Squirrels...

JakeCK

Lost a solar panel a few weeks ago, installers finally got out to investigate today. This is what they found. Luckily the panel and micro were still good to go. I find it a bit funny that they choose the houses roof to build a nest on vs the garage. The house is 2 1/2 story's up with a 10/12 pitch with no trees close(flying squirrels?). The garage in comparison I can easily jump on to with a 8ft ladder, is a low pitch(I can about dance on it) and has easy access to trees/shrubs and to the power lines. O.o
How squirrely 🐿️

ChrisJ

This is a family forum Jake.....

SlamDunk

A friend has a ford truck and squirrels chewed thru two wire harnesses. He found out that the wiring had environmentally safe insulation made, in part, with soy beans.

JakeCK

SlamDunk said:

A friend has a ford truck and squirrels chewed thru two wire harnesses. He found out that the wiring had environmentally safe insulation made, in part, with soy beans.

Not the first I've heard this. Didn't know if it was true or not. Im going to look into screen that goes around the perimeter.

Mad Dog_2

Not a big fan of squirrels.  Especially, Red Squirrels...very mean, nasty, extremely violent and aggressive.  They eat and attack  EVERYTHING,  including 🐿 Chipmunks (My favorites).  Maine is full of them!   Mad Dog

JUGHNE

I had to rewire in an attic that had become the home of squirrels.

They enjoyed chewing the thermoplastic outer sheath of "Romex" cables, even the individual wire insulation under that, down to the bare copper. This was Romex from about 1980.

The knob and tube wire insulation was not touched nor the early non plastic Romex cables.

They are rats with a cute tail.

mattmia2

Are you sure it's not rats?

JUGHNE

I could see them on the roof after their entrances were sealed.

I was in the attic under one of the openings that got sealed and they were really upset chattering and scratching to get in.

Never seen a rat in the neighborhood.

The Steam Whisperer

JakeCK said:

SlamDunk said:

A friend has a ford truck and squirrels chewed thru two wire harnesses. He found out that the wiring had environmentally safe insulation made, in part, with soy beans.

Not the first I've heard this. Didn't know if it was true or not. Im going to look into screen that goes around the perimeter.

If this is true, you'd think Ford would have learnt from the first time they used soy based plastics. They were making steering wheels from soy, before the petroleum based plastics started getting off the ground, and they were eaten in the open air cars. As Frank says, "You can't fix stupid" and that's how it seems most of the big corporations are run these days.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

This was on a steam shower control wire last month. Rats love nibbling on wire. On this one, I think they were trying to open up the hole to gain access to the house.

Jamie Hall

Which is why when I do or have done interior wiring it is always in BX cable... Not perfect, but better than plastic sheathed.

JUGHNE

As Jamie said, MC, AC, BX is much safer.

As I slowly rewire in our main museum building it is all in MC or EMT.
The building and contents are truly irreplaceable. And it is closed up for the winter with plenty of small creatures looking for a place to live with books, papers, and clothing etc.

ChrisJ

JUGHNE said:

As Jamie said, MC, AC, BX is much safer.

As I slowly rewire in our main museum building it is all in MC or EMT.
The building and contents are truly irreplaceable. And it is closed up for the winter with plenty of small creatures looking for a place to live with books, papers, and clothing etc.

A museum being a commercial space wouldn't MC or EMT be required by code?

mattmia2

ChrisJ said:

JUGHNE said:

As Jamie said, MC, AC, BX is much safer.

As I slowly rewire in our main museum building it is all in MC or EMT.
The building and contents are truly irreplaceable. And it is closed up for the winter with plenty of small creatures looking for a place to live with books, papers, and clothing etc.

A museum being a commercial space wouldn't MC or EMT be required by code?

It has to do with the category of the building which has to do with height and size which has to do with how hard it would be to fight a fire in it.

JUGHNE

Not necessarily, a lot of exceptions in the NEC....sometimes referred to as "The Book of Exceptions".

Some of the required buildings are over 100 occupancy for sure, restaurants, any building over 3 stories etc.

It is surprising for some buildings that do allow NM cable.

Always ask AHJ if in doubt.

JakeCK

I love emt, nice n' clean looking when done well. But a pita when trying to run between joists and studs. 

JakeCK

Mad Dog_2 said:

Not a big fan of squirrels.  Especially, Red Squirrels...very mean, nasty, extremely violent and aggressive.  They eat and attack  EVERYTHING,  including 🐿 Chipmunks (My favorites).  Maine is full of them!   Mad Dog

I hate em. Before I had the corner of my garage rebuilt there was a small opening in the block that birds would nest in. That is until the squirrels decided to destroy the nest and move in. One day I noticed the tail in there, got the garden hose, shoved it in and went back to the house to let er' rip. That was one PO'd wet squirrel. Lots chattering at me from the peak of the garage. And when I had the hole fixed another(or maybe the same squirrel?) Was hanging around PO'd at me for weeks. 

They also destroy my pumpkins every year, and bird feeders.

My grandmother actually won that battle using vaseline on the pole of her bird feeder. She laughed while sipping her coffee everytime she got to watch a squirrel run up the pole and then slide right on back down.

