Ants and Electricity

[goyogi]

Never any ant problem with the old Ford RangerEV, or LEAF.

Now, inside the house where my son spilled some soda...

Was it Jolt cola?

[Beavis]

Ants? No, but my neighbor had a mouse storing dried dog food in his truck's air intake. Anyone know why mice are attracted to F150s?

[Doug_G]

I once had a vole that built a nest in my car wheel every single night. I would drive out and a nest would fall on the floor. I'd clean it up only to have it rebuilt the next night. I finally figured out how the darn critter was getting into the garage, and the problem was solved by blocking the route.

Right now I'm battling swarms of ants that like to build their home between my garage floor and the driveway. I've tried everything including pouring boiling water down the anthill. They keep returning over and over. And no, they haven't bothered the EV or the HPC sitting right in front of them.

The point is, once a critter finds a nice spot for a nest, they tend to keep returning. It probably has nothing to do with electricity.

[markwj]

In Asia we have problems with Geckos. I once had a family set up home in a power supply unit. All was fine until the eggs hatched and the moisture in the egg shorted everything out. Crispy Gecko.

Weren't there all sorts of problems in Texas with Crazy Fire Ants chewing on wiring?

[vfx]

Must be certain kinds of ants and even then, perhaps a regional taste is developed. with electricity in most every US home and ants in or near most of them we would be overrun if it was all ants of all kinds.

[TEG]

Why do ants love electrical equipment? - Yahoo! Answers

...Service personnel in Texas have reported that fully one third of all summer repairs stem from ants shorting out terminal blocks. They also have been found to have set up housekeeping in televisions, well pump controls, telephone junction pedestals, airport runway lights, utility watthour meters, electrical plugs and lamp sockets, computers, and transformers-where they prefer to nest on the high-voltage side. Why are imported red fire ants attracted to electric fields? No one is yet ready to offer a theory. But biologist Dr. William P. MacKay of the University of Texas at El Paso and entomologist Professor S. Bradleigh Vinson of Texas A&M have succeeded in eliminating a number of possible factors.
They have found fire ant behavior does not correlate with a-c frequencies, or with the presence of ozone, electromagnetic or magnetic fields. Nor is the type of insulation used on wiring a factor. In tests up to 140V a-c and 350V d-c, both attracted almost the same number of ants at the same voltage and distance. However, they did find that when electricity was turned off, ants attracted to d-c power dispersed more rapidly than those who had been experiencing the nirvana of an a-c source. While the Texas researchers still don't understand the reasons why the ants have a fatal attraction to electric fields, they have been able to devise successful control techniques. Based on their studies, they recommend using terminal cap protectors to prevent bridging, and denying entrance to the insects by enclosing mechanical relays in metal or plastic cases and sealing them, as well as all entrances to padmounted equipment, with epoxy cement. In laboratory tests, silicone rubber sealants and roofing cement proved ineffective."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...09/ai_n8760991

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...uts-fires.html

...Britain invaded by power-crazed super-ants that cause blackouts and fires...

Super-ant arrives in UK / RHS Gardening

...Electricians at the National Trust property discovered about 35,000 dead ants in a junction box...