Chimney Crisis - Please help!

[J Ray]

I have a chimney full of dead birds - I mean 8 feet of the chimney is full of dead birds. I mean literally 100's of birds. Any idea how to clear it out?

Background - We bought a house in foreclosure that has only had 2 owners.

The owner/builders dropped an 8 inch well casing down the clay lining. It is about 20 feet of chimney that runs straight to the basement. They also fixed bolts on the top of the chimney and attached a metal plate that floats about 6 inches off the chimney as a roof for the chimney.

The last owners never burned wood and left the cap off the chimney for about 20 years!

I have lived with a wood stove for 20 years. My dad has lived with a wood stove for 50+ years. We are not experts but we know a lot about chimney care.

Here is what we have done thus far:

1) We tried to brush the chimney but soon realized it was completely stopped up. (We first thought it was cemented closed.)

2) From the basement, I could reach up the chimney for a few feet. I pulled out a maybe a gallon of soot and then started the dead birds.

3) We have tied off metal poles, sledge hammer heads, 20 lb. pry bars and threw them down the chimney to break it up.

4) I pour 5 gallons of water down the chimney.

5) My dad started throwing a tied off 2 inch metal pipe down the chimney. The pipe digs down a few inches into the bird remains.

** One friend recommended Draino crystals, but that is some pretty nasty stuff. I plan tomorrow to possibly pour 1/2 gallon of medical grade hydrogen peroxide (35%). The stuff that burns flesh.

In all, we have cleared out about 4 gallons of dead birds from the chimney. Based upon what we can measure. We have about another 8 or so gallons of remains.

I am open to any suggestions.

 

[begreen]

That is truly amazing. I have never dealt with a mess like this but my creative mind is thinking a 6" sewer line tool like the kind they use to chew through roots.

"Ah hello, Roto rooter. I have a plugged pipe. Need a guy out here. Um, do you do vertical runs?"

Actually I think you can rent one of these units.

Good luck and welcome to hearth.com JR.

 

[J Ray]

My dad and I talked about that, but the way the land and chimney lie, we would need a lot of line. Maybe 75 feet from the ground. We started laughing when we talked about trying to haul a rooter onto the roof only to watch it bounce around all over the place.

 

[begreen]

Could you use the tool from the basement up?

 

[J Ray]

That is a good idea. I don't know how much "head pressure" a rooter can get. We probably need to push about 12 or so feet from the ground.

 

[wenger7446]

What about a high quality shop-vac? Chop up the birds (pick any method that works) and suck the pieces out. It would be SLOW but it may work.

 

[granpajohn]

My dad and I talked about that, but the way the land and chimney lie, we would need a lot of line. Maybe 75 feet from the ground. We started laughing when we talked about trying to haul a rooter onto the roof only to watch it bounce around all over the place.

I have done this twice. It works...for plumbing, that is. (I've never encountered such a chimney problem).
It's an easy climb to my one story roof. We used a tow strap to hold the roto-rooter. Was easy.

Why this has to be done is a long story. But, the pipe has to be rooted from the vent. I am not making this up.

ETA: I don't know who was drunker when this place was built...the plumber or the electrician.

 

[laynes69]

Ideally if using a drain machine, you would want pressure to push everything down. Unfortunately, it's a chimney and not a drain so any liquid would become messy. The idea of chopping and sucking things out might not be a bad idea. Run a machine in bursts, then remove the remnants. I have an old snake from the 30's or 40's that's a flat ribbon on a spool. I bolted a sharpened curved cutter on it and it's done wonders. If using a drain machine, don't let the cable twist or bind. They can be very dangerous. The more pounding on the birds, the tighter the plug. Bottom up sounds like the best idea.

 

[blades]

Well this is one for the books. Never heard of bird blockage before. Now flippin bees ,wasps ect. got the t-shirts. opps forgot about the squirrels -chipmunks and masked raiders using it for storage. Anyhow welcome to our off center world.

 

[J Ray]

Anyone know how much stress a thimble can take?

If we take a rooter up the chimney, the clay and flashing are probably going to get busted up a bit.

 

[J Ray]

Ideally if using a drain machine, you would want pressure to push everything down. Unfortunately, it's a chimney and not a drain so any liquid would become messy. The idea of chopping and sucking things out might not be a bad idea. Run a machine in bursts, then remove the remnants. I have an old snake from the 30's or 40's that's a flat ribbon on a spool. I bolted a sharpened curved cutter on it and it's done wonders. If using a drain machine, don't let the cable twist or bind. They can be very dangerous. The more pounding on the birds, the tighter the plug. Bottom up sounds like the best idea.

