Can the rodent repeller work?

[Pommie]

This unit is widely advertised in Australia.
It states,

Electromagnetic Rodent Control utilizes the existing wiring within the walls of your home or building by simply sending a pulsing or shifting signal through the wires, this is tuned to irritate the pests nervous system.

Is this possible? Is emitting radiation from wire legal?

This may not be available (and therefore website not available) where you live.

Mike.
Edit, it would be interesting to know where this site is visible and if similar devices are sold in other countries.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

This unit is widely advertised in Australia.
It states,

Is this possible? Is emitting radiation from wire legal?

You mean like by putting AC mains down them?, or using them for carrying Ethernet signals?.

It sounds rather unlikely it works?, but you never know - you could always get one, and use the 'money back guarantee' if it doesn't.

Electrical damp proofing sounds highly unlikely, but it's incredibly effective - basically titanium rods inserted low down in the walls, linked together by titanium wires. You then apply a low DC voltage between the wires and earth from a small wall wart, I think it's a negative voltage? (but it's about 40 years since we had it done), and that forces the raising damp downwards instead.

Supposedly the reason for rising damp is a positive potential in the brickwork, compared to earth, and this draws the damp up - reversing the potential forces it back down instead.

40 years, and a trace of raising damp!.

This may not be available (and therefore website not available) where you live.

Mike.
Edit, it would be interesting to know where this site is visible and if similar devices are sold in other countries.

It's visible in the UK, I see no reason why they would try and limit it's visibility in any way? - if they don't want to supply outside Oz, then just don't accept any orders.

 

[For The Popcorn]

Wow. 3 technologies! I have seen ultrasonic devices before, but electromagnetic and ionic? Bet if you plug one of these in, you couldn't detect any difference with an o'scope.

"3 Technologies: Electromagnetic, Ultrasonic and Ionic"

 

[augustinetez]

A fool and his money are soon parted.

Notwithstanding the magnetic field produced by the house wiring doesn't extend far from the wall surface and would also be dependent on magnetically sensitive rodents.

 

[Pommie]

A fool and his money are soon parted.

That was my sentiment too but wanted to hear other views. The damp proofing device mentioned by Nigel is intriguing. I still think snake oil.

Mike.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

The damp proofing device mentioned by Nigel is intriguing. I still think snake oil.

Works perfectly, on my house, and all the others I know who had it fitted - it was actually done by a guy who was an agent for them (now dead) who I'd known (and trusted) for years before hand. Strangely enough, his grand daughter lives in the same village as me.

My house is 120+ years old, and was build prior to damp proofing - and when I bought it was suffering from raising damp. The active damp proofing cured it completely, something you can't often say for injected damp proofing.

Does electric damp proofing work? Will it stop rising damp?

What is electro osmosis damp proofing? and does electric damp proofing work as a solution to fix rising damp. Learn more now!

thedampbuster.com

 

[Diver300]

The ultrasonic rodent repellers work by drowning out the rodent squeaks so that they can't hear each other and get together to breed. They can be effective but they take around a generation to work and to see the lack of adult mice. That's a couple of months normally.

The sound doesn't need to be loud and the ultrasonic repellers won't scare off a mouse.

It's possible that a voltage at ultrasonic frequencies could cause sound to be emitted by the wiring or electrical appliances. EEV blog did a video about an audible squeak from a capacitive charge pump in the multimeters that he sell. I doubt that you could put enough energy into the wiring for the electrical and magnetic fields to upset a mouse directly, and I think it's more likely that it would be ultrasound that it created. However, if they device doesn't include the speakers and it relies on odd effects in the wiring or appliances, I don't think that the effects will be consistent between different installations.

The device also includes the speakers to make it work locally, so it would be a lot of work to prove whether or not there is any other effect from the electromagnetic or ionic parts of the device.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

The ultrasonic rodent repellers work by drowning out the rodent squeaks so that they can't hear each other and get together to breed. They can be effective but they take around a generation to work and to see the lack of adult mice. That's a couple of months normally.

That's an interesting idea, and would explain why so many people claim they don't work.

 

[Diver300]

That's an interesting idea, and would explain why so many people claim they don't work.

