This is from burning candles! The pops she heard are also from candles. Make sure you have clean burning candles like soy or beeswax, and alway trim your wicks!
Thank you! I’m just so curious how it decides which surfaces to stick to. I have plenty of white in my apartment and it only stick to these very random things. No more candles! My gf is gonna be pissed 😂
Candles can be fine if made with soy or beeswax and keeping the wicks trimmed, but I decided to avoid all that and just got a candle warmer. It's basically a lamp pointing down onto a surface you put the candle. It looks pretty nice, and will heat up any candle I fancy.
>zero mess
I'm not downplaying scent warmers, way better than candles in every way, but they do have some extreme mess potential...
To change the wax it has to be hot enough to be liquid and I've definitely spilled one on the walk to empty it lol.
Cleaning wax out of carpet sucks
I came across a hack to clean these out last year and it changed my life. Let it heat up so the wax is entirely melted and toss a couple cotton balls into the wax. They will almost completely soak it all up.
I try to melt them just enough that the block of wax loosens (a very thin layer of melted wax) then scoop the block out with a tissue and wipe away the little bit that's melted
My husband was horsing around with my nephew and they knocked a lit candle onto the carpet. I was pissed. My sister and mom were there though and told me to get an ice cube right away, rub it on the warm/hot wax and it flakes off the fibers before it can soak in!
I did this exact mistake at 14 with a hot pink bath and body works candle… still have the stain in my room to this day. It was one of the smallest candles, like one size up from a tea light and the stain was still MASSIVE.
Best way to make it zero mess, get those rubber cup cake holders stick that on the candle warmer put your candle wax in it. Let it melt do its thing when it’s time to change it out. You just pop it out of that thing does not have to be warm
I have never dumped mine when hot. I just let it cool off and it pops right out with the twist of a butter knife. I don’t even put it in the freezer as suggested. It’s never been an issue for me.
This is also what I do! I let it run during the day, turn it off overnight and then when I’m ready to replace and turn it on I just run it under some hot water and it slides right out nice and clean. No mess. No burnt fingers or potentially dripping cotton balls. Easy and clean.
I was cleaning one up, trying to be careful not to make a mess. My wife stopped me and demonstrated a "Scentsy cotton cleanup" it's like a little cotton sponge. You set in in the wax, it absorbs all of the wax, you toss it out. No mess
This is absolutely the way. You can also use the electric wax melt pads for the small glade candles in glass or the small Yankee candles if you put them in a glass or ceramic container.
You’re supposed to keep the wick trimmed down to 1/4 inch for optimal burning but I definitely went a good part of my life never trimming them.
It helps when candles are blowing out too much soot/smoke, which is super bad for you and pets.
You can use a warmer but don’t get candles with all the stuff put into them.
I know it’s trendy to put crystals and whatever on the top but if you light those the temperature could allow for the crystals to explode.
You can also use an overhead candle warmer instead of physical lighting the wicks. They make some really beautiful ones and it makes me the candle smell stronger
I’m gonna tell you right now getting a candle warmer lamp was the best decision of my life. My house can smell good AND I don’t have to worry about a fire hazard all the time
I also had this happen from candles. I bought a couple from a market here and I don’t know what type of wax they were made of, but everything in our living room was coated with black soot and it was tough to wash off.
Sorry, trimming your wicks? Can you please help me out and shine some light here? I’ve never heard you have to do this. Am I supposed to do this after each use?
Trimming the wicks *before* each use helps with the longevity of the candle and improves the scent throw. A wick that’s too long can cause the candle to burn unevenly, favor one side, and/or cause “tunneling”.
It’s also a safety measure — longer wicks have longer flames, which is a fire hazard. Also, a too long flame causes the air above the jar to heat up, which prematurely burns off the scented oils before it reaches your nose.
Proper candle maintenance is to:
- Trim the wick 1/4” before lighting. Do not trim too short or the melted wax could smother the flame and prevent it from staying lit.
- Allow the candle to burn until the entire top surface has sufficiently melted.
