Cockroaches & outlets

[NUTTSGT]

Here's a question for some of you electricians out there, maybe landlords too.


Have you ever seen a wall outlet short out because of cockroaches in it ?

We had a call last night for an outlet smoking. Once we got there, I found that it was a kitchen outlet, a GFCI outlet with the red light tripped. In the hole for the ground was the *** end of a cockroach barely sticking out.

I took the outlet cover off and then pulled the outlet out of the wall. Everything looked OK. So I replaced it, after we killed the power to the circuit. Then we advised the resident to notify the apt manager.

In the mean time, I tried not touch anything else watched another cockroach playing hide-n-seek behind a box of Cheerios.

So have any of you seen any outlets short out or trip because of cockroaches or other insects in them ?

 

[Thruxton]

There is some kind of wasp that likes to plug up the ground pin on everything in our barns and fields (and my shop before I finished the interior), and the gfci's in the fields sometimes go bad, maybe from this. We use all-weather in-use covers since in the winter we have stock tank heaters plugged in, real PITA sometimes. I've taken to putting in those plastic outlet fillers(?). They plug 'em with mud, sort of like mud daubers but they go for small holes- another favorite target is the nozzle of a fire extinguisher, we have to check them all the time.

 

[Aceman]

Insects, no.

But a couple different times some of the guys I've worked with have said they've had to replace receps because they'd been urinated on, they assume by the homeowners pets.

Weird, I know....

 

[Milton Shaw]

Yes roaches like about anything electrical, from microwaves, refigerators, stoves, outlets, dishwashers. They get into them and short them out with their pee and poop. Some places the infestations have been so bad, I would go back out to the truck and spray my shoes with Raid, so they would not climb up my legs.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Thanks guys.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

There is some kind of wasp that likes to plug up the ground pin on everything in our barns and fields (and my shop before I finished the interior), and the gfci's in the fields sometimes go bad, maybe from this. We use all-weather in-use covers since in the winter we have stock tank heaters plugged in, real PITA sometimes. I've taken to putting in those plastic outlet fillers(?). They plug 'em with mud, sort of like mud daubers but they go for small holes- another favorite target is the nozzle of a fire extinguisher, we have to check them all the time.

We have mud daubers here, they build EVERYWHERE. Will go to great lengths to get inside the closed building, finding a small opening at the top of the garage door or whatever. I find their nests everywhere. Were a bunch of them on the bottom of my old '67 Falcon that had been sitting a while inside the shop.

I got a bunch of the child proofing plastic caps also and installed them on any unused electric outlets, and be sure to plug together the ends of extension cords and air hose ends that are rolled up.

Found one building a nest in a fire extinguisher hose. Removed the hose and cleaned it out, inspected all the others, and installed slip on plastic caps on all the hose nozzles. It will blow off at the first bit of pressure from the extinguisher if the user doesn't remove it.

Charles

 

[dittle fart around]

Rodents take out residential transformers all the time. Transformers on poles short out from squirrels, birds even cats. Animals are the main reason for overtime on utility crews.
My cats pissed on my batter charger and shorted that out.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Last year half of campus at UT lost power because an animal got into the transformer. OOPS!

 

[roypinkle]

I've had ants make a colony in the electrical panel of my whole house generator. The frickin things were covering all the coils etc. with there eggs or what ever that **** was.

Took my air hose and blew all the ants and **** out then sprayed everything in and around with ant killer spray.

Come to find out my trash can had a hole in the bottom of it(15' from my generator) from the trash truck dragging it across the road. Got a new trash can and problem has been solved.

 

[bhclark]

I had a transformer right outside my bedroom window at my previous house. AT least once a year.....POP! dead squirrel.

 

[MBfreak]

Lived and worked in West Africa for 15 years. Our outdoor 400 V distribution centers, IP 42, in galvanized steel with all the proper installation procedures, were plagued by ants.
They got to the live parts and managed to kill themselves, and as ants are prone to pick up their own kind when fond dead(I think) they accumulated in droves. We tried all kinds of ways to keep them out, but no go. Until one newly hired electrical foreman from Guinea said, yes we had that problem in Conakry and it is easy to solve. Take some of the used up carbide from the acetylene plant ( a whitish powder) and sprinkle inside the bottom of each panel.
Cheap and easy enough and it worked perfectly. We had to replenish every year, which was no problem at all. Somthing in the used up carbide repelled the ants 100 %.
Might work on cockroaches too?


Ola

 

[cowboyjosh]

I've had ants make a colony in the electrical panel of my whole house generator. The frickin things were covering all the coils etc. with there eggs or what ever that **** was.

Took my air hose and blew all the ants and **** out then sprayed everything in and around with ant killer spray.

Come to find out my trash can had a hole in the bottom of it(15' from my generator) from the trash truck dragging it across the road. Got a new trash can and problem has been solved.

In my old Generac unit i had multiple yellowjacket nest, one was in the air intake, another adjacent to the muffler, anotber in the control panel area. I replaced that unit with a new Kohler genset. I had to have my bug man destroy the nest in the Generac before i sold it to a friend of. Friend. Bug man says generators are a favorite habitat of stinging insects.

 

[Thruxton]

Found one building a nest in a fire extinguisher hose. Removed the hose and cleaned it out, inspected all the others, and installed slip on plastic caps on all the hose nozzles. It will blow off at the first bit of pressure from the extinguisher if the user doesn't remove it.

Charles

Like the plastic cap idea, will do it- thanks!

 

[rburke65]

As an electrician for 11 years rewiring old houses, I can not believe how some people live. I have been in houses that were being brouht up to minimum code in order to be sold under FHA Housing Act. Thankfully the exterminators had been there first. It was as if some one had taken a 5 gal. bucket of pop corn kernels and tossed it on the Liv. Rm., Din. Rm., and Kitchen floors. The floors were covered with dead cockroaches and it was a steady "crunch, crunch, crunch" as you walked across the floors. And stink! I have seen dog **** so deep in a dinning room, it was actually moving from the worms and maggots that were living in it. I am glad that part of my life is behind me.

 

[cowboyjosh]

As an electrician for 11 years rewiring old houses, I can not believe how some people live. I have been in houses that were being brouht up to minimum code in order to be sold under FHA Housing Act. Thankfully the exterminators had been there first. It was as if some one had taken a 5 gal. bucket of pop corn kernels and tossed it on the Liv. Rm., Din. Rm., and Kitchen floors. The floors were covered with dead cockroaches and it was a steady "crunch, crunch, crunch" as you walked across the floors. And stink! I have seen dog **** so deep in a dinning room, it was actually moving from the worms and maggots that were living in it. I am glad that part of my life is behind me.

I too cant believe how folks live.

I built a 1.9 million dollar home for some folks with a couple young, out of control, boys. I went back for the one year walk thru and couldnt believe how many holes were in the walls. I asked what the hell happened, and the HO said they let the boys play baseball in the house, if the ball knocks a hole in the wall its considered a "home run" or a "grand slam".

In another similar priced home, HO let their kids ride bikes and big wheels on the hardwood floors, in less then a year the floors finish was bare wood and in a couple areas chunks of hardwood was missing.

In both cases the people wanted their kid damage fixed under warranty, which didn't happen and they left the damage as is.

Rich or poor, trailer park or gated community, people live like pigs. I cant believe how folks can trash a 8000 square foot home inside a year.