I have a maple tree next to the rear of my house where the range chimney is.
I checked the chimney and ran the stove for a couple of weeks in early September's cold spell and it was all fine. Let it go out until a few days ago.
Usually, this time of year I see bitten-off clumps of maple leaves on the ground between the maple tree and the roof leading to the chimney. Then I know a squirrel is crewing off clumps of leaves and twigs for building a nest. But no clumps of leaves on the ground so I thought the chimney was still ok.
About a week ago, I spotted a squirrel gathering grass clippings in it's mouth and then heading toward the house. Went out and chased him off. Figured I'd check the chimney anyway. Sure enough the chimney brush brought down about a 5 gallon pail worth of dried up leaves and twigs. No more came down so I figured we're good to go.
Wrong !!!
Fired up the range a couple of days ago and it was very sluggish to respond to dampers being fully opened during reloading. Checked the stove and new pipe and no leaks after the firebed that would cause such poor and sluggish response.
Got the chimney brush out and ran it up and still nothing coming down. Then I wondered why I wasn't getting the usual, "clunk" of the brush hitting the underside of the slate cap. Plus, the last rod section was mostly out of the cleanout door. This is a 37 foot chimney from ground level - 36 foot from the clean out door. It takes almost all of the 9 sections of four foot long fiberglass rods, plus the 9 inch long wire brush, to reach the top.
I pushed harder and the rod moved up a few inches. Pulling it down a couple of feet I started to see bits of leaves and twigs coming down. More of the forceful back and forth and finally the last rod was mostly inside the chimney and I could hear the solid clunk of the brush tip hitting the slate cap. When I pulled the rod and brush all the way out a wad of leaves, twigs, strips of plastic shopping bag, and grass came out with it. Enough to fill ANOTHER 5 gallon bucket.
Usually I use a hand mirror held in through the clean out door to look up and see if I can see daylight on the underside of the slate cap. Got lazy and didn't bother with it when I cleaned out a few days ago.
Not only was it dangerous to still have a barely breathing chimney, being lazy just made the job take much longer because of having to set up twice to do the same job !
This has been a crazy year with lots of squirrels around. Don't forget to check those chimneys !
Paul
Check that chimney !
- Sunny Boy
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- mntbugy
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I had trouble with Mr. Blue bird. He kept getting stuck in my stove, or was roosting on the mpd. You could hear him trying to get out. This was the end of August.
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Great Words of Cautionary Wisdom ! Seems like the Mutha Nature Construction Co. has been working Overtime !
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Racoons too!
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