Installing Ranco aqua stat on Natures Comfort Boiler

[dparkguy]

I will be installing a Ranco digital aqua stat on my NCB 250 boiler. I was having major issues with creosote last year and am now dealing with the black ooze again this year. I believe the creosote is being caused by several problems: 1. It has been warm since I lit the boiler on November 1st causing the boiler to sit idle for a long time. 2. When the boiler does kick on it only fires for several minutes before going idle.
Who has installed the Ranco and how did you set it up? Will the new aqua stat help my creosote issues?

 

[NSMaple1]

I'm not seeing how a new aquastat will fix that problem.

 

[Perk]

I have one and you can adjust the set point (up to 220) and the differential (1 - 30 degrees). I use a lower set point (170) in the shoulder seasons to keep the water from getting close to boiling on the warm afternoons with a 6 degree differential so that it will burn longer when it does come on. In the heating mode, the differential is below the set point, so at a 170 setting with a 6 degree diff, the unit will fire at 164 and cut off at 170. As the winter progresses, I will raise the set point to 185 and lower the differential to 3 degrees. Not saying this is gospel, but it works for me.

 

[Oxford]

I also highly doubt that any kind of stat will resolve your issues. You aren't getting clean(ish) burns because everything's cold and your fire is smoldering. Since the wall of your boiler is common to the combustion chamber, everything is condensing on the wall of the boiler (or the stack, or the door) leading to the issues you're seeing. I drive through a small town where a guy heats a 1200 square foot house with an OWB with neighbors on all four sides- it sits and smolders all day long. He has to open his with a rake to keep from being incinerated when oxygen hits the creosote in the firebox.

There are places for an OWB, I guess, but I sure wouldn't want most of them as my close neighbor.