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I got up at 9:00, and when I walked into the room, Cyn was just looking at me. There was noise coming from the laundry room. Some rodent was inside the exhaust duct of the dryer.
We had thought that it was somehow stuck in there, because we always heard it scrabbling down at the bottom. That didn't make sense because mice can run up pretty much any surface but glass, but that's what we thought. We were formulating plans on how to catch the thing. Like, disconnect the top end of the duct, put a pillowcase over it, then loosen the bottom and tilt it sideways so the mouse could run out into the pillowcase.
I tried to move the dryer out from the wall, to put the duct at a less steep angle, but it came off of the dryer, at the bottom. I put it back on. At one point I was standing next to it, and I thought I heard the mouse run all the way up and out. Then I heard it again at the bottom, and then it ran up and out again. I took the duct off and looked in the dryer - sure enough, there was a nest. Or at least a bunch of dried grass.
We put duct tape over the vent so it couldn't get back in, and I tried to figure out how to fix it. I went to the hardware store to get an exterior vent with a screen over it. But then I couldn't figure out how to get the old one out of the wall without cutting everything to pieces. That makes me nervous. If something gets messed up, the repair would be caulking the shit out of it. I decided I'd just get some hardware cloth and put a screen over the end of the vent.
Meanwhile, I had to get the nest out of the dryer. It was almost farther in than I could reach, but it got it. There was grass and leaves and lint, and some bits of gnawed plastic. Not sure where the plastic came from. I put the new duct on and started it back up, but the machine vibrated a lot. Like it really shook. I couldn't figure out why. The usual troubleshooting guides mentioned all the different wheels, but it didn't seem like any of them would cause that kind of shaking. Cyn found something that mentioned the blower. If it were clogged, it could cause that. That still didn't make any sense to me, but I decided I'd take thing apart to see if I could find anything.
I spent a good 45 minutes disassembling it. It was pretty easy except for one electrical clip that took me fifteen minutes to get apart. I was ready to start throwing things. Or at least thinking I'd feel better if I did.
There's a spot between the lint screen and the blower that can collect stuff. It had a lot of those little plastic strips that are in men's dress shirts. And lint, and more gnawed plastic shavings. I got the vacuum to clean it. And then I got the narrow attachment to get in between the fins of the blower. And only because I did that, did I notice holes in the fins. The mouse had gnawed big holes in them! And that's what was causing the vibration, since all the holes were on one side and it was out of balance. So I ordered a new one - squirrel cage style.
I put it back together in, so we could get a couple of loads done. I hope it doesn't do any damage to the shaft or bearings. It did shake the end of duct off the dryer, so it smelled like the laundry jungle in there. And now we'll have to periodically clean that new screen that's on the outside of the vent.
.
We had thought that it was somehow stuck in there, because we always heard it scrabbling down at the bottom. That didn't make sense because mice can run up pretty much any surface but glass, but that's what we thought. We were formulating plans on how to catch the thing. Like, disconnect the top end of the duct, put a pillowcase over it, then loosen the bottom and tilt it sideways so the mouse could run out into the pillowcase.
I tried to move the dryer out from the wall, to put the duct at a less steep angle, but it came off of the dryer, at the bottom. I put it back on. At one point I was standing next to it, and I thought I heard the mouse run all the way up and out. Then I heard it again at the bottom, and then it ran up and out again. I took the duct off and looked in the dryer - sure enough, there was a nest. Or at least a bunch of dried grass.
We put duct tape over the vent so it couldn't get back in, and I tried to figure out how to fix it. I went to the hardware store to get an exterior vent with a screen over it. But then I couldn't figure out how to get the old one out of the wall without cutting everything to pieces. That makes me nervous. If something gets messed up, the repair would be caulking the shit out of it. I decided I'd just get some hardware cloth and put a screen over the end of the vent.
Meanwhile, I had to get the nest out of the dryer. It was almost farther in than I could reach, but it got it. There was grass and leaves and lint, and some bits of gnawed plastic. Not sure where the plastic came from. I put the new duct on and started it back up, but the machine vibrated a lot. Like it really shook. I couldn't figure out why. The usual troubleshooting guides mentioned all the different wheels, but it didn't seem like any of them would cause that kind of shaking. Cyn found something that mentioned the blower. If it were clogged, it could cause that. That still didn't make any sense to me, but I decided I'd take thing apart to see if I could find anything.
I spent a good 45 minutes disassembling it. It was pretty easy except for one electrical clip that took me fifteen minutes to get apart. I was ready to start throwing things. Or at least thinking I'd feel better if I did.
There's a spot between the lint screen and the blower that can collect stuff. It had a lot of those little plastic strips that are in men's dress shirts. And lint, and more gnawed plastic shavings. I got the vacuum to clean it. And then I got the narrow attachment to get in between the fins of the blower. And only because I did that, did I notice holes in the fins. The mouse had gnawed big holes in them! And that's what was causing the vibration, since all the holes were on one side and it was out of balance. So I ordered a new one - squirrel cage style.
I put it back together in, so we could get a couple of loads done. I hope it doesn't do any damage to the shaft or bearings. It did shake the end of duct off the dryer, so it smelled like the laundry jungle in there. And now we'll have to periodically clean that new screen that's on the outside of the vent.
.
