That moment when a pellet stove updraft nearly ruined my Tuesday

I was on a job in a basement near Waco and a client had stuffed newspaper into the flue to stop a draft, which I didn't catch until I lit my brush and smoke started pouring back. How did I fix it? Yanked the paper out with a grabber tool before the whole house smelled like a campfire. Anybody else run into random blockages homeowners hide?

3 comments

3 Comments

angela_morgan9d ago

What kind of stuff did they shove in there?

fiona_carr268d ago

Start by asking @angela_morgan if she means the really oily kind or the dry crumbly kind that just falls out. I remember my friend buying some cheap stuffed olives once and they had this weird gritty paste inside that tasted like nothing. Was it supposed to be pimento or something else entirely?

ruby6598d ago

Paper in the flue is actually pretty common, there's a guy I know who used a squirrel nest once and it caught fire almost immediately. Yanking it with a grabber is the smart play, I've seen people try to vacuum them out and just blow ash everywhere instead.