There’s nothing worse than seeing mouse droppings in your home and realizing you may have an unwanted tenant. At a minimum, mice can be an unwanted nuisance, and their presence can cause significant damage potentially. Mice can carry harmful diseases, and can do significant and costly damage to the interior of homes. What most people fail to realize though, is their vulnerabilities to mice outside the home.
In both electrical and HVAC we see mice do significant damage to outdoor equipment such as electrical panels, or air conditioners. Mice look for durable and safe places to build nests, and a weatherproof electrical compartment can provide an excellent refuge. If the mouse simply made a nest and coexisted with the equipment, there wouldn’t be any problems. Unfortunately, they can not resist the urge to chew on wiring and electrical components.
Mice frequently chew up wiring, which generally causes the equipment to fail—and more often than not, the mouse to die. Sometimes these failures can be remedied by simply replacing a wire or 2, but other times require significant equipment repairs, or perhaps even replacement.
To prevent Mice from wrecking your AC or Electrical Systems, here are a few ideas!
Make sure the grass, weeds, or any other plants; are kept low and clean around the equipment. We see mice in air conditioners most frequently when there's long grass or weeds surrounding the AC. When the grass is long, mice are less cautious, and explore new places without the risk of being seen by people or predators.
Make sure there are no exposed entry points into the AC or electrical. Often, we see a whole in the bottom of the electrical systems which is normally where more wiring could enter. A mouse can easily get into a 1/2" hole, which is a standard entry size for electrical penetrations. If you have a hole in your system, plug it up!
Get a hungry outdoor cat! All jokes aside, cats are a very good deterrent for mice, and it's not a bad thing to have a cat lurking in your yard at night.
If you think you have mice damage in your AC or electrical system, shut it off immediately, and give us a call!
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