Solid_Fuel_Man

I have a .22 with a Bushnell scope..... I live in the country in Maine.....red squirrels get lead poisoning here for some reason. The crows love it though......

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

I have a Squirrelinator trap that works very well except one day, I left it out overnight and caught a skunk and he let loose on me.

I take the squirrels to a regional park near me and let the coyotes deal with them, but have always wondered what squirrel tastes like. Chicken?

bburd

While preparing my grandmother's  house for sale I found an entire family of squirrels on the smoke shelf in the fireplace. Four long deceased and one recently deceased, which accounted for the smell…😵 I had to dismantle the damper mechanism to get them out. They had pulled open a corner of the wire guard at the top of the flue. 

JUGHNE

While doing utility line work about 30+ years ago, I came across a suicidal squirrel.

We have the 3 wire secondary on separate insulators at each pole, top wire is neutral/ground with the 2 hots below.

The squirrel has back legs locked on lower hot phase, front legs on upper hot phase (middle wire) and then his teeth on a bare #6 copper ground wire connected to the top neutral.

He must have been there quite a while, only bones and hide intact, dry as a bone.

He must have just grabbed all wires at the same time and was mad and bit the ground wire.

This was only 240/120 volts. The higher voltages of 2400/4160 might have burst him into flames.
And the event might trip out a fuse or breaker.

That happens and then the flaming body torch falls down to the dry grass below starting a prairie fire.

Many utilities install bird/squirrel guards in critical locations on the system to prevent this.

It makes the Peta people happy, but the main advantage is for the utility.

Solid_Fuel_Man

I got this from a local utility buddy. This guy blew the 10A fuse and opened the cutout for a few blocks in town. 7200 volts.

I left it as a thumbnail if anyone is sensitive to seeing it. 

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

This little guy chewed the insulation off the hot wire and then hopped over it onto the (grounded) water service, his belly and paws closing the circuit. I wonder if it blew the circuit breaker or fuse.

JUGHNE

With the cooked squirrel picture, the lower right plastic cap is a bird/squirrel guard as that is the 7200 connected to the lighting arrestor. Keeps them from direct contact with hot bolts. Probably still kill them but not shorting or fire involved.

Alan's little guy must have liked the insulation on the knob & tube wires, which my squirrels did not chew on in my situation.

bburd

So now we know what happen to squirrels. But Natasha… What about moose? 😆

JakeCK

More pictures of the squirrely damage:

ChrisJ

Better rip it all out and install heavy conduit

JakeCK

ChrisJ said:

Better rip it all out and install heavy conduit

Are you being facetious?

ChrisJ

JakeCK said:

ChrisJ said:

Better rip it all out and install heavy conduit

Are you being facetious?

Mostly 

archibald tuttle

Solid_Fuel_Man said:

I got this from a local utility buddy. This guy blew the 10A fuse and opened the cutout for a few blocks in town. 7200 volts.

I left it as a thumbnail if anyone is sensitive to seeing it. 

sensitive . . . i love seeing that. a dead squirrel is a good squirrel. although i though that was 7.5 amp squirrel so it shouldn't have taken down the 10A fuse, although that's a slow blow . . .

Jamie Hall

A caution about D-Con. It works, but not immediately. Unfortunately, if another animal, such is it might be your dog or cat, chances upon an animal, such as it might be a squirrel or rat or mouse, which is dying of D-Con and eats it, they may get enough of it themselves to kill them, or at least make them very ill. So do be careful where and how you use it That said, it is safer than some of the other rodenticides available.

JakeCK

Yea I don't have the desire to poison them. The issue is that there is a unlimited supply of squirrels. I'll be fighting that battle indefinitely.

Long Beach Ed

We trap them in Have-a-heart traps and bring them to a neighboring community which needs more of them. It's a part time job for me.

ChrisJ

Long Beach Ed said:

We trap them in Have-a-heart traps and bring them to a neighboring community which needs more of them. It's a part time job for me.

Is that legal in New York?

ethicalpaul

Mad Dog_2 said:

Not a big fan of squirrels.  Especially, Red Squirrels...very mean, nasty, extremely violent and aggressive.  They eat and attack  EVERYTHING

Sounds like another species we all know quite well...

johnkern9068

SlamDunk said:

A friend has a ford truck and squirrels chewed thru two wire harnesses. He found out that the wiring had environmentally safe insulation made, in part, with soy beans.

You can blame corporate America but here’s the thing we’re talking about: squirrels, rats and several other animals chew on wire insulation, soy based or not. At a trailhead in Kings Canyon NP several vehicles had been driven onto blue tarps and the tarps gathered and tied off at the top. They looked like giant, poorly wrapped presents. Why? Marmots vs wiring harnesses.  Gophers do it too, plus polyethylene water tubing. (I have not seen chewing on PVC.) I recently looked at a used polyethylene kayak. It was in great shape. Wait a minute, what’s that damage on the bow? Did somebody run into something in this boat? An inspection revealed, you guessed it, tooth marks. What is the deal with critters and plastic? 

Mad Dog_2

My Friend's Father is an old Irish Farmer with electrical skills...and he spends his early morning hours zapping the squirrels that try to get up to the bird 🐦 feeder on a piece of 3/4" EMT that he can electrify with a switch he has at his desk overlooking the yard.  People are strange....Mad Dog