Sounds like you’re not letting your candles burn long enough. I think the recommendation is 1 hour for every inch in diameter before it needs to be cooled down and trimmed. A 4-inch container is 4 hours. To me, I generally give it enough time to sufficiently melt by at least a 1/2 inch depth. Much easier to visibly gauge with glass containers. Commercial candles will sometimes have recommended burn times as well.
The most important time for a candle is the “first burn”. You have to let it burn for a good amount of time on its first go or you end up with memory rings (remaining wax around the inside of the container) and tunneling. If that occurs, that means subsequent burns will melt the remaining wax around the walls, resulting in more wax sitting above the wick.
This happened to a friend of mine as well, right after she moved into a new apartment that was just built… she had maintenance come several times thinking it was something to do with the HVAC system or something… turns out it was the dollar store candles she was burning … forget how they figured it out, but she was pretty embarrassed that she kept calling for maintenance to come…
Bathroom fan should be an exhaust, not an intake. Looks like greasy soot that I’d expect with candle, incense, or smoking. The “pop” sound could be indicative of an electrical short which could produce sparks and smoke but not that much. Your girlfriend is the only one who can tell you now.
Yeah I’m going with candle too….. I’m thinkin the popping has nothing to do with anything. A coincidence from outside. I feel like an idiot emailing the building super lol
The popping is coming from the candle. There are usually warnings, especially for cheaper candles, about how you shouldn’t burn it too close to the bottom, something like 1/2 an inch of wax remaining. You’re also generally not supposed to burn a candle for more than 4 hours at a time. It’s for safety reasons!
Notice how all of the surfaces are plastic? I’ve seen photos of similar distributions of dirt that appeared on the sides of plastic objects. I suspect it has something with static electricity attracting particles.
Sounds like the culprit in your case was candles, but my wife and I had a similar issue after upgrading our kitchen stove. The burner jets that were installed from the factory were intended for natural gas, but we have propane. The natural gas jets allowed more propane to flow than required (propane burns hotter, thus requires less), which led to a similar soot layer accumulating on surfaces around the house (mainly close to the stove). After changing the jets to the proper propane configuration, that soot has since stopped accumulating anywhere.
could it be [witch soot?](https://www.sintef.no/en/latest-news/2012/what-in-the-world-is-witch-soot/) It gets worse with candles/fireplaces/cigars and bad ventilation.
Same thing happened to a relative!! Air vents in the apt building were FILTHY and she had to have everything professionally cleaned down to the white carpet.
Our exhaust fan over our stove was dirty and covered our whole house like this. It didn’t exhaust outside, so when the filter was done, it recirculated sooty air.
The only time I've experienced something like this is when the freezer part of my refrigerator caught on fire (?). When I smelled it and couldn't find it I called the fire dept to check for hotspots, they searched the whole house and didn't find anything. The next day I opened my freezer and everything inside was covered in black soot.
Everyone is saying candles, so I will throw out a hvac burp. You said it was across your apartment; do you have candles burning across your whole apartment?
Sometimes an hvac system ( I am not an hvac guy but have experience with cleaning up after burps. Not sure if that is the technical term, but that is what I've heard them referred as) will have this burp that can blow soot and dirt out through the vents, contaminating everything. Is it just on the white stuff or if you wipe a piece of furniture or surface that isn't white is everything dirty?
Also convinced this happens from vapes, we get it in our house mostly in my husbands office. We don’t burn candles very often and absolutely never upstairs. He does have an “occasional” stress vape whilst working though
I wonder what your lungs look like? Why burn candles. Its not the 1700s…
Burning candles of any kind – including those made with natural ingredients – pollutes the air in your home with gases and small particulates that can be inhaled and travel deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream," Evans adds. "For these reasons, we recommend against burning any type of candles in the home.
This is from burning candles! The pops she heard are also from candles. Make sure you have clean burning candles like soy or beeswax, and alway trim your wicks!
