PurpleHippie Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 I've noticed this in the past but I just thought I would check and see if others have had this happen as well. I make my candles in the shop but I test them in my home. When I wipe down the counter tops and walls in the shop my towels are black. No candles have ever been burned in the shop. I use both soy and paraffin waxes. So is it common to get soot strickly from the melting of the wax in the presto pot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joym Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 I've never noticed this, and I do test burn some candles in my shop. I'm wondering if it could be your heat source - oil or gas? or?. I have electric heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gdawg Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 humph I wonder..good question, I burn and make my candles in the same place so I don't know the answer but I have noticed my windows and walls are gross...I am in the process of changing waxes due to this and shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristineG Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 I use both soy and paraffin, I use presto pots also and test burn in my shop. No soot. If you're happy otherwise with your wax, I'd check the other sources mentioned above before switching wax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 I make my candles in the shop but I test them in my home. When I wipe down the counter tops and walls in the shop my towels are black. No candles have ever been burned in the shop. I use both soy and paraffin waxes. So is it common to get soot strickly from the melting of the wax in the presto pot?Perhaps if you're using wood & fire to heat that presto pot. Under normal circumstances it seems highly doubtful, but anything's possible...Is your shop by a highway? Or is it near a place that would emit large quantities of black carbon? I knew someone who live right by a very busy highway, and she'd remark about having to wipe things off frequently because of the noticeable black carbon buildup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 It may be dirty air ducts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meridith Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Dirty air ducts would be my guess too. Look in your yellow pages and see if you have a company in your town that cleans air ducts. It can be kind of expensive to do but can be worth it. Especially if you have anyone in your family that suffers from allergies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane42 Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 My partner has wondered about this for years! When she wipes down counters, windows, walls, etc., she gets black on her towels. She also notices it on dishes in her cupboards! Our candles now, appear, to not emit alot of soot...none showing on the jars, etc - yet she is still noticing it around the house. Of course, we may have a "bad" test burn occasionally.Even before we started making candles at her house, she had the problem - but she has hot water heat, which I would have thought would be pretty clean. Her house is back from the road, so no problem there.She is moving in a month - it will be interesting to see if the problem still exists! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gdawg Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 does anyone know how dirty comfort blend actually burns. We just had our furnance and duct work cleaned so I know for me it is not the duct work. But the film and haze on my windows and walls is so gross and disguisting. Granted yes I make and burn the candles in my house but in the short time we have lived here, all the new paint and ect is now gross Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grama Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 http://www.homeenergy.org/archive/hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/98/980109.htmlThis is a very informative article on this. There are many answers for this type of soot. hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gdawg Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 wow very interesting..thanks for the article grama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aimgrace Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 This is very informative. Thank you for the article. I just started making candles, and I have lived in my house for 3 1/2 yrs. This house was built in 1999 and first occupied in 2000. We were the second family to live in the house. I have found this "phenomenon" around the door frames in my upstairs bedrooms and am constantly cleaning this up using bleach because I thought it was mold. I also find it around my picture frames and heat and air vents. I hate it. I am always burning candles, but only soy and have only burned soy candles since we lived here because my son has severe asthma and allergies. I live in military base housing, so I wonder what causes it too in our house. I know it isn't from making and testing my candles because I only started last November and I have found this since we moved here in Oct. of 2003. Hmmmm.:undecided Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightning Bug Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 I thought the article was very interesting. We just repainted (after 12 yrs) so I guess it was time. But, we had the soot pretty bad, too. Now it did mention the candles as being a usual source of soot. My question is, if you wick right and it doesn't show up on the jars, is it still sooting? Somone mentioned on the vegie forum that soy burns white soot and I suppose that could attract dust? Makes looking forward to testing a bit less attractive. BethI didn't see any answer to cleaning it off walls...just soap and water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmp Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 I have oil heat in my home and we burn our fireplace often. We do get a slight black soot on our windows and walls from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Di_in_AZ Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Furnaces do emit soot. I know they do, but I do not know which types of fuel or furnace are the worst. Any combustion produces soot, period. If you are not burning candles, odds are that your furnace is the culprit. We just gutted out and renovated our house last year. Our house is 12 years old and has the original paint. The contractor said he was amazed that there wasn't any soot buildup on the walls over that time period because he said you usually do see some buildup. I have borders in some rooms and when we removed those, no buildup either. He said we have a very good furnace, I was happy I have very good candles LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljbristow Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I would agree with all of te suggestions above, especially if you have an oil fired floor furnace,etc. Do you have a lot of windows open in your workshop and live rurally where people still burn their trash - I can remeber when I was acould we always had to wipe down the clothesline before hanging out the laundry to dry ( am I dating my self or what!). Do you have/use a fireplace with a damper that might not be open enough? Softwood, pine especially or green wood, generate a lot of soot.Good luck, I live in LA and am kind of used to it as we usually have all the windows open all the time and with LA's polution........GoodluckJB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sag_77 Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I agree with getting your ducts cleaned. We rented a house and it was before I got into all the candles. Our walls were covered in soot, it was most noticeable along the ceiling line on outer walls. When we finally got the landlord to have the ducts and everything cleaned the cleaning guy told us that because we had vinyl siding it caused a static charge on those walls. This is why it was most noticeable in those areas. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aimgrace Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I agree with getting your ducts cleaned. We rented a house and it was before I got into all the candles. Our walls were covered in soot, it was most noticeable along the ceiling line on outer walls. When we finally got the landlord to have the ducts and everything cleaned the cleaning guy told us that because we had vinyl siding it caused a static charge on those walls. This is why it was most noticeable in those areas. HTHI so wish we could get our ducts cleaned. We tried to have military housing out to do it and was told the because out house is only 7 yrs old, they don't need it. Right...I constantly run the fan in the house becaues when air gets stagnit (sp) than my son and I have constant asthma attacks. I fought hard to have our ducts cleaned because my son (3 yrs) kept getting pneumonia every 6 weeks. He is finally better and the only thing we have to live with is constant nose bleeds, but that is better than not breathing at all. I was quite angry, so we just vaccum the intake and all the vents at least twice a week. I didn't think about polution and the furnace being a source. Our furnace is gas powered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grama Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 ljbristrow - I remember wiping the clothes line before hanging out clothes also. Remember in winter the clothers would freeze the minute you hung them out. This was my and my sisters job and with 5 children mother was washing clothes real often - on the old wringer washer!!! I am sure this dates us:grin2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewOrleansLady Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 If you get the ducts cleaned, have them do it without chemicals. I know of more people that have worse allergies after the cleaning because of sensitivity of the chemicals they spray after they clean the ducts. If you are one with soot in the house.....check the inside of your computer. I had to bring mine in and the computer guy said he never saw anything like it...the whole inside of mine was just black...not dusty just sooty black. I burn candles both at my shop and home....have the soot at my house but not at shop. My house is over 40 years old and needs to probably have the ducts replaced but since it's a 2 story that's a major undertaking. That article was very informative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightning Bug Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Hi Aimgrace. A while back I saw some company sells little filters that go under the registers where the heat comes into the rooms. Not sure if that would help, but with cleaning and then a filter, maybe there would be less dust/soot circulating. Hate to think of your son being sick so often. Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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