of mice and wire

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sparkmantoo

Member
Location
Virginia
has anyone heard of mice and other rodents chewing on electrical wires? someone told me that they see this quite often. i have seen mice in meter bases and frozen for eternity in their last attempt to do whatever it is they are doing in there. someone told me that it is a narcotic to them. where can i find information on this and has anyone else ever heard of anything like this. :confused:
 
ryan_618

ryan_618

Senior Member
Location
Salt Lake City, Utah
Re: of mice and wire

Do you mean like this?

000066_G.sized.jpg


Photo taken from Joe Tedesco's site
www.joetedesco.com
 
tonyi

tonyi

Senior Member
Re: of mice and wire

I've opened up panels that had been uninspected for years to find petrified mice and a nests. One panel was chock full of maple tree seeds (the spinners) at the bottom that some critter had dragged in there.

I guess there's a good reason for unused openings to be blocked :D
 
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charlie tuna

Senior Member
Location
Florida
Re: of mice and wire

when in the service i was stationed in hawaii for three years. i had rented a house right on kaneohe bay - all frame - inside walls are the outside walls. one day i needed to store something away and wanted to put in in the attic. when i opened the scuttle hatch, i found about 60 per cent of the romex (paper/tar coated) in the ceiling bare copper. they used service entrance cable - it also was bare. the only thing spacing the wires from shorting out is that insulation that the mice couldn't get to. the paper was gone so i figure they must use it to build their nests. i closed the hatch and tried to forget what i saw!!!!!!!!!
 
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lazorko

Member
Location
Philadelphia
Re: of mice and wire

I've seen lots of chewed romex in attics - maybe from squirrels. The first time I saw such damage, I thought it was from sloppy installation, but on closer inspection clearly saw tooth marks.
Years ago, a client hired my outfit to rewire their basement using metallic methods because rats were eating their wire. We had our guys enter the basement in pairs so each could watch the other's back. My advice to the client (which I had to keep to myself) would have been : HIRE AN EXTERMINATOR!
 
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noxx

Senior Member
Re: of mice and wire

I've been asked to bid jobs like the basement you described and refused. I don't deal with rodents any more than I deal with sewage or insect infestation. Dammit Jim, I'm an electrician not a bug-man!
 
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caosesvida

Senior Member
Re: of mice and wire

In residential the mice try to get through the hole that the romex is in, so they chew the insulation to make more room. Tough to get at.
 
ceb

ceb

Senior Member
Location
raeford,nc
Re: of mice and wire

I had a call to a double wide mobile home about a year ago. The lady had a circuit that would work some times some times not. As I traced it out I found inside a wall mice had chewed about 8in of insulation off of the romex and it was against a stud. When you walked in the room it was enough to move the wire and the circuit would work.
 
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a goldhammer

New member
mice and afci's

mice and afci's

I have also seen mouse damage. Long stretches of romex with the insulation chewed off. It must taste good. :smile:

Anyway, I was wondering if AFCI's might make this sort of situation more safe. UL says that the test for carbonized path tripping of AFCI's is done with cotton wool. Thinking that if a mouse got unlucky, they might well be shorting to neutral or ground through their poor deceased heads. As their heads dry out, are they more likely than cotton to arc or or will they just glow gently, and hot enough to start a fire? :confused:

Miniature jack-o-lanterns.:grin:

I no longer like to use NM, I prefer MC now.

thanks for your thoughts and any good references about this widespread problem.
-AG
 
ptonsparky

ptonsparky

Tom
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
At least with mice you get the satisfaction of finding an occasional carcass. The closest we ever came to finding the guilty gopher was when the guys still had the thumper going as they started digging. One each pulse the gopher tried to leave its hole, only to be chased back in by flying shovels. No one got hurt and the gopher lived to destroy another cable.
 
stickboy1375

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
Mice have to keep chewing because their teeth never stop growing, and it makes me wonder when a plumber will get a call for a piece of PEX that has been chewed... :grin:

I thought Southwire added something to RX to deter the mice from chewing????
 
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robbietan

robbietan

Senior Member
Location
Antipolo City
When I was in Africa, one of them rats crawled up to a busbar and was fried, you could see flames coming out of the panel. Luckily, the plant didnt trip and we had to schedule a shutdown just to remove the barbequed remains...
Another example of all holes must be plugged so that no mice can crawl in...
 
infinity

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
georgestolz said:
It probably did two years ago, when this thread started.

Edit: Correction, three years ago.
Click to expand...


Thanks George. I never even looked at the date!
 
tallgirl

tallgirl

Senior Member
Location
Glendale, WI
Occupation
Controls Systems firmware engineer
hockeyoligist2 said:
I have more problems with fire ants than mice. They just love wire nuts and switches! And they are moving north so watch out folks!
Click to expand...

They also love making nests inside of outdoor lighting fixtures mounted on the ground. If there's room enough for an ant and a piece of dirt, sooner or later they will be filled with a colony of ants and a giant mud mess.
 
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