How do we retrieve something that went down a chimney.
October 6, 2013 9:04 AM Subscribe
So what happens when something falls down a chimney? Our morning of soda rocket launching ended when it went down our neighbors chimney. We climbed on the roof and can't see it. What do we do now? I don't care about the rocket, just worried about my neighbors' chimney and future fires.
If you got lucky, the rocket made it all the way down to the damper at the bottom of the flue. Go over to the neighbor, and ask them to open the damper and see if the rocket falls out.
Odd, though, that there wasn't some sort of screen over the top of the chimney.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:12 AM on October 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Odd, though, that there wasn't some sort of screen over the top of the chimney.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:12 AM on October 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Yes, we are 100% sure. It landed on top and then tipped in. We've already been in the house but there is some type of trap somewhere.
posted by beccaj at 9:12 AM on October 6, 2013
posted by beccaj at 9:12 AM on October 6, 2013
Right. A proper chimney will have a sort of ledge in them. If the rocket is hung up there, you will need to either get a chimneysweep, or DIY with a very long pole.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:15 AM on October 6, 2013
posted by Thorzdad at 9:15 AM on October 6, 2013
Chimney cleaning service, as Wretch729 suggests. They'll have long-handled whatevers to reach around in there, plus the expertise to know WHERE the rocket might hang up (and therefore the best places to look).
posted by easily confused at 9:16 AM on October 6, 2013
posted by easily confused at 9:16 AM on October 6, 2013
Best answer: The ledge is called a smoke shelf, and typically it's immediately above the fireplace opening. If you remove the damper, you can probably reach your arm up there and find the can, or stick a camera with a flash up there and take several pics in various directions to see if you can locate it. Plan to get dirty doing this.
If this flue leads to a water heater or older furnace rather than an open fireplace, there's a good chance the rocket went past the point where the furnace/heater pipe enters the chimney and dropped harmlessly to the bottom where it will bother nothing.
posted by jon1270 at 9:27 AM on October 6, 2013 [3 favorites]
If this flue leads to a water heater or older furnace rather than an open fireplace, there's a good chance the rocket went past the point where the furnace/heater pipe enters the chimney and dropped harmlessly to the bottom where it will bother nothing.
posted by jon1270 at 9:27 AM on October 6, 2013 [3 favorites]
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Other than than, is there anywhere within the house that you would have access to the chimney and could through for the rocket? And are you truly 100% positive that's where it landed?
posted by Wretch729 at 9:10 AM on October 6, 2013