That moment in a 1920s Victorian when I realized I'd been skipping the cleanout all along

I was up on a roof in Portland last October and the homeowner mentioned she'd never had soot come through the vents before - that's when it hit me I'd been ignoring the cleanout cap at the bottom of the flue for 3 years. Anyone else miss something that obvious early on?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray5623d ago

Had a similar thing happen to me back when I was doing a gas fireplace install up in Bellingham. I kept wondering why the draft was off on this one unit and it turned out the previous guy had left a rag stuffed in the flue damper for years. Felt like a dummy once I pulled it out, but now I always run a brush down the whole thing before I button up any job. What helped me was taping a note to the inside of the access door with the date I last cleaned it, that way I don't have to rely on memory.

craig.olivia2d ago

Wait, has anyone else ever found something weird in a flue or vent that had no business being there? I swear, it's like some kind of rite of passage for anyone who works on this stuff. @tessap97, that dryer vent glove thing is wild, I bet you felt just as confused as I did when I found a little stuffed animal wedged in a bathroom exhaust fan once. What ended up working for me was just keeping a little checklist pinned to the inside of my tool bag lid, nothing fancy, just a reminder to run a brush through before I close anything up. It's a silly thing but it saves you from that feeling of being an idiot later on.

tessap972d ago

Five years ago I found a pair of work gloves stuffed in a dryer vent that had been slowing everything down for months. I felt stupid for not checking sooner, but then I realized whoever did it probably just forgot they were in there. Taping a note to the access door is a great idea, I might start doing that myself. It's those little oversights that make you question everything for a minute, isn't it?