critters in the system

[Ralph Day]

Hi all
This past weekend I finished repairs on my sdhw system. Came home one night, in the cold and dark to find the glycol circulating pump running! Not right. Unplugged until morning.

Expecting the most complex and expensive thing to be broken I looked at the Heliodyne differential thermostat first. Nothing there to see, so ran a jumper accross the sensor terminals and the remote (top of collector panel) sensor was ''ON"all the time. Expecting the sensor to be u/s I climbed up on the roof to investigate. Nothing to see there. Further down the line towards the ground the tubing and sensor wire run through some big''O"pipe. 3 feet from the open end I could see some grass (nesting material). Once the pipe was cut loose there were about 3 feet of uninsulated tubing and 1 foot of uninsulated copper wire shorting out.

Replaced the insulation and piece of wire...no auto function. Upon closer inspection noticed nesting material in the big''o"pipe running up the side of the collector. Pulling the wire revealed stripped insulation and broken wire (really big mouse or squirrel perhaps). Completely replaced wire to the ground level and all working again.

Lesson learned: think simplest first. Hope for the simplest fix, not the most complex and expensive. Stuff openings with steel wool! Probably spray the steel wool with oil spray too.

I didn't know insulation was so tasty. Must check other places where big ''o'' pipe carries conductors and stuff the openings.

Ralph

[Rob Beckers]

Yeah, heard that one before too. Seems insulation is indeed tasty to certain animals. In the area where my parents live they had issues with rodents eating through the insulation of car wires in the engine compartment. A more expensive problem to fix. Glad to hear you found it!

Were the wires inside conduit (not sure what "big O pipe" is)? I've yet to see critters chew through regular PVC conduit, so if you haven't tried that yet it may be an option.

-RoB-

[Ralph Day]

Hi Rob
Big O pipe is the ribbed plastic pipe (sometimes with a cloth sock over it) that is put around footing drains. The drainage type has perforations, but you can get solid walled for pulling wires or water pipes through. In sizes galore...4inch is very common, 6inch is much stronger, I've even seen it as 16inch culverts. Solid is good and cheap if you need to get water away from your house walls, one end on the downpipes from the eaves and the other held down with a weight (blows around easily) and you can get that fall/spring excess of water off your yard and onto that pesky neighbour's.

Ralph

[Rob Beckers]

Yup, I know that stuff. Just didn't know what it was called. Even dug copious amount of both the perforated and solid wall version into the ground around our house (extending the down spouts, and the perimeter drain of the new barn/warehouse as shown in another thread). Thanks Ralph!

-RoB-