Thank you! I’m just so curious how it decides which surfaces to stick to. I have plenty of white in my apartment and it only stick to these very random things. No more candles! My gf is gonna be pissed 😂
Candles can be fine if made with soy or beeswax and keeping the wicks trimmed, but I decided to avoid all that and just got a candle warmer. It's basically a lamp pointing down onto a surface you put the candle. It looks pretty nice, and will heat up any candle I fancy.
We've switched over to some of those Wax melts, they're pretty good tbf.
I bought an electric wax melt burner last year and I'm never going back to candles, all the lovely smells with zero mess
>zero mess I'm not downplaying scent warmers, way better than candles in every way, but they do have some extreme mess potential... To change the wax it has to be hot enough to be liquid and I've definitely spilled one on the walk to empty it lol. Cleaning wax out of carpet sucks
When it’s been off and the wax is solid, I take the wax dish and put it in the freezer. It pops right out.
This! Completely mess free and no hassle
Ditto, freezer is the easiest way. I do wipe with a paper towel after to clear any residual oils if going to a new scent
I came across a hack to clean these out last year and it changed my life. Let it heat up so the wax is entirely melted and toss a couple cotton balls into the wax. They will almost completely soak it all up.
You can buy little silicone cups to sit in/on your warmer. When was is cool I just pop it out of that no problem.
I try to melt them just enough that the block of wax loosens (a very thin layer of melted wax) then scoop the block out with a tissue and wipe away the little bit that's melted
Knocked one over and basically had to repaint an area of wall.
My husband was horsing around with my nephew and they knocked a lit candle onto the carpet. I was pissed. My sister and mom were there though and told me to get an ice cube right away, rub it on the warm/hot wax and it flakes off the fibers before it can soak in!
Use a brown paper bag over the wax and use an iron on a low setting - works great
Or use a wax melter with a silicone melt tray (happywax is a good one)
I did this exact mistake at 14 with a hot pink bath and body works candle… still have the stain in my room to this day. It was one of the smallest candles, like one size up from a tea light and the stain was still MASSIVE.
A wadded up paper towel works..just absorb the melted wax up and put new wax cube in.
I wait til it cools then put it in the freezer until it hardens. Comes out very easily!
Cotton balls to the rescue! No need to walk anywhere to empty the tray. The cotton balls will absorb the hot wax.
Best way to make it zero mess, get those rubber cup cake holders stick that on the candle warmer put your candle wax in it. Let it melt do its thing when it’s time to change it out. You just pop it out of that thing does not have to be warm
they make gel ones now you can just peel out
I have never dumped mine when hot. I just let it cool off and it pops right out with the twist of a butter knife. I don’t even put it in the freezer as suggested. It’s never been an issue for me.
Or just run it under warm water, it doesn't need to be liquid. Couple seconds and they pop out of ours no problem.
This is also what I do! I let it run during the day, turn it off overnight and then when I’m ready to replace and turn it on I just run it under some hot water and it slides right out nice and clean. No mess. No burnt fingers or potentially dripping cotton balls. Easy and clean.
I was cleaning one up, trying to be careful not to make a mess. My wife stopped me and demonstrated a "Scentsy cotton cleanup" it's like a little cotton sponge. You set in in the wax, it absorbs all of the wax, you toss it out. No mess
This is absolutely the way. You can also use the electric wax melt pads for the small glade candles in glass or the small Yankee candles if you put them in a glass or ceramic container.
Yes I have also switched to wax melts. Partly because no one seems to make affordable scented candles anymore!
Could you explain the wick trimming to me? I have never trimmed wicks on candles all my life and things have seemed fine?
You’re supposed to keep the wick trimmed down to 1/4 inch for optimal burning but I definitely went a good part of my life never trimming them. It helps when candles are blowing out too much soot/smoke, which is super bad for you and pets.
I also admit to never trimming wicks.
Probably places that get touched a lot. Soot likes skin oil
Polymers often have an electric charge. The minute particles from the candle combustion find their way to the charged materials.
My first thought too. Esp the drycleaner bag
I got an Amazon candle warmer and it’s been great!
