[Scargod]

I have been trying to set the controller where the boiler will cycle longer and supply more heat. It has been very cold the past few days, but regardless, I have short cycling of a few seconds - to running for five to ten minutes (5-10) at a time. It seems to run about 50% of the time. I have the high at 200 and the low at 170. The differential is at 25. This short cycling seems to have happened (or become more pronounced and noticable) when I raised the high setting from 190 and the low at 160. The pressure is 15-20 PSI. Do I have it backwards and the circulating pump would run more of the time if the differential were set at 10? Do I want the pump running for a longer duration? I'm obviously confused, perhaps even more so after reading the controller paperwork.
I have a Honeywell R8182D controller. Printed over that, it says it is remanufactured as a "R8182R". There is a discrepancy, it seems to me, with the temperature gauge (which I tap before reading) and the control settings. The gauge will go to 210 (with the boiler running) even if its set at 190... The circulator is staying on all the time, at this point. I don't understand the effect of different differential settings other than it seemed like a good idea to have the pump run longer (regardless of whether the boiler is running) if there is a call for heat. I don't know if there is anything wrong with the aquastat part of the controller or what kind of error or tolerance they can have. The relays in the controller are functioning properly.
The boiler is an old Utica oil-fired which says: heating capacity-231,000 and water-209,100 BTU. I need to replace the 22 year old boiler very soon, but that is another issue.

I have a 4200 S.F. house built in 1984 and it seems very well insulated though there is lots of double-pane glass (a Deck House). It has five zones. Four are on the first floor. TACO 571-2 zone valves: one has a gold top and the others are green but they all say 555-102 on their covers. They are 3/4" sweat. They seem to be working OK as I can tell when they are calling for heat because the lever easily goes down about halfway. The circulator pump is a TACO 007 and I have 17 feet of head. I wonder if this is too small a pump? I don't know what kind of GPM I should have! I have 255 linear feet of finned copper baseboard heat. All is 3/4" copper except the main copper manifolds off the boiler are 1". At a plumbing supply house they recommended that I have a pump controller and a circulating pump on every zone.

I recently installed Honeywell programmable thermostats throughout the house and all but one are set to go to 55 at night and call for heat in the morning at or near the same time. Is this too much for the boiler on a cold morning or do I have a combination of things wrong?

[Scargod]

If this is too complicated or involved, could you just tell me if 10 or 25 (on the differential setting) will give me the longest circulation pump run time?
Please :)