Answer
Excessive soot in an oil furnace can be caused by a few things. One might be that your burner is dirty, the burner could be old and lastly, your furnace may be in need of an air adjustment. Answer Excessive soot is caused from the oil burning in a "rich" condition much like black smoke coming from a car. The fuel nozzle could be partially plugged and cause the flame to impinge on the chamber, the air inlet to the burner could be partly obstructed with dust/pet hair/dryer lint.....these would probably be the most common causes. And finally, it could possibly have been adjusted by the previous technician to be a little rich and soot would build up fairly quickly as a result. The cure for your problem is to schedule a tune up and any of the things I have mentioned would be addressed by the technician at that time.
burning oil
Excessive wear, or lack of oil. Or both. Generally lack of oil is what causes the excessive wear.
Possibly the boiler is firing oil and thus the soot from the oil is spilling back into the gas flue
too much fuel, excessive oil consumption
Oil
The age of the oil isn't all that important; you can drive with old oil. The problem is the tiny metal flakes that wear off of the engine parts, and soot and carbon particles left behind in the cylinder when the engine runs. Your oil filter is supposed to filter those out, but it isn't perfect. It's actually more important to change the oil filter than it is to change the oil, but it's generally not practical to try to catch and reuse the oil, since removing the oil filter normally allows all of the oil to run out. The soot and particulate matter in the oil causes excessive wear, which will eventually require expensive repairs.
burning oil
Too much oil, excessive crankcase pressure ( bad piston rings ) or both. pressure causes oil to come the filter tude and capilarity is also a factor. pressure causes oil to come the filter tude and capilarity is also a factor.
To much oil in fuel .sparkplugs build soot on them
could be anything. if it's not engine oil, or some kind of engine treatment designed to add to your oil , it's more then likely a form of contamination.
Low oil pressure can be caused by a number of problems, including inaccurate gauge or sending unit; thin oil due to poor oil quality; excessive oil pressure; broken oil pressure relief spring; oil inlet tube restriction or leak; or excessive oil pump or camshaft clearance.
This valve ventilates your engine and causes the soot from the oil to be burned with the gasoline mixture. If you don't replace it when it needs to be replaced you will collect soot and gunk in your engine, gas mileage will suffer and oil consumption will increase. It will also eventually lead to a premature engine rebuild. But why wouldn't you replace it. It is absolutly the cheapest part on your car.