I recently had my blower disassembled to remove a nest that was causing vibration (2001 Prism). How do mice get in? The air intake (under the wipers) has a fine screen (although there appears to be a small opening on the extreme left side). Is there a drain hose under the car to allow water to drain out and is it large enough for a small mouse to go up? I would like to prevent this from happening again.
---MIKE---
>In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
>> (44=B0 15' N - Elevation 1580')
There is a drain hose under the passenger side of the car to allow water to drain out. I believe it is a little larger than an engine vacuum hose. Whether it is large enough for a small mouse to go up depends on the size of the mouse. If you can get at the interior end of the hose, pass a coat hanger through the hose and secure it on the interior so that water can still drain out while keeping mice out.
Use brazing rod, or copper wire. Coat hangers are steel, and if you leave it in a wet environment long term you'll end up with a hose full of rust.
And to save the "But" posts, copper can deteriorate too, but it'll take the presence of chemicals you aren't going to normally find in an air conditioner. Don't let the brass/copper wire touch the AC condenser coil or heater core inside the heater box (aluminum) or the body outside (steel), or you could get dissimilar metal electrolysis.
On cars, no - we have people out here using pristine 40, 50, 60 year old cars as daily drivers - several old Coronas still spotted regularly out here. Even a Toyopet or two. The "Official Truck of the L.A. Gardener" is a 60's or 70's era Toyota. (Ours has a Tundra, with a trailer for all the 'stuff'.) Just saw a 4-hole 53-54ish Buick this morning with enough chrome dripping off it to blind low-flying aircraft...
But underground, Rust Happens. With a vengeance.
People put galvanized rigid steel conduit in very alkaline adobe clay soil 30 years ago, then they hit it with automatic sprinklers every day or two. And now all they have is a zinc and rust tube through the dirt providing minimal protection to the wires.
Corrosion in aluminum can be really interesting, it either crumbles into a powder or turns to jelly - or both. And with wire-nuts exposed to water, the steel spring inside rusts rather fast. Looks great on the outside, high-resistance open on the inside.
And they bring the steel conduits up through the lawn to an aluminum splice box with an exposed light fixture, and then they aim a sprinkler head right at the cover. When the conduits rust off right at dirt level, they stake it up with rebar and baling wire and pour some concrete around the pipes...
You want to pull new wires that work, you dig it all up and put in new plastic conduit, replace the above-ground aluminum box with a buried plastic handhole or a plastic fixture post.
I've always wondered how effective and durable the exterior metal conduit could be since even galvanized metal will eventually rust, especially if the zinc is scratched. When we lived in Mass, we had an a problem with our well pump which turned out to be an open in the direct burial wire somewhere between the pump in the front yard and the house. I was not happy to discover that the wire was not in conduit. My brother-in-law is an electrician and just happened to be visiting the weekend the pump bit the dust - lucky me! Rather than spending time digging up the old wire, we just Ditch-Witched a new trench and used plastic conduit between the pump and the house.
We sold the house soon after so I don't know how durable the plastic stuff is. My guess is the above-ground part of the plastic may become brittle over time from the effects of the sun, but at least it was on the north side of the house.
You have to look under the passenger side of the dashboard and look at the housing to figure out how to remove the housing. The fan will probably be visible after you remove the cover.
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