What Is Fire Extinguisher Residue?

12/31/2024 (Permalink)

Don't fall victim to fire extinguisher residue! Contact us for contents cleaning!

Every fire extinguisher contains a substance designed to suppress fires. Once the fire is put out, there often remains a residue called fire extinguisher residue. These residues come in various types and they are used to extinguish different levels of fire. Furthermore, they can cause damage if not properly cleaned. 

1. Dry Chemical Residue

This residue contains powdery and slightly abrasive components, which are often used to put out fires involving grass, flammable liquids, and energized electrical elements. You can clean them by using a dry cloth or brush, a vacuum cleaner, or a cleaning paste made with equal parts baking soda and hot water.

1. Foam Residue

Foam residue contains a mix of water and chemical foaming agents. They are often used for fires involving flammable liquids and solid combustibles. To avoid safety risks, clean this residue with a cloth soaked in soapy water. After this, rinse thoroughly with clean water and dry properly. 

1. Wet Chemical Residue

This contains a wet mixture of alkaline chemicals that turn into foam, putting out a fire by depriving it of oxygen. They’re used for cooking fires and they require immediate cleanup.

1. Clean Agent Residue

Clean agent residues contain halogenated or inert gases. It’s often used for fires involving sensitive electronics. This is because it leaves no physical residue on surfaces.

Contents Cleaning With SERVPRO

If you need help with damage restoration and contents cleaning, SERVPRO of Greater Hunterdon County can be there at a moment’s notice. Contact us to get out of a pinch!

Furnace Puffback Soot Cleanup in Lebanon, New Jersey

11/30/2020 (Permalink)

Your furnace, water heater, or boiler can all experience a puffback that requires professional soot and smoke cleanup in Lebanon, New Jersey.

A puffback can cause black soot in your house, covering walls and ceilings, curtains, upholstery, and more. Soot problems in your home can cause much more damage that you may first think. When furnace puffbacks cause the need for professional cleaning in your Lebanon, New Jersey home, SERVPRO of Greater Hunterdon County is prepared to provide soot and puff back cleaning services.

Furnace Puffback Damage in Your Home

When a puff back occurs in your home, this means that incomplete combustion in the combustion chamber has caused fuel to buildup. When the unburned oil or gas finally ignites, it sends smoke and soot throughout your home's heating system. You need a soot and puffback cleanup service when this happens to be able to completely remove all smoke and soot residues in your home.

When you don't use a professional cleaning service after a boiler, water heater, or furnace puff back, a few things can happen to your home, including:

• Lingering smoke smells
• Streaks of smoke residue and soot on walls, floors, and ceilings
• Soot particles will embed further into walls when not properly cleaned
• Lingering soot and smoke particles in the air which will settle and cause more damage
• Inability to have professionals fully clean your home if the problem isn't promptly taken care of or is cleaned the wrong way

If your New Jersey home has a oil furnace or heating system, the damages from your puffback will be more severe than from a gas furnace. This is because oil creates more byproducts of combustion, meaning that it produces more soot and smoke when ignited. You may notice soot damage from an oil heating system sooner than gas. Smoke and soot residues will settle on objects and surfaces near heating vents, then spreading around the home.

Professional Soot & Puffback Cleaning

The fire and smoke damage restoration professionals at SERVPRO of Greater Hunterdon County are well equipped with the training, experience, and equipment needed to clean your home from top to bottom after a puffback. Our experience cleaning after house fires makes us well-versed in smoke, soot, and odor removal processes.

When you call SERVPRO of Greater Hunterdon County for puffback cleanup services, our representatives will ask a few questions to better understand your issue:

• When did this occur?
• Is there visible soot?
• What areas of the home have been affected by smoke, soot, or odors?
• Have you tried cleaning anything yourself?
• Have you filed a claim with your insurance company?
• Have you turned your HVAC system off?

These questions help our team determine what type of response and cleaning is needed for your issue. Every puffback situation is unique as every home is different - So that's why SERVPRO of Greater Hunterdon County creates a specialized cleaning plan for every puffback case.

When our soot cleaning and restoration teams arrive on site, they will begin providing the following puff back cleaning services:

1. Isolate any affected areas to limit spread of damages
2. Installation of air scrubbers
3. Soot cleaning of walls, ceilings, and floors
4. Odor removal
5. Duct cleaning to ensure all smoke and soot residues are removed from the heating system
6. Upholstery cleaning
7. Content cleaning and restoration services
8. Demolition as needed
9. Painting & restoration by our construction division as needed

During cold New Jersey winter, furnace puffbacks are bound to happen and cause significant soot and smoke damage to your Lebanon home. When disaster strikes your home in the form of a puffback, be sure to call SERVPRO of Greater Hunterdon County to immediately start the puffback cleanup and restoration process in your home (908) 788-8770