Mouse problem outdoors

[Richard K]

Have a house in southern Colorado on a heavily wooded 35 acre lot that we are now going to live in during the summer months. Last week our AC went out. No AC, heat or blower. Had to wait for a $175 service call to find that mice had chewed through the exposed wires on the outdoor compressor. I've since used chrome, automotive trim tape to wrap the exposed wires. I found that they have also chewed on the foam inulsation around the 12' coolant line which also contains wiring. I've wrapped it with Gorilla tape which was difficult since it's against the house.

My big concern is: We, for the first time, will be spending October thru April in Arizona. If the little bastards chew through the Gorilla tape, foam insulation and into the electrical line again there will be no heat to the house while we are gone for the winter. We've spent a week or so at this house in the winter, shut the water off and set the thermostat at 55 degrees and not had a problem. But without a furnace there will be problems with freezing. It's going to be difficult to drain and blow out the water lines without extensive plumbing modifications.

Solutions to protect the outdoor wiring?

[cstone]

feral cats

[ray1970]

feral cats

Seems like a cat would be a simple solution to a mouse problem. It's either that or cover your place with some sort of snakes.

Of course if you're only looking to keep the stuff protected from damage then I would say running it in metal conduit should work.

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Even if the wires are exposed outside if there's no call for cooling it should trip the fuse blow the transformer etc. it's on two different sides.

[sniper7]

Feral cats was my first thought. Or build some type of protective cover over the spaces you need protected. Or what about that metal shroud stuff that goes over wiring?

[Great-Kazoo]

Wrap items in steel wool. That they do not chew through. We used sw for an opening that a piece of paper couldn't fit through, damn mice did. stuffed with sw, no more meeses .

[HoneyBadger]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIvHd76EdQ4#t=59

[Richard K]

Thanks for all the replies. If the power is on two different sides, I'll turn off the breakers to the AC when we leave and not worry about it until I have to splice wires nex spring.

[Duman]

As sniper7 said in another thread, "Napalm. No sense taking chances."

[rondog]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D47P1TgZ7ZE