That came from a friend who ran a factory with a rodent problem. The traps were catching 10 - 20 per night. They put in the ultrasonic rodent repellers. They probably got good ones, and plenty of them, to be fair.

Nothing changed. They still caught 10 - 20 per night.

And about 6 weeks later the supply dried up and hardly any were caught after that.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

That came from a friend who ran a factory with a rodent problem. The traps were catching 10 - 20 per night. They put in the ultrasonic rodent repellers. They probably got good ones, and plenty of them, to be fair.

Nothing changed. They still caught 10 - 20 per night.

And about 6 weeks later the supply dried up and hardly any were caught after that.

Cool

A good many years ago we had a mouse in the kitchen - we'd find teeth marks in the bar of soap.

So I bought a couple of 'Little Nipper' wooden mouse traps for £1.00 - took them home, added soap as bait (seeing as it had been nibbling the soap) and sat watching TV. Twenty minutes later I heard a trap trigger, went in the kitchen - and there it was, one dead trapped mouse. Put the body in the bin, and never saw a mouse again.

Best value for a £1.00 I ever spent

 

[augustinetez]

We just got a cat - haven't seen a mouse for the last 5 years

 

[Pommie]

The damp proofing device mentioned by Nigel is intriguing. I still think snake oil.

Nigel, I can see how that can be misconstrued, I was referring to the rodent repeller as snake oil not the damp proofing.

Mike.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Nigel, I can see how that can be misconstrued, I was referring to the rodent repeller as snake oil not the damp proofing.

Mike.

Sorry

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

We just got a cat - haven't seen a mouse for the last 5 years

You don't find that cats bring mice in? - and often they aren't dead - the cat drops it at your feet (as a present, and the mouse off round the house).

But apart from that, you don't see many mice.

 

[JimB]

You don't find that cats bring mice in?

Once upon a time we had a cat that brought in baby rabbits.

The first time this happened, it brought two of them.
One was just plain dead, and the other one came as a "kit of parts".

Another time we were awakened in the middle of the night by a terrifying scream which came from under the bed!
This time Pepe (the cat) had brought a live one which proceeded to run around the bedroom.
How to sort that one out?
Just let Pepe kill the rabbit, throw both of them out, and close the window to prevent a recurrence.

Ah the delights of living in rural Hertfordshire in the early 1970s.

JimB

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Once upon a time we had a cat that brought in baby rabbits.

The first time this happened, it brought two of them.
One was just plain dead, and the other one came as a "kit of parts".

Another time we were awakened in the middle of the night by a terrifying scream which came from under the bed!
This time Pepe (the cat) had brought a live one which proceeded to run around the bedroom.
How to sort that one out?
Just let Pepe kill the rabbit, throw both of them out, and close the window to prevent a recurrence.

Ah the delights of living in rural Hertfordshire in the early 1970s.

JimB

A friend and neighbour used to have a cat that killed fully grown hares and brought them home

 

[Pommie]

If you want to see a "real" mouse problem, google "Australian mouse plague". Where my daughter lives (west of Brisbane) if you drive at night there's a moving carpet on the roads. Just billions of them. Actually, that was a year ago, not as bad now.

Mike.
BTW, I now remember why I don't like cats. My mother had a cat and whilst watching telly with one of my early girlfriends it was cuddled on my mothers lap, it got up, walked over everyone and threw up in my lap. It then proceeded back to my Mum's lap and settled back down. How could I not be traumatised by that?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

If you want to see a "real" mouse problem, google "Australian mouse plague". Where my daughter lives (west of Brisbane) if you drive at night there's a moving carpet on the roads. Just billions of them. Actually, that was a year ago, not as bad now.

Mike.
BTW, I now remember why I don't like cats. My mother had a cat and whilst watching telly with one of my early girlfriends it was cuddled on my mothers lap, it got up, walked over everyone and threw up in my lap. It then proceeded back to my Mum's lap and settled back down. How could I not be traumatised by that?

It was a message!

 

[Pommie]

It was a message!

And, it was received loud and clear.

Mike.

 

[augustinetez]

You don't find that cats bring mice in?

A few times in the beginning - a little bit of "training" has persuaded her it's not a good idea