White fluffy substance in wall vent?

veritree

My thinking is this is efflorescence, but can anyone help me? I have these 2 vents in my boiler pantry (which vent outside) which I have for the time being stapled over with some nylon tights and this white fluffy substance comes through. When I open the door it fluffs out, leaving what looks like a fine white dust over everything. There are bigger lumps that reduce to a fine white powder when touched. Is there anything I can do or someone I can call to have a look/sort this out? You can't see it in the pics as the tights are covering the vents, but there is quite a lot of it still inside the wall.

Davesnave

I'm going to guess at some kind of cavity wall insulation; perhaps one that hasn't the structural integrity it should have.

Bendy_House

Our cavity wall insulation is similar to that. Where there's an open cavity around the meter cupboard, wee bits of 'foam' often get blown out.

Worth taking a grill off and seeing if you have an exposed cavity in there?

Another_Level

 Would see if the boiler flue is made good (sealed) any other holes through the wall and if any stuff is dropping from pipe openings in the ceiling.

Off topic, thats an old boiler. suprised its still there.

Bendy_House

These are my fluffy bits:

Almost certainly the same type of cavity insulation.

veritree

Another_Level said:

 Would see if the boiler flue is made good (sealed) any other holes through the wall and if any stuff is dropping from pipe openings in the ceiling.

Off topic, thats an old boiler. suprised its still there.

Thanks for the tip! And yes, it's a very very old boiler! My partner and I just moved in a few months ago and there is a lot of work to do to the house- the boiler is working for now, but we will replace that when we can afford it next! 😅

veritree

Bendy_House said:

These are my fluffy bits:

Almost certainly the same type of cavity insulation.

Thanks so much for your help! Must be exactly that then:)

Rosa_Damascena

Davesnave said:

I'm going to guess at some kind of cavity wall insulation; perhaps one that hasn't the structural integrity it should have.

Mine has the appearance of candyfloss but has the sting of fibreglass. Which is exactly what it is. 

Bendy_House

Mine is different, and just as veritee describes. It's a dry 'foam', and soft.

plumb1_2

Bendy_House said:

These are my fluffy bits:

Oh err good job you’re no spelling mistakes.

Grizzlebeard

plumb1_2 said:

Bendy_House said:

These are my fluffy bits:

Oh err good job you’re no spelling mistakes.

My long haired cat Fluffy Tibs has no opinion on this subject.