Squirrels building nest in my A/C

[Weldon]

Hope this is the place to post this. Have a dometic penquin 13500 air conditioner on the front of the fifth wheel. Twice now they have got inside the shroud and chewed the wiring making the unit inoperable. This second time they built a nest inside as well as chewed the wiring. Question, how do I keep them out? The way the shroud is made they have no trouble getting inside. I know you can purchase the vinyl covers but don't think that would stop them.
Appreciate you suggestions!

[Weldon]

DRTDEVL, thanks for your comment. I think while unusual, the plan would work.

[DRTDEVL]

1x1 stick. Make a 5-sided box with chicken wire sides. Drop the box upside-down over the unit when parked.

Squirrels can't get in, and airflow isn't affected. You can even make your A/C more efficient by using a piece of "sunbrella" fabric as the "bottom" of the box. Shading the A/C will help prevent dry-rot of the cover and keep the unit's temps down a bit in the summer.

You now have a squirrel solution and efficiency upgrade all-in-one.

[drsteve]

dpgllg wrote:

drsteve wrote:

dpgllg wrote:
This may sound crazy but my neighbor had problems with squirrels and chipmunks around his house. He got some of those fake owls and hung them in his problem areas. No more problems. I took one and put it near the eve of my storage building and it kept them out of there as well. Try to hang them where they move with the wind.


One other thing is the material that the wires are coated in are probably made with soy. They love this stuff! Look up Ford car issues and you'll see they have a big problem with rodents destroying the wiring under a car hood. Try spraying the wiring with a repellent to make it taste bad.

Good luck!

Dave

The fake owls will work until the squirrels notice that the owls never, ever move. I have seen this movie before.

That's why I said to mount them where they move with the wind. These things are fairly light and move with just the slightest breeze.

They are always in the same place, and they never go after a squirrel or anything else.

They will notice.

[dpgllg]

drsteve wrote:

dpgllg wrote:
This may sound crazy but my neighbor had problems with squirrels and chipmunks around his house. He got some of those fake owls and hung them in his problem areas. No more problems. I took one and put it near the eve of my storage building and it kept them out of there as well. Try to hang them where they move with the wind.


One other thing is the material that the wires are coated in are probably made with soy. They love this stuff! Look up Ford car issues and you'll see they have a big problem with rodents destroying the wiring under a car hood. Try spraying the wiring with a repellent to make it taste bad.

Good luck!

Dave

The fake owls will work until the squirrels notice that the owls never, ever move. I have seen this movie before.

That's why I said to mount them where they move with the wind. These things are fairly light and move with just the slightest breeze.

[drsteve]

dpgllg wrote:
This may sound crazy but my neighbor had problems with squirrels and chipmunks around his house. He got some of those fake owls and hung them in his problem areas. No more problems. I took one and put it near the eve of my storage building and it kept them out of there as well. Try to hang them where they move with the wind.


One other thing is the material that the wires are coated in are probably made with soy. They love this stuff! Look up Ford car issues and you'll see they have a big problem with rodents destroying the wiring under a car hood. Try spraying the wiring with a repellent to make it taste bad.

Good luck!

Dave

The fake owls will work until the squirrels notice that the owls never, ever move. I have seen this movie before.

[Weldon]

Snake decals, I like that but I think i will go with some type of mesh. Going to check Home Depot and see if they have some rain gutter material that can be used.

[mobeewan]

Put snake stickers or decals on the cowling?

[MDKMDK]

dpgllg wrote:
This may sound crazy but my neighbor had problems with squirrels and chipmunks around his house. He got some of those fake owls and hung them in his problem areas. No more problems. I took one and put it near the eve of my storage building and it kept them out of there as well. Try to hang them where they move with the wind.


One other thing is the material that the wires are coated in are probably made with soy. They love this stuff! Look up Ford car issues and you'll see they have a big problem with rodents destroying the wiring under a car hood. Try spraying the wiring with a repellent to make it taste bad.

Good luck!

Dave

Fake raptors were my second choice suggestion. Couldn't think of where to mount them. The snake poop idea's a new one on me. Good one.

[dpgllg]

This may sound crazy but my neighbor had problems with squirrels and chipmunks around his house. He got some of those fake owls and hung them in his problem areas. No more problems. I took one and put it near the eve of my storage building and it kept them out of there as well. Try to hang them where they move with the wind.


One other thing is the material that the wires are coated in are probably made with soy. They love this stuff! Look up Ford car issues and you'll see they have a big problem with rodents destroying the wiring under a car hood. Try spraying the wiring with a repellent to make it taste bad.

Good luck!

Dave

[MEXICOWANDERER]

No Joke 🙂

Works like a charm. Costs little or nothing...


Someone in your town is a snake hobbyist. Doesn't matter what breed. Find out who and then chat with them. A THIMBLEFUL of dried snake poop will have squirrels airborne off the roof trying to get away. Fold a thimbleful not too tight in tin foil and stick it somewhere not likely to rattle loose.

Zero odor. But near unbelievably effective. I use it in the engine compartment of Quicksilver and then under the dash and near the electrical switches and breakers.

Sometimes I hear a scream of squeaking and then thrashing as the newbie "ardilla" flees in panic. Neighbor kid has false corals, and black and white banded pythons.

[TakingThe5th]

X2 on the use of a wire cloth barrier. I had squirrels in the underbelly of my 5er and discovered that the wiring and plumbing were good food sources that also attracted them since the materials were made with organic materials. Do what you can to avoid giving them a food source.

[Weldon]

mobeewan one of the ideas I had was to have the mesh attached all the way around the cover. Maybe attached with strips of metal held in place with sheet metal screws. But I have to have something that would not harm the EPDM roof.
If I were to use PVC do you really think it would restrict to much airflow for the unit to operate? Thanks

[Weldon]

MDKMDK I had thought about a wire mesh to use around the unit but had not considered the chicken wire. The way my unit is made it will require wire / cover completely around it. Thanks

[mobeewan]

You might try making some wire covers to fit inside the shroud where the Shroud openings are. You'll need to use wire cloth with the largest openings you can that the squirrel won't be able to squeeze through. You can compensate by loss of airflow by making the covers in the shape of a rectangular pan like the bug covers they make for the furnace Inlet and Outlet and the water heaters.

You'll need to add the screen at the bottom edges of the Shroud to keep the squirrels from crawling under the shroud or you might use some PVC pipe and elbows to make a frame that you can place around the bottom of the air conditioner shroud to keep the squirrels from crawling under the shroud. The pipe will need to be removed when you run the air conditioner.

Hardware cloth