Black marks on walls


  #1  
Old 03-21-02, 06:23 PM
vtsasch
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Question Black marks on walls

I have black marks on my walls above the registers and some marks on the ceilings. Also anything that is plastic in my house has black marks on it. (i.e. my son's potty chair, my wife's shampoo bottle) I feel that it is somehow related to the heating in the house. I have a hot water heating system with and oil burning furnace by peerless. I just bought my house in November and had a service technician look at the furnace. He could not find anything wrong with it. Any clues to this problem would be greatly appreciated. It is a very frustrating problem.
 
  #2  
Old 03-21-02, 07:24 PM
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Hello vtsasch. Welcome to our Heating and Cooling forum and the Do-It-Yourself Web Site.

Assuming the service person did not find anything wrong, the black marks could be burnt dust. If the marks do not leave soot marks behind when they are wiped away, chances are it's dust.

If the heating unit is forced air, checked the filter. If the existing one is clean, the dust could be inside the blower compartment and or inside the existing ducting.

The prior owners may not have used a filter at all or not replaced the filter as often as needed. Doing either would cause a buildup of lint and dust within the ducting and blower compartment that is now settling on your walls, etc.

There is aways the possibility the heater is overgassed and burning too fuel rich and or there is a tiny crack in the heat exchanger, firebox or flue.

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  #3  
Old 03-22-02, 04:01 PM
fjrachel
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Seems you have an oil burning boiler and not a furnace. Boilers and hot water/steam heat do not have registers, they have radiators/baseboard. Do you have a forced air hydronic system? If not the problem is probably not from the boiler.
 
  #4  
Old 03-22-02, 06:45 PM
vtsasch
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I do have baseboard radiators and not registers. The black marks start right above the baseboard and continue up the wall. And if you look up across the ceiling there are certain spots where black marks are evident. It's not just above the baseboard though, it's everywhere.

I have an oil burning unit so there are not filters.
 
  #5  
Old 03-22-02, 08:08 PM
jlob66
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If you have black particles collecting on plastic that does not wipe off easily, but smears, somewhat like grease, it could well be carbon dust. This would be a result of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, at least coal and oil (gas burns much more efficiently.) This dust will stick to anything, especially plastic, because of static electricity.

You say 'black'; I think you have problems with the heat system.

How old is your heating system?
And, is it a converted coal burner?
And some oil burners, gas and hot-water, come with filters. In fact, I thought they all did.
 
  #6  
Old 03-23-02, 05:47 AM
vtsasch
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I have a peerless cast iron boiler WB-3. It is only five years old and I double checked and did not find any filters. When the service technician came and looked at the unit, he taped closed the draft control because we have a fan drawn exhaust. (we do not have a chimney)
These black marks do wipe off but not easily. When you wipe it off the wall it smears and you have to keep wiping the entire wall because it smears all over.
What needs to be done to eliminate carbon dust?
 
  #7  
Old 03-23-02, 06:03 AM
fjrachel
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Is there evidence of carbon dust around the boiler and flue pipe to the outside? Have you tried cleaning the baseboard fins throughout the house?
 
  #8  
Old 03-23-02, 06:10 AM
vtsasch
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The only evidence of carbon is where the draft control is attached to the flue pipe. On the ceiling above the boiler there is black on the floor joists.

When we bought the house I vacuumed out all the fins in the baseboards. Is there some thing else I should have done to clean them?
 
  #9  
Old 03-23-02, 03:29 PM
fjrachel
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Maybe someone else out there may have some suggestions. Have you searched the web for 'oil burner problems'? I've noted many sites that deal strictly with oil burners.
 
 

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