Let's hear it for the \"scorched air\" guys

John R. Hall

Hey, a little strategically placed ductwork can prevent crimes. I'd like to see a crook make his way through a 2" pipe!

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A would-be burglar wound up in a tight spot south of Lawrence, Kan., on Monday.

The discovery was made by a convenience store employee who heard a strange noise after arriving for work in the morning, KMBC-TV in Kansas City reported.

"I started hearing noises in the back," clerk Mary Hamlin told KMBC. "I honestly didn't have any idea what it was. I figured it was somebody around back of the building just messing around."

Hamlin called her boss, then police. Officers who arrived at the scene found a man stuck inside an air-conditioning vent. They called for assistance, and crews freed the man. The building at the intersection of highways 56 and 59 also houses a car dealership, which is where the intruder was apparently headed when he became stuck.

The man had apparently tried to get in through a window and a door before he decided to climb onto the roof, the TV station reported.

"(The shaft) goes up all the way through the attic. I can't see how he got in there at all. I mean, it's just amazing," said C.T. Hansen, who runs the dealership.

The man was treated for dehydration. He has not been charged with any crime.

NOTE: There is no crime for stupidity -- yet.

ernie_3

See how Harrison Ford changed our lives? I could never understand why he never gets ripped open on zip screws while crawling through ductwork. Maybe they used tek screws. Local kid just got nailed for crawling through a local conv store duct. He too cigaretes and rolling papers. They knew they weren't looking for a mastermind!

DaveC

It looks easy in the movies, though...

Look at all the heists and escapes that ductwork was the path for: "Mission Impossible", "Oceans 11", "Goldmember", "Aliens", "Die Hard", "The Posieden Adventure"...

I used to get some real ripped up hands installing the stuff - Imagine crawling through it on your belly!

Dave Yates (PAH)

When I was skinnier

I had to climb down through the return air duct when performing a winter's night service call on a RTU. My ladder was blown over from the high gusts of zero-degree winds. Brrrrrrrrrr. The lone sales clerk in the pet shop was pretty darned surprised to see me coming from the storage area, knowing I'd been up on the roof(G).

Today I was feeling pretty fat as I shinnied up a void space behind a grand stairway (three floors high). Circular staircase & squared off walls in adjacent rooms left a nice void space in which we'll be adding the ductwork to modernize this 1940's A/C system.

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DaveGateway

The Simpsons

When Bart climbed into a roof vent to hide, he wondered, "Does this suck or blow?" It sucked!

JimGPE_11

Yep.

No turning vanes, no dampers, sometimes no fans! And they're always lit inside, and no matter how small the room they serve, you can always walk in 'em. No 12 x 6 ducts in these systems!