Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.

HePEX and Rodents

Tim_34
Tim_34 Member Posts: 56
in THE MAIN WALL
This was from a mouse that wanted to get through a 1 & 3/8" hole in a joist with 1/2" hePex in the way.

Mice....they are a pain

Comments

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    HePEX and Rodents?

    Has anybody had any problems with this?
  • Greg Gibbs
    Greg Gibbs Member Posts: 75
    Yes

    A few....however all had glycol in the system.....Kinda funny, not one "Yet" w/ 100% water....maybe they smell the glycol and think there is food in them thar pipes!
    It works well as pest control however, a few gulps of P.G.
    and they are six feet under!
    Yet another reason for L.W.C.O.'s and no fill. -Greg
  • Troy_3
    Troy_3 Member Posts: 479
    mice

    !st time in 16 years. Customer called to say water was running from 1st floor ceil in the kitchen. We assumed freezing since customer was out of town when this happened. Pulled down drywall to find mouse turds all over the drywall. A hole was chewed into the pex. The nerve of these rodents. They were already in the kitchen.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Thanks

    I was afraid of that. I saw one in a house I recently completed, it was chewing the insulation and I had an instant epiphany. We got the little bugger with decon. I've been recommending my customers schedule regular pest control. My disributor recommends including a free cat with every system.
  • Unknown
    Unknown


    Sorry, I'm not sure how or where to reply here. Please see my reply to my original post.
  • ed_25
    ed_25 Member Posts: 6
    pex and mice

    I had a problem over the summer. the mouse chewed through half of the pipe. I'm glad I had my make up water off or my basement would have been a mess. This is an all water staple up system in my own house. the chewing occured right where the pipe goes through the floor joist. i thought he was tring to get trhough the hole. I have checked and reset traps every other day since. thought about getting a rat terrier.
  • Norm Harvey
    Norm Harvey Member Posts: 684


    Rodents NEED to chew or else their teeth will grow through their head.

    From past discussions, I thik it was concluded that PEX doesnt have any peticular lure for rodents, their just chewing on things 24/7,.. sometimes it happens to be the pex.

    To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • Unknown
    Unknown


    My distributor tells me the only time he's seen it chewed up is when it's in the way, such as the hole you describe. Thats why I thought it'd be a good idea to ask here. Glad I did.
  • Glenn Sossin_2
    Glenn Sossin_2 Member Posts: 592
    Rodents

    I heard at an RPA seminar class a couple of years ago of this problem where the rodents can hear/detect the running water in the pex. Being thirsty, they attact the pipe to get at the water. Possible??
  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
    Only once

    have a I had an issue with rodents and pex.

    In this case I had a bundle of pex inside a 3" PVC sweep as it came throu the concrete. I suspect the mouse went down the hole and got stuck in the tube and tried to chew his way out.

    He paid a stiff price for his wrong turn :)

    Probably going be easier to address the mice than protect all the pex :)

    Steel wool around the holes in joist will deter passage.

    hot rod

    hot rod

    To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"
  • RojoHo_3
    RojoHo_3 Member Posts: 18
    what to do?

    Is steel wool in the joist holes around the pex the best, or only remedy? I had the sheathing of a main sub-feed chewed off by rodents. Scary!
  • Troy_3
    Troy_3 Member Posts: 479
    Favorite brand

    Do you think mice favor one brand? Every man. says theirs is the best- I wonder if the mice agree??????????? Or rubber. PAP? Inquiring minds want to know? Now I won't sleep tonight.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    LOL...

    I had a hard time sleeping after I saw the little mousy in amongst my 9000 or so feet of HePEX. Scary ain't the word. I simply recommend my customer(s) schedule regular pest control. Steel wool is a good idea but no way can I get to everywhere with it now. I have seen a case where a cat somehow discovered there was water in a humidifier line. Possibly the rushing water sound led to that one. My impression is they are chewing out of necessity, ie getting around,as opposed to them just liking to chew on it. Just when you thought PEX was the answer to all your woes, up pops a new one.
  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
    Maybe Viega FostaPex is a rodent proof

    solution. Perhaps the chewing would stop when they hit the metallic level? The FostaPex has the Al layer around the full dimension pex inner tube so no harm would be done to the integerity of the pex if they would stop at the aluminum :)

    I have seen a couple of jobs where,what appered to be insect bore holes went into the "rubber" type radiant products causing a sprinkler effect of pin holes.

    I consulted with some "bug experts" at a local Ag college. The felt the presence of heat, possibly noise from the fluid movement and maybe the potential to sense water would attract some subterranean insects.

    Still not enough of a problem to make me want to back to copper or steel radiant pipes :)

    hot rod

    To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"
  • Unknown
    Unknown


    I'm not so sure on that last statement. I'm looking at a farm sized type veterinary clinic right now and I'm thinking copper. I have to talk to the vet about it and see what his rodent situation is. On the plus side, I DID see a cat wandering around. ;)
  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
    knowing that all concrete cracks...

    and that water easily passes through, I'd be worried about cleaning products, urine, or other fluids that might get to the copper in an application like that.

    IF I were to use copper in a slab, think I would buck up for the coated and pay the small heat transfer loss through the coating to assure it remained leak free for many years.

    Ever see exposed copper in a room where pool chemicals are used ? Compare it to the pex along side it.

    I did see some Cupex at the ISH show if I can find the info. Looked like a coated copper somehow, maybe along the lines of PAP? Or an actual copper pressure tube with a PE protective layer?

    hot rod

    To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"
  • Dave_4
    Dave_4 Member Posts: 1,404
    My worst job.............

    Oh man,

    This brings back memories, bad ones.

    Once I had a project to repair a sewer main break in a crawl space. It was a horrible messy job. When I was done I was glad. The client had ripped up a nice finished floor to do the repairs. After the repairs the client asked if I was sure everything was tight. I told him I was positive and he put back a finished floor.

    Two days later I get an angry phone call. He said "You @#$#@$#@$!!! do you know how much that new floor cost me and now its leaking again."

    We tore up the nice new floor. We found a rat hole about two inch's round in the fernco coupling. I told him I was sorry but I couldn't warrenty the job against rats. He apologized. I still feel bad. I hated to rip up his new floor again. I hated to have to work amoung the sewage again.

    Most importantly I hated that @$##@##$!!!!! Rat!!!

    JR



    To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"
  • ALH_4
    ALH_4 Member Posts: 1,790
    Sleeves

    I would sleeve the pex with stainless steel EMT conduit where it comes out of the slab up as close to the manifold as possible. Maybe even transition to copper inside the conduit.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Thanks guys...

    No slab on the farm job, just 3 air handlers to R&R and retro to hydro. I was considering running the hydro with PEX but given the area and it's propensity for rodents I'm thinking copper. It'll be in the basement and not exposed to any animal nasties.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories