zero at block 274 and then control is passed to block 254 where the normal firing rate is used if the error is less than the predetermined error value e g 25 degrees f the method determines whether the stage is a standalone boiler as shown at 276 i e whether the system is not a multi boiler or multi stage system if the stage is a stand alone boiler the firing rate is set to a minimum value at block 278 in some cases the minimum value may correspond to a minimum firing rate for the boiler several commercial boilers have a minimum firing rate of about 25 of their maximum firing rate but other minimum values may also be used if the stage is not a standalone boiler the method sets the firing rate for the boiler stage stage x that has been just activated to its minimum value fr_stgx min and sets other stages to off as shown at 280 the other stages are set to off because at decision block 260 it was determined that the system is transitioning from no active stages to one active stage coming from either block 278 or block 280 the timer is decremented as shown at block 282 then the method comes to end block at shown at 256 and waits for the beginning of the next interval as noted above the various steps may be performed by controllers sensors and or logic at either a system control level or a stage control level or a combination thereof as desired fig7 and 8 illustrate two example configurations fig6 shows in block form an illustrative stage control method for disabling derivative control.