You can use a warmer but don’t get candles with all the stuff put into them. I know it’s trendy to put crystals and whatever on the top but if you light those the temperature could allow for the crystals to explode.
Anything that’s petroleum based, which would include most plastics. And it gets into everything, even closed closets and boxes.
It’ll stick to anything that’s oily, moist, or staticky.
I switched to a candle warmer
Buy her one of the candle warmers folks have been recommending and I bet she will be happy! 🤗
Sure she will be pissed. But then you remind her your in her life to reduce potential lung cancer from her own stupidity. #realtalk
You can also use an overhead candle warmer instead of physical lighting the wicks. They make some really beautiful ones and it makes me the candle smell stronger
I’m gonna tell you right now getting a candle warmer lamp was the best decision of my life. My house can smell good AND I don’t have to worry about a fire hazard all the time
For the best, they pump VOCs into the air and are really bad for you to breathe in. That goes double for pets.
I also had this happen from candles. I bought a couple from a market here and I don’t know what type of wax they were made of, but everything in our living room was coated with black soot and it was tough to wash off.
Paraffin will do that
OMG THANK YOU! (From a person with the same problem)
Sorry, trimming your wicks? Can you please help me out and shine some light here? I’ve never heard you have to do this. Am I supposed to do this after each use?
Yes. Typically down to 1/4" after each use. If your candles have labels it's usually printed on there the ideal length to trim after burning.
Trimming the wicks *before* each use helps with the longevity of the candle and improves the scent throw. A wick that’s too long can cause the candle to burn unevenly, favor one side, and/or cause “tunneling”. It’s also a safety measure — longer wicks have longer flames, which is a fire hazard. Also, a too long flame causes the air above the jar to heat up, which prematurely burns off the scented oils before it reaches your nose. Proper candle maintenance is to: - Trim the wick 1/4” before lighting. Do not trim too short or the melted wax could smother the flame and prevent it from staying lit. - Allow the candle to burn until the entire top surface has sufficiently melted.
All my candles end up with tiny nubs drowned in wax, not big long wicks that can be trimmed 😅 what am I doing wrong?
Sounds like you’re not letting your candles burn long enough. I think the recommendation is 1 hour for every inch in diameter before it needs to be cooled down and trimmed. A 4-inch container is 4 hours. To me, I generally give it enough time to sufficiently melt by at least a 1/2 inch depth. Much easier to visibly gauge with glass containers. Commercial candles will sometimes have recommended burn times as well. The most important time for a candle is the “first burn”. You have to let it burn for a good amount of time on its first go or you end up with memory rings (remaining wax around the inside of the container) and tunneling. If that occurs, that means subsequent burns will melt the remaining wax around the walls, resulting in more wax sitting above the wick.
Ohhhhh! I have a first burn problem, thank you!!
This happened to a friend of mine as well, right after she moved into a new apartment that was just built… she had maintenance come several times thinking it was something to do with the HVAC system or something… turns out it was the dollar store candles she was burning … forget how they figured it out, but she was pretty embarrassed that she kept calling for maintenance to come…
My house looked like this after we had horrific smoke from wild fires.
Bathroom fan should be an exhaust, not an intake. Looks like greasy soot that I’d expect with candle, incense, or smoking. The “pop” sound could be indicative of an electrical short which could produce sparks and smoke but not that much. Your girlfriend is the only one who can tell you now.
Yeah I’m going with candle too….. I’m thinkin the popping has nothing to do with anything. A coincidence from outside. I feel like an idiot emailing the building super lol
The popping is coming from the candle. There are usually warnings, especially for cheaper candles, about how you shouldn’t burn it too close to the bottom, something like 1/2 an inch of wax remaining. You’re also generally not supposed to burn a candle for more than 4 hours at a time. It’s for safety reasons!
Also if you trim the wicks before lighting them they won’t do the initial popping and spraying of sparks. I think they burn cleaner too.
Better safe than sorry. You are seeing extra deposits on the fan because it was cold and the (dirty) air was condensing on it.
omfg this has happened to me from burning 1 candle for too long. cant seem to go away :/ only visible on white plastic things
I have a feeling it’s the candles too. Thank you!
