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You've been there before. We're there regularly. You hire a professional to have your dryer vents cleaned and they find something that you never IMAGINED would have been in your vent. Sure, lint, a bird nest, maybe a lost sock, are common finds. What we can find when you clean your vents goes far beyond the typical list.
The Strangest Things You’d Never Believe Your Vent Cleaners Discovered While Cleaning Your Vents.
Here it is again; ever wonder why your vents may not bringing as much as heat as they used to? There could be many reasons as we discussed previously, but the most common reason is clogged ducts. We've put together a list of the weirdest things duct workers have found that somehow made there down the vents.
FYI - don't blame your kids right away. If you've purchased a re-sale home, you will never know who the culprits may be. Curious kids love these spots as secret storage space. Ahhh. Movies.
What's more surprising is even with a new home construction, new ducts to not mean clean ducts.
Here's a list gathered from many companies as well as ours that will have you scratching your head saying "Whhhhhat" ?!
Stuff the cat swats down the vent that you don’t know about
Stuff the kids throw down the vent (much like the toilet) that you don’t know about
Baby & toddler items, pacifiers, food (cheerios, goldfish crackers anything that can fit in a child’s fist and be flung) especially at the grandparents house
Tennis balls, rubber balls, Nerf balls, laundry balls
Plastic bags, wrappers of all kinds
Socks & underwear, towels & rags (even a full size flag)
Small dead pets, reptiles & rodents (mice & rats especially) don’t put the traps too close to the vent
Small alive critters – birds especially in the outdoor exhaust for the dryer vents; a kitten was lost and was found down the duct work, eyes peering back at them – was retrieved successfully but not easily.
Human and animal feces & urine residential buildings (it’s true this is a stunt pulled by the nephew of the worker whose spilled the beans. Reason for such a stun? He was told he couldn’t leave his room.
Human and animal feces & urine in commercial buildings – homeless or contractors, one technician found a bed and table in a large commercial vent
Dirty magazines, love letters, novels, books
Jewelry which has fallen in duct work or for safe keeping in a cold air return, coin collections
Pieces of drywall & metal, leftover construction debris
Nails, screws, tacks
Rolls of partially-used duct tape
Candy: Smarties, jelly beans, M&Ms, Skittles, gum
Food: sandwiches, bananas
Children’s toys: marbles, Lego, army men, Barbie doll, even an RC helicopter was found
Craft supplies
Contraband (teenager or dealers), weapons (apparently a crazy ex boyfriend)
Got something massive stuck in your vents?
Have you ever noticed you or your children sneezing when the furnace comes on?
Especially if you have pets, lots of people living in the house or the previous owners, and the people before that may have never had the ducts cleaned, now is likely a good time!
Weird smell? Could be a dead thing, weed from a previous occupant, mold or mildew.
Some people don’t see the value of duct cleaning, but if you have a child with allergies, you already know it’s essential to keep as clean of an air environment as you possibly can.
Have a room that’s always too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer?
There is either something clogging the vents or improper calibration of the dampers on the initial install of the venting system or often times, and how the flow is balanced – sending too much air to one room and not enough to others.
What have you found in your dryer vents? Let us know in the comment below!