Ceiling Climbs and Air Tunnels

I've done it. I used to work in the heating field, and often climbed into air ducts for cleaning. However, moving around in one is noisy, and there are obstacles such as air dampers and fans to contend with. Usually, there is a single large blower unit at one end, most often in the mechanical room. Various dampers direct the airflow where it is needed. Sometimes, there is a set of dampers that leads to the outside, so that fresh air can be brought in.

The fans in these applications are not the sort with propeller-like blades, but are of the squirrel-cage variety, with long fins situated around a rotating barrel that looks like one of those wheels a gerbil runs in. These blower units can be huge, and are typically the size of a kitchen table or larger. Often, it's possible to walk into one through an access doorway, and stand upright. They will often contain radiators consisting of finned tubes containing steam, or hot or cold water for either heating or cooling, depending on the season.

Is it possible to climb up into the ceiling like through those ceiling squares

Do you mean a suspended ceiling? The one's typically found in houses and office buildings aren't that strong: the suspension elements are just strong enough to hold the ceiling tiles and some ceiling lights. No way they could hold up to the weight of a human.

The ceiling in the movie looked really heavy-duty. I'm not sure if that was a Hollywood thing or if there are stronger versions used in labs and such.

I did a construction job in a shopping mall, and the ceiling was drywall on a grid like suspended ceiling. The contractor told me I could walk on the grid or lay things on it to access what I needed. It looked a lot like suspended ceiling grid only bigger--about 2.5 inches wide by 3 inches high, with 1/8" wire holding it to the building ceiling beams above. I wouldn't have wanted to try to move fast, but I could get around. I believe the grid there was spaced in 4' squares.

There was an episode of Mythbusters that talked about this, you might want to look it up. I believe they concluded that you couldn't climb up vertical tunnels with, like, anything.

Sit down at a typewriter and open a vein, huh? NaNoWriMo: my annual hemorrhage.

There have been a lot of reports of criminals trying to escape through suspended ceilings. The story usually ends with the criminal falling back through, or at least a leg dangling through. Those suspended tiles just won't sustain human weight. You might be able to creep very carefully by keeping your weight on the suspension grid instead of the tiles, but I suspect most of those grids aren't built to sustain much weight either.

Most air-conditioning ducts are very small in diameter. They're also extremely filthy (just think of all those years of dust getting sucked up) and have sharp bits sticking up inside. And also not built to sustain human weight. A small, light person might be able to go a little way inside one, until stopped by a fan, but he wouldn't want to.

Of course, as you said, it's a story. It's been done often enough before in stories, so why not?

Hmm, maybe I should have them accessing an attic instead . . .

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