Found pay dirt under a dryer vent cap after 4 service calls

Last month I kept getting lint buildup complaints on the same dryer model, and on the fourth trip I finally pulled the exterior cap off and found a bird nest the size of a softball blocking half the flap. Swapped in a $9 magnetic vent cover and told the homeowner to check it every spring, has anyone else run into critters camped out in exhaust lines?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryan_ellis21d ago

Oh man, that's wild! I pulled a dead squirrel out of a bathroom exhaust pipe last summer, thing was blocking the whole line and the customer thought their fan was toast. Took me longer to figure out where the smell was coming from than to actually fix it, and now I tell everyone to pop those caps off during their yearly checkup.

caleb_stone20d ago

My buddy had this exact thing happen with his dryer vent. House smelled like something died every time they did laundry, figured it was a bird or something stuck in the duct. Turned out a raccoon had made a little nest right at the outlet cap and one of the babies crawled inside and just didn't make it out. The kicker is the vent still worked fine, so it took him weeks to finally check the outside cap. He said it was the grossest thing he's ever pulled out of anything, and now he checks it every spring.