Animals in stove pipe?

[mudeprived]

Anyone ever have issues with birds, mice, chipmunks, etc going into your Duravent pipe?

A couple nights ago my cat was jumping on and off the bed while we were trying to sleep. I got up to see what the hell she was doing and she led me straight to the stove which was off for the night. She just sat there and stared at it and I never seen her do something like that. I opened it up and pulled out the ash try and she stood on her back legs like a kangaroo and peeked into the stove. She was super curious and I thought maybe she heard something in there. My first thought was a bird flew in it and got stuck so I went out side and took off the bottom cap of the T but nothing was in there (not even any dust, good!).

It was probably nothing but was pretty strange.

Are animals sneaking into the vent a common thing?

 

[TStark]

Likely.

I once found a dried up bat clutching the exhaust impeller like something out of MXE Most Extreme Elimination upon fall startup.

 

[rich2500]

11 years and never a problem here, I do bag and tape up the exhaust and oak over the summer .

 

[Bioburner]

Had found a bunch of caramels left there by a mouse when first trying out the lbt. The home owner was upset with the fact that mice had been on the counter swiping the candy.
Air inlet never been hooked up so the vermin was coming and going through it.

 

[Tech Guru]

Had test burned a Pellet stove recently, hooked up in our shop to a 6" High Temp Chimney. When the testing was done, I took the 6" to 3" adapter off and there was a whole smoked bird (a starling, likely) just laying there at the flue extension. Have heard all kinds of stories about squirrel, bird and mouse skeletons found inside VC Encore and Defiant refractory packages during cleanings.

 

[bags]

Wasp nests too. Anything is possible but i live out in the woods and have not had any issues to date.

 

[bogieb]

Likely.

I once found a dried up bat clutching the exhaust impeller like something out of MXE Most Extreme Elimination upon fall startup.

That is funny! Sad for the bat, but a funny visual

 

[TStark]

Indeed!

Also found a dried up duck on the smoke shelf of the chimney of my childhood home.

 

[tlc1976]

I'd say it's very likely but not much for critters at my new house either. At the old place it was a constant battle with mice, and starlings. Mice would come in through the crawl space constantly. Starlings would come down my woodstove pipe and I cremated a few. They would also tear off any shield, nest in my dryer vent, and peck through the hose and come in the house.

 

[Lake Girl]

Indeed!

Also found a dried up duck on the smoke shelf of the chimney of my childhood home.

We had to smoke out Mama Raccoon off the smoke shelf but not too much to kill her babies. Brother hooked the babies into a box with a hockey stick and hustled them outside. One ticked off Mama until she got her babies back. Covered it up until a screen could be installed.

 

[Lake Girl]

Recall one member who found a bird in the combustion blower housing ... cleaned that up only to find there were actually two in there!

 

[reallyte]

Yup a starling dive bombed my 15' rise and then into my combustion blower. All I heard was squeaking and scraping on startup. Felt terrible and the house stank of roast feather. Jammed up my motor until I was able to fish it out. From then on I caged the exhaust during the off season.

 

[Pete Zahria]

Not the duravent, but my regular chimney,
have had a squirrel in the summer, come down and worked his way into the
Ashley wood stove... had a heck of a time getting him out... felt so bad,
grabbed his tail he kept trying to get into the air inlet and was clinging like glue...
ended up losing a lot of his tail hair, had it left on the very very end.
So for the rest of the summer, we could always spot it, because of the
"French Poodle" tail!!
Another time as tstark above, a dead duck in the cleanout of the chimney... and she had laid an egg.

Dan