Gas logs and soot.

[mattl]

Was cleaning my living room today and noticed a fair amount of soot had built up on the marble and mantle. I had put in a gas log last fall, and only used it occasionally during the winter.

 

Wondering if its a draft thing, I only open the top of my chimney a bit, I have the stainless steel flue caps that are spring loaded and seal up the whole flue when not in use.  I've been doing the same in my study with that fireplace for years and never noticed soot.  Just in case you wonder I did put a CO2 detector in the rooms and tested for that  when I first turned of the gas logs, readout still shows 0, so no back draft, chimney is drawing as it should.

 

The main difference is the gas logs in the study and from the mid 60's with a central burner, and the logs in the living room are newer with the serpentine burner and embers and such.  I'm going to try and open the flue a bit more and see if that affects it, just not sure wat is causing the issue.  Anyone else notice this?

 

[alr2903]

Yes the logs seem to draw vaporized cooking grease, nicotine if you entertain smokers. Fumes from Aerosol cleaners, air fresheners and deodorant also are like the moth to the flame.  I think it is much like when people used to paint in a home, with an older gas range the pilot lights would draw these odors and make them worse. If you have pets they also draw pet dander that may be the cause of the soot.  A

 

[mattl]

Interesting, but no to all most all of the above.  No pets, no smokers, no air fresheners and so on.  I really think it's the design of the burner.  I have a white marble surround so when I moved the screen it was really noticeable, not so much until I looked.