Forum Discussion

stationaryfullt's avatar
Aug 26, 2014

Cleaning soot off fiberglass wall

The propane burner in the water heater in my Jayco Eagle hasn't been burning right. I didn't realize it wasn't for a while, and it left a soot mark on the fiberglass wall. After washing the camper with dish soap as I always do, the soot mark is still visible. So I think I need a more aggressive cleaner to clean the mark up, but I'm also worried about hurting the gelcoat and fiberglass with something that's too aggressive or not compatible. What would be suitable for this job?

I also have less than perfect white rub strip on the outside and was again wondering what would be good to clean that up again without hurting the fiberglass.

Thanks in advance.
  • Mr Clean Magic Eraser gets a lot of different things clean.
    Don't worry about the fiberglass or gelcoat, it's customary in some parts of the world to clean boat hulls with muriatic acid and it doesn't cause a problem.
  • Cleaning the burner tube was definitely on the agenda. I figured that is what's causing the burner to not burn blue. The slide for the burner hasn't moved any.
  • After cleaning off the soot on the wall, you should take a small round brush and clean the inside of the burner tube. You probably had a spider crawl in there and build a web. That will cause the burner to act up.

    Bob
  • You may be needing to use something like the clay bar system to remove the marks, if the other solutions mentioned don't get it clean.

    Something like soot is going to find every little imperfection on the paint to penetrate. The clay bar will remove the oxidation that the soot clings to.

    This link explains the process. http://www.eshine.ca/DetailClay.htm