SO…I move in with this wonderful lady in a 1940’s bungalow 1 1/2 story house. There is a beautiful red brick fireplace in the living room with a gas log,which is absolutely relaxing on these cold Ohio evenings. A few nights ago we hear this muffled thump but are unable to find the source. A couple of days go by and a really disgusting stench begins to emanate from the fireplace. I also discover that the throat opening has been bricked up long ago (when the gas log was installed no doubt). So…I clamber to the top of the 30 feet high chimney to discover that an exceptionally unlucky racoon has fallen to his demise. I lower my heaviest duty duty shark fishing gear, snag the offensive beast and attempt to winch him to the top,only to find that this 30 pound,odiferous vermin no longer fits through the 8″ flue that he rifled into. I switched to a 3/8″ rope and 2 x 4 lever but he just won’t bend enough to squeeze out. The question is two fold:1: What do I do now? 2: Is this fireplace safe to use? Thanks in advance for any ideas (even wilda** ideas accepted at his point).
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get it back up to the top... lasso the midsection... brute force is the res of the story...
squeeze a bucket under it and carve it up... remove in smaller pieces...
without make up air that fire place would make me nervous...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I used to live in an apartment with a gas log and a bricked up flue. It was fun, but after an hour or so, a tendency towards sleepiness would always appear. It was CO of course, incomplete combution is a given when you see pretty yellow flames running accross the logs.
At a minimum, some real caution is required with something like this. Ignorance could be fatal.
Here's one in the WAGuess Category - Meat/Fat burns right? Get that carcass as high as you can, hook it good, use a wire leader, get it on fire and get off the ladder. Pull out the remains. (Neighbors will get over it.)
Don K.
Dump a bag of lime down the chimney to kill the smell and play dumb.
Tape poly over the fireplace opening to keep out the stench and maggots.
In 2 months everything except some bones and fur will be gone, easy to pull out then.
If the chimney is all sealed up, then fill it with a couple gallons of water, light the fire, boil the water.......
Raccoon Stew 1 Raccoon Cold water 1 ts Salt Hot biscuits 2 tb Flour 1 c Milk or cream Salt and pepper to taste Cut up the raccoon and place in a kettle. Cover with water, add salt and boil till tender. Break open hot biscuits and put them on a platter; put on each one a piece of raccoon. Make a paste of flour and a little milk, stir into pan drippings and let boil a minute. Add the milk, season and pour over the raccoon. Serve at once.
Hey LANDSHARK,
take your shark fishing gear out to where you catch sharks
catch shark
lower shark into chimney
shark eats 'coon
dispose of shark
no more problem
I had a duck fall in our flue. After it died. I took a pair of tongs and blindly reached thru the damper and picked him off of the smoke shelf. Hung fowl not being to my taste I threw him in the garbage.
One thought. Make sure it is dead before you reach in there. Oh yea enjoy rustling thru the asbestos ashes underneath the gas log. ;-)