia of Homes, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, 2010, $69.00 U.S., is available from Carson Dunlop. The Home Reference Book is a bound volume of more than 450 illustrated pages that assist home inspectors and home owners in the inspection and detection of problems on buildings. The text is intended as a reference guide to help building owners operate and maintain their home effectively. InspectAPedia.com ® author/editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author. Field inspection worksheets are included at the back of the volume.
BLUE vs YELLOW COMBUSTION FLAMES - the Blueray history and blue flame vs. yellow flame combustion, flame color & combustion efficiency, & how oil competes with gas as a heating fuel.
CAD CELL RELAY SWITCH on oil fired furnaces or boilers as flame sensors & safety devices
Check Valves Guide to check valves and back flow preventers on hydronic (hot water) heating systems (gas or oil fired)
Draft Hoods on gas fired heating equipment, function and safety
Draft Regulators & barometric dampers on oil fired heating equipment
Expansion Tanks Guide to pressure control and expansion tanks on hydronic (hot water) heating systems (gas or oil fired)
Fan Limit Switch on hot air furnace heating systems (gas or oil fired)
Flue Gas Spill Switch on gas fired heating equipment sense combustion and protect from blocked flues
Heat Won't Turn Off - Stop Unwanted Heat explanation of why heat may continue to come out of radiators or baseboards even though you have turned down the thermostat
MIXING / ANTI-SCALD VALVES: Guide to mixing valves on hot water heating systems and radiant heat systems
Domestic and Commercial Oil Burners, Charles H. Burkhardt, McGraw Hill Book Company, New York 3rd Ed 1969.
National Fuel Gas Code (Z223.1) $16.00 and National Fuel Gas Code Handbook (Z223.2) $47.00 American Gas Association (A.G.A.), 1515 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22209 also available from National Fire Protection Association, Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269. Fundamentals of Gas Appliance Venting and Ventilation, 1985, American Gas Association Laboratories, Engineering Services Department. American Gas Association, 1515 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22209. Catalog #XHO585. Reprinted 1989.
The Steam Book, 1984, Training and Education Department, Fluid Handling Division, ITT [probably out of print, possibly available from several home inspection supply companies] Fuel Oil and Oil Heat Magazine, October 1990, offers an update,
Principles of Steam Heating, $13.25 includes postage. Fuel oil & Oil Heat Magazine, 389 Passaic Ave., Fairfield, NJ 07004.
The Lost Art of Steam Heating, Dan Holohan, 516-579-3046 FAX
Principles of Steam Heating, Dan Holohan, technical editor of Fuel Oil and Oil Heat magazine, 389 Passaic Ave., Fairfield, NJ 07004 ($12.+1.25 postage/handling).
"Residential Hydronic (circulating hot water) Heating Systems", Instructional Technologies Institute, Inc., 145 "D" Grassy Plain St., Bethel, CT 06801 800/227-1663 [home inspection training material] 1987
"Warm Air Heating Systems". Instructional Technologies Institute, Inc., 145 "D" Grassy Plain St., Bethel, CT 06801 800/227-1663 [home inspection training material] 1987
Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Volume I, Heating Fundamentals,
Boilers, Boiler Conversions, James E. Brumbaugh, ISBN 0-672-23389-4 (v. 1) Volume II, Oil, Gas, and Coal Burners, Controls, Ducts, Piping, Valves, James E. Brumbaugh, ISBN 0-672-23390-7 (v. 2) Volume III, Radiant Heating, Water Heaters, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, Heat Pumps, Air Cleaners, James E. Brumbaugh, ISBN 0-672-23383-5 (v. 3) or ISBN 0-672-23380-0 (set) Special Sales Director, Macmillan Publishing Co., 866 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022. Macmillan Publishing Co., NY
Installation Guide for Residential Hydronic Heating Systems
Installation Guide #200, The Hydronics Institute, 35 Russo Place, Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922
The ABC's of Retention Head Oil Burners, National Association of Oil Heat Service Managers, TM 115, National Old Timers' Association of the Energy Industry, PO Box 168, Mineola, NY 11501. (Excellent tips on spotting problems on oil-fired heating equipment. Booklet.)
Mobile View
