The case of the missed Christmas party or My first sooted boiler

RayWohlfarth

I had to help a tech clean a sooted boiler and I was unprepared for doing it. That soot went everywhere including my face, neck and hands. My wife and I were going to her company Christmas party that night and I tried everything to remove the soot. Nothing removed it. We missed her Christmas party and I learned a lot about cleaning sooted boilers. Hope you enjoy it
https://youtube.com/watch?v=O0aaxxW7fnM

EBEBRATT-Ed

All you tips in the video are great. I used to come home looking like a coal miner every day. The only thing that would clean up my hands was bleach and water mixture.

My first wife (my ex) used to laugh at me when I came home looking like that so I divorced her LOL.

Thankfully the newer equipment does not soot like the old oil burners I worked on (a lot of #4 &#6 oil back then)

retiredguy

@RAY, soot is bad,bad,bad. I have a few soot experiences that I will share.

#1) About 1970, I was working for McDonald Heating and A/C Company on East Street North Side. Note that the company is no longer in business East Street is mostly gone,and the owner is deceased. Bob and I went to Brants Funeral Home in Perrysville to clean a sooted boiler. Just like you we got covered in soot so we washed our faces and other parts of our bodies with every thing we could think of. The last thing we tried was Tide laundry detergent. What a mistake. The next day our faces were so sore we missed a couple days work.

#2) same time frame: I got a call from a customer in Stanton Heights on "wait for it" Christmas Eve". They were having a party and the furnace quit. The husband owned a jewelry store in Pittsburgh. I arrived at the front door and was escorted to the finished basement by his very intoxicated wife. The Furnace was sooted and totally plugged. I put on my coveralls and other gear and began cleaning the soot from the HeatX. The wife came with her brand new Hoover vac and insisted on helping . Her vac plugged up quickly so to clean it she removed the vac bag without turning the vac off. She tore the bag and the soot went everywhere and over everyone. After I got the heat back on the husband gave me a $20.00 tip for putting up with his wife.

I have more but that is for another day.

RayWohlfarth

@EBEBRATT-Ed LOL I bet you told the second wife to never laugh at you

@retiredguy Glad to hear im not the only one Thanks for making me smile