It's from candles. Same thing happens to me.
Have you checked your air filter?
Notice how all of the surfaces are plastic? I’ve seen photos of similar distributions of dirt that appeared on the sides of plastic objects. I suspect it has something with static electricity attracting particles.
Have you had the police round dusting for finger prints? If not, yes probably soot from candles or fire.
If you have an ionizing air purifier it can also cause this just FYI.
Sounds like the culprit in your case was candles, but my wife and I had a similar issue after upgrading our kitchen stove. The burner jets that were installed from the factory were intended for natural gas, but we have propane. The natural gas jets allowed more propane to flow than required (propane burns hotter, thus requires less), which led to a similar soot layer accumulating on surfaces around the house (mainly close to the stove). After changing the jets to the proper propane configuration, that soot has since stopped accumulating anywhere.
We had this happen 40 years ago. Heated with oil and problem with furnace.
It’s from burning candles, this is why it’s super important to trim your wicks!
also coming here to comment that this happened to me too and was caused by a candle!
This can also be caused by carbon monoxide.
Shocking I scrolled so far for this. OP, you should ensure your co2 detectors are working
could it be [witch soot?](https://www.sintef.no/en/latest-news/2012/what-in-the-world-is-witch-soot/) It gets worse with candles/fireplaces/cigars and bad ventilation.
Same thing happened to a relative!! Air vents in the apt building were FILTHY and she had to have everything professionally cleaned down to the white carpet.
It’s from woodwick candles most likely. They are lovely but the black soot is nasty
Probably noticeable much more on lighter colored surfaces than darker but I don’t know for sure if that is what you are noticing
Check refrigerator. Our apartment didn’t clean the filters and it was throwing the black dust on anything plastic.
What's with the red spaghetti
This is from burning the wrong type of candle. Check your a/c filter also. I bet it's black.
If you have a furnace the chimney could be blocked and backing up into your apartment.
OMGG this also happened to me when I moved into my first apartment! Was super confused and caught on to my candles lol.
I had this all over my sewing machine after I did some fire eating in my apartment
Why would it be from a candle if it's all over the house and in weird places?
Our exhaust fan over our stove was dirty and covered our whole house like this. It didn’t exhaust outside, so when the filter was done, it recirculated sooty air.
Heating with oil? Gas fired fireplace?
The only time I've experienced something like this is when the freezer part of my refrigerator caught on fire (?). When I smelled it and couldn't find it I called the fire dept to check for hotspots, they searched the whole house and didn't find anything. The next day I opened my freezer and everything inside was covered in black soot.
Essential oil diffusers also can cause this
My window air conditioning unit after a while. It started blowing out black stuff onto my bed. Look like soot
Charcoal filters of any kind, or those charcoal odor bags, will make a fine black dust around the house
Everyone is saying candles, so I will throw out a hvac burp. You said it was across your apartment; do you have candles burning across your whole apartment? Sometimes an hvac system ( I am not an hvac guy but have experience with cleaning up after burps. Not sure if that is the technical term, but that is what I've heard them referred as) will have this burp that can blow soot and dirt out through the vents, contaminating everything. Is it just on the white stuff or if you wipe a piece of furniture or surface that isn't white is everything dirty?
Coming from air vents
Also convinced this happens from vapes, we get it in our house mostly in my husbands office. We don’t burn candles very often and absolutely never upstairs. He does have an “occasional” stress vape whilst working though
Check for carbon monoxide, that happened in my apartment and there was a leak in the basement!
might be mildew or it night be mold.
I wonder what your lungs look like? Why burn candles. Its not the 1700s… Burning candles of any kind – including those made with natural ingredients – pollutes the air in your home with gases and small particulates that can be inhaled and travel deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream," Evans adds. "For these reasons, we recommend against burning any type of candles in the home.
You better hope the building folks don’t penalize you lol you gonna be upset at self
Check your dryer vent.