Candles, plug-ins may be cause of soot around home [Maryland Gazette (MD)]

We replaced our heat pump with a high efficiency gas furnace last year. Since then we have noticed a black soot-like substance on white tiles, top of refrigerator, plastic picture frames and the TV screen. Can this be caused by the gas heat? Is this safe to breathe? We never noticed this when we had electric heat.

It's not likely that the soot is caused by such a new gas furnace, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. What is not safe to breathe that could potentially come from a gas furnace is carbon monoxide, and that you cannot see or smell. Anyone with a fuel burning device in the home, such as a gas or oil furnace, gas stove, gas water heater, gas fireplace log or wood burning fireplace and/or attached garage should own and maintain carbon monoxide detectors with alarms. I like the kind with the digital read-out because it tells you what the background CO levels are, and the very fact that you can read the numbers tells you the thing has power to it. And I like more than one so one checks the other.

There are a few things you can do to rule the furnace in or out as a source. Check the furnace's filter to see if any of this soot- like material is ending up there. You didn't mention if the substance shows up around the air registers that put heated air into the rooms. If it's coming from the gas furnace, it's likely you'd spot it there as a shadow-like darkening of the wall near the grilles, and if you wiped the grille with a damp rag or paper towel it would show up there. A service technician with a combustible gas detector can check the air at the register to determine if anything is getting into the airstream that shouldn't be signaling a cracked heat exchanger inside the furnace. Rare for such a new system, but not out of the question.

Some years ago a similar problem began to show up in new homes with heat pumps, and homeowners, insurance companies and heating and cooling contractors were driven to distraction trying to pin down the cause. It was ultimately determined that due to a combination of factors of such tight, modern construction with "closed loop" heating and air-conditioning systems that soot production from candles and plug-in scenting devices was the cause. I was investigating a sooted house with a heat pump and could not find the cause until I spotted the plug-in devices, and before I was done I counted a total of 16 in a townhouse of about 1400 square feet of living space.

Other factors also contribute to sooting, such as poorly vented fireplaces, inside gas cooking devices, etc. But the main culprits are candle use and scented plug-ins.

Since you've switched from a heat pump to gas it will be fairly safe to conclude that the fan speed of the new unit is different and may be a bit faster than that of the old heat pump. Increased fan speed can dislodge dirt inside ductwork that previously just stayed put. That should have showed up almost immediately after start up of the new gas furnace. Take a flashlight and peer deep inside the ducts to see what's there, and if it looks nasty, consider duct cleaning.

Double-check and be honest about candle usage in the house and remember that any flame you can see, especially the yellow flame of a candle, is a soot producer. The scents added to paraffin to produce those nice aromas also can throw out a greasy soot that has particles so fine that they can pass through most garden variety air- system filters only to roost on things both smooth and that have minute amounts of static electricity on their surfaces, such as your plastic picture frames or TV screens.

The worst cases create "ghosting" on wall and ceiling surfaces. The resulting look is of large dark splotches reflecting framing and insulation behind the drywall where temperature differentials exist. The only remedy for such extreme staining is - after controlling the cause - to prime and paint. Those who try to shortcut and not prime first soon learn that only the wealthy can afford to do that, because they have to do it twice.

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