Good point about tightening up the plug. We do have an old flat ribbon hand snake that I borrowed from my uncle. It works great for drains.

 

[Oregon aloha]

I rented a power snake with a circular saw blade that cut through the roots in out drain tile but didn't seem to do any damage to the clay tile. Maybe something like that might work. WOW what a issue to deal with.

 

[J Ray]

I rented a power snake with a circular saw blade that cut through the roots in out drain tile but didn't seem to do any damage to the clay tile. Maybe something like that might work. WOW what a issue to deal with.

That is a good idea and I am glad to hear it did not cause any damage.

 

[J Ray]

I appreciate everyone's ideas. It will probably be this weekend before I can work on the chimney again. Thankfully, it is staying pretty mild and space heaters are knocking off any chill.

 

[Soundchasm]

Might be a good idea to wear a mask and eye protection. Murphy's Law dictates the first chunk of dead bird coming out will be aimed straight at your nose. If nothing is leaking all the way through yet, perhaps a gallon of 33% bleach/water down the hatch to disinfect?

If there was a way to vacuum stuff out the top, maybe a few second blast with the meanest 3500 gpm pressure washer attachment might loosen a few bird parts to suck out, and then repeat 100 times. If water starts tricking out the bottom, then that could be a sign you're getting somewhere.

If it's an 8" opening and the wand is 3', and you can get your arm 2' in, then the blast might be close enough to start breaking it up.

I've never done anything this wicked before, but I did have to pull a recently deceased frog out of the pond pump impeller with a pair of pliers. And I was going to get ZERO points for only retrieving a leg...

 

[rijim]

How about a leaf vac setup like the landscapers use to pump into the back of a truck; reduce it down to a 4" line to gain some lift at longer length.
Good luck,

 

[daleeper]

Get yourself some respiratory protection (masks) or a professional chimney sweep. Neighbor cleaned out a chimney full of pigeon poop, and came down with respiratory infection that caused him problems the rest of his life.

 

[MDFisherman]

Perhaps you could get a long enough section of pipe, make it sharp on the end with some teeth(like a hole saw) and try twisting it down into the bird remains trying to punch a hole through the middle. If it was steel pipe 2 or 3" I would imagine the weight of the pipe would provide all the pressure you need. You might have to make some kind of rig to be able to spin the pipe, drill a hold and slide a smaller piece of pipe though it so you could twist it.

I'm thinking if you could get a hole through the middle of that mass, the rest would chip out fairly easy. Good Luck! and yes be sure to wear a dusk mask!

 

[firebroad]

I am thinking there has got to me more in there than dead birds. If you can't punch through it with a pole, I suspect there is something else, perhaps a piece of old cap, or a collapsed liner. I would keep banging the crap out of it until it broke through, then try to clear it out with a chain. If that doesn't do it, sounds like a pro might have to be budgeted in.

 

[Soundchasm]

Since these are desperate times, what about those trucks that clean out portalets? Surely they have a system for high pressure cleaning and suction.

 

[Ashful]

I'd hire someone who does $90 chimney cleanings. "Can you guarantee it will be clean when he leaves?" "Yeah, I think there's a couple birds in there."

 

[DMB]

Man...this must be the stuff Santa just won't talk about.

This might sound crazy, but if you really can't see the problem really well you could rig up an old camcorder with a light on it. Send it down on a rope and try to get a better idea of what your dealing with. Kinda like a cheap redneck version of a plumbing inspection camera. Of course you might need to be comfortable with parting ways with the camera when your done.

 

[J Ray]

I'd hire someone who does $90 chimney cleanings. "Can you guarantee it will be clean when he leaves?" "Yeah, I think there's a couple birds in there."

Thanks. That made me laugh out loud. Nearest pro is probably 100 miles away. If the pro gets a call from someone out in the sticks, then they probably know there is a real problem.

 

[J Ray]

Man...this must be the stuff Santa just won't talk about.

This might sound crazy, but if you really can't see the problem really well you could rig up an old camcorder with a light on it. Send it down on a rope and try to get a better idea of what your dealing with. Kinda like a cheap redneck version of a plumbing inspection camera. Of course you might need to be comfortable with parting ways with the camera when your done.

Maybe I should just give Santa a call. I guess this means the former residents must have been pretty naughty cause he has not slid down that chimney in a long long time.

 

[cableman]

Hydrolic cable boring missile lol