Soot on Upper Walls and Ceiling

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Moderator Post (s) for this thread: > Reading material by doug seibert on 01/27/2005

Hello All:

I am at my wits end...

I own a Two story house / eight years old with a tile roof in Phoenix Arizona.

I have Electric Air and Gas heat, dryer, hot water heater and fireplace.

I have lived in this home just about 3 1/2 years and before I moved in I had the place painted both floors, except the bathrooms and all of the ceilings up and downstairs.

At the end of October, I began to use the heat (gas) and it started to become cool here in phoenix. I religously change my filters one a month. When I changed the filter in November it was "black", normally it is a light grey. In December I checked the filter after three weeks and it was black again. I use a 3M filter and never had a problem. In late December I started to noticed that there was a soot that was settling on the top of the wall very close to the ceiling. The problem has become worst and the staining is in various parts of the downstairs (none upstairs). I have had an A/C and Heating Company come to service the Heater / Furnish and they found no leaks or no dampness in the attic where the furnace is located. They cleaned the furnace, but did not find any leaks. I also called the Gas which came out to check for a gas leak and carbon monixide leaks nothing. Neither serviceman had a clue as to what the problem might be.

As you can see this is beginning to become expensive calling in various servicemen and the problem is still happening.

I was wondering if anyone out there has ever heard of this problem or know who the right person to call that resolve the problem for me...

Thank you in advance for all of your help and assistance...
Jimmy