Old screaming Craftsman shop vac to the rescue
Dick Coers
Had an odd situation today, how to get a chipmunk out of our clothes drier. The little bastard somehow climbed up to the vent, and slid down the rigid exhaust pipe. I first put a garbage bag over the elbow on the exhaust, but nothing. Opened the door, there he was looking through the lint trap at me. Went back, removed the elbow, and got the shop vac plugged into the exhaust. Still nothing, so turned on the drier, air only. I thought I heard him go through the hose, but the vac is too loud to be sure. Cracked open the lid, there it was. Bet that was a hell of a ride getting pulled through 4' of vac hose!!!! Hardware cloth over the vent tomorrow. 2nd time that's happened in 10 years. Last time, chipmunk got his head stuck in the fan. The drier stalled out, and I thought lint must have clogged up something. Put the same vac in the exhaust and rotated the drum a little. Imagine my surprise when I brought out the hose and saw a tail! So Craftsman shop vac get a 5 star review for chipmunk removal.