How to prevent pests from getting into your outdoor unit

The thought of pests creeping throughout your home can make your skin crawl, but unfortunately, they can be an inevitable problem for most owners. Rats, mice, cockroaches, geckos and possums can get in your home, often looking for shelter and food, and are drawn to the warmth emanating from the outdoor unit.

Rats and mice particularly can leave irreparable damage to cables and wires within your air conditioner unit by chewing through them. These wires and cables are an essential part to the functionality of your air conditioner. Ultimately, getting the cables completely replaced is the only option. Other pests can also get stuck between electrical components of the outdoor unit and cause major malfunctions.

We have encountered this problem many times from clients who have found an issue with their system. We find it’s often nothing to do with the unit being faulty, but instead from cables being chewed through by rodents. Unfortunately, this is not covered under warranty, so you would be paying for something that can often be avoided.

Repair work will often involve:

• A call out fee
• The cost of labour
• The cost of new parts upto $1200

The best way to counteract this, is to use prevention methods before the problem even starts. Deterrents or fumigation can be carried out by pest professionals. If an infestation has already occurred, you are able to set various traps to help the situation. These options are far cheaper than the cost to repair the damage to the system.

There are certain steps that should be followed so the issue can be identified and repaired once a problem has occurred. Once our technician has come out to the property and found a pest has caused damage, the following steps are followed:

1. Locate all electronic componentry damage caused by pests.
2. Assess the damage to its full extent.
3. Provide a detailed report and quote to repair.
4. Order necessary parts required to rectify the issue (which can take up to 2 weeks).
5. Revisit site and fit new parts.
6. Check and test system operation.
7. Recommend options to prevent pest damage from happening again.

Most of our clients have never had to worry about this issue because they have already taking precautions against pests. However, after reading about the time and money it takes to get your system fixed after pest damage, do you think it’s worth the risk of not using prevention methods to keep pests away?

Contact us today to learn about our methods of pest prevention and our gecko deterrent.