Ants in Condenser?

ThunderCow

Have any of you ran into ants in outdoor condensers? I had this happen to my most important customer: ME.

They converged on the electronics and got into the solenoid...weird.

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Air Conditioning Austin TX
AC Service Austin TX

Nathan

Welcome to HVAC site Thundercow. Where are you located?

Tonyb

We have bugs called earwigs that love to get into the contactor. We install covers on the contactor to protect the points.

Yuri

I had ants build a huge nest/hill of dirt inside a unit once. GROSS. Got the customer to throw ant powder he gets from an exterminator in there. Mice are bad where I am, chew up insulation and die when they land on the contactor.

Airductlady

My pest control guy just told me today that a shot of Raid will take care of that. Also will take care of fleas in the bag-less vacuum cleaner if you have fleas in the house. Sounds like it was too late to save your components, you must have had something tasty on them!

RoBoTeq

The heat from the electrical current attracts many bugs. I have seen ant nests, individual earwigs, spiders etc and bee nests in many outdoor units.

Whenever I hear of a frozen indoor coil in the Spring, the first thing I think to look for is a stuck condensor/heat pump contactor with a sticky, squeeshed bug holding the contacts together after the indoor blower has stopped.

G 71

Get them all the time here too.

beenthere

I think Nathan scared him away.

2 days and he hasn't posted back. LOL

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How many times must one fix something before it is fixed?

Nathan

Well, now he added his signature to his post which makes my question seem pretty stupid ... maybe that's why he left

beenthere

He'll forgive. LOL

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How many times must one fix something before it is fixed?

scooter

Tony B
Where did you get the contactor covers? are you talking about the little black contact covers like on the seimens contactors or is this like a whole contactor cover?
We have big problems with all the above mentioned critters.
Scooter

tobaker

Hi,
Consult a qualified technician. Where did the ants get an outlet to enter? Any damage done? Get it repaired asap.

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RoBoTeq

You sure he doesn't need a qualified exterminator?

hvaclover

lol

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Not Stupid, Just slow

supercool

this whole topic bugs me !

mechanicalDvr

If mice have no issues getting into a condenser do you really think ants would find it hard???

RoBoTeq

I had to clean a 6' black snake from the control section of a Rheem heat pump and pull a squirrel out from a blower section of a furnace. So, yea, ants got no problems getting in there.

hvaclover

Whatta ya bitchin' about? Why do you think the call it a "squirrel cage"?

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Not Stupid, Just slow

RoBoTeq

I am being dead serious with this; The owner of the home was an elderly Russian woman who had been in the United States long enough to have a very good grasp of English, but not of American humor.

The initial call was due to very loud noises in her furnace. She was standing near me, watching me work when I was looking into the blower compartment. The first thing I noticed was a 3" hole in the filter on the side of the furnace. When I got further into the blower compartment and found the culprit, I started laughing.

The lady asked what was so funny. I briefly explained; "Well ma'am, the fan housing is what we call a squirrel cage fan. Then I produced the squirrel and added; "The problem with your furnace is that your squirrel died."

Well; I am now on the floor in tears laughing and this woman is looking at me like she is concerned about letting me into her home. So, I got myself together and explained that it looked as though the squirrel had gotten into her attic and from there chewed it's way into the return ducting eventually making it's way to the blower section where it got caught in the blower wheel, which is what made all of the noise she called about.

mechanicalDvr

The absolute worst thing I have ever done was pull kittens out of an old Whirlpool tabletop condenser fan when I was a kid (16-17) during the summer when they were full of maggots. When I asked the HO for a garbage bag she thought I was joking, she gagged when I handed her the bag. The installer left a fair sized hole around the lineset entrance to the cabinet, but it didn't look big enough for kittens to me.