Damned mice!

[Rich Z]

Checked the standby generator today and noticed that the rodent poison we typically keep in it has been eaten. Then I noticed what looked like rodent droppings under the edge of the electrical control box. A long while back we had rodents get into it and chew up the wiring, which cost quite a bit to get fixed, and I had thought I had sealed up the entranceway the mouse or mice used to get in there. Well, looking harder, I saw that there was a good sized hole underneath the box that a mouse could certainly get into. So I unscrewed the lid and looked inside. Yep. Nice little mouse nest in there, and wires all chewed to hell and gone. Dammit. Ordinarily I would try to fix something like this myself, but the geniuses that designed that control box used all white wires for EVERY connection. So with most of the wires gone from being eaten by the mouse, figuring out where they go would be a real chore. I've read schematics before, of course, but honestly, I'm not really sure which wires might actually be hot nor how to actually disconnect the thing from external power. So time to call in professionals. Which I don't imagine is going to be any cheaper than the last time this happened.

I'm going to have to put some sort of screening around the bottom of the entire generator so nothing can get up in there again. Damned varmints. I was starting to go a little soft on shooting the squirrels around here, but hell with that. Death to all rodents, no matter WHAT kind.

So, here's the mouse habitat....



I guess that looks REAL attractive to rodents. Glad we don't have our vehicles still living outside or I am certain they would have their wiring chewed up too. That was THE reason I felt I had to have the garage built. One year we had all the vehicles and this generator just torn the hell up from rodents chewing the wires. Cost me a LOT of money getting the damages repaired.

Anyway, here's the chewed up wiring near the comfy little nest he or she built.





Notice the red circle in the last pic. I didn't notice that when looking at the mess in person.



But apparently the mouse got his or her just rewards anyway. Damn shame he didn't kick the bucket BEFORE chewing up all that wiring. I should put his carcass out of there and stomp on it anyway, just for good measure.

[85vette]

That must be an old generator. Those relays are "Made in Japan", not China!

[Rich Z]

Probably about 10 years old, I'm guessing. I actually got that for the animals with my SerpenCo business, so I really don't need it now. But heck, if it's going to be here, it might as well work like it's supposed to.

I'm surprised we didn't have a power outage with the ice storm we had. That would have been a kick in the teeth. First time to need the thing in ages, and foiled because of some stupid damned mouse.