Boy Scout campfire lesson

[Steelbuddha]

One minor downside of farm living is that small animals try to get inside of anything they can. It's not unusual in the spring to have to remove Carolina Wren nests from the intake manifolds of trucks and tractors. Then there's rodents.

One cold morning recently the dog and I loaded into our 1984 K-20 dump truck to get some firewood. By the time we reached our gate, smoke had started billowing out of the defroster ducts. Like, bigtime. I immediately started thinking about what kind of electrical fault could have happened, but the smoke didn't smell electrical. Turned out that mice had made a nest inside the heater box, and they piled enough fluffy stuff inside there to start a fire. The blower motor resistor is old-fashioned -- it makes resistance with two spring coils in free air (photo below). That works fine until you pile tinder against it. Makes a very efficient fire starter.

The mice had also eaten a good bit of the blower squirrel cage (also photo). Kind of a funny thing, because during a recent complete rewiring of truck, the blower was the only electrical part I didn't replace.

It's amazing how well the ventilation system works after you clean the mouse junk out of it and install a new blower.

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[RattleSnack]

Been there, done that. Those mice just LOVE to get into the heater core/blower area. Here's a tip to help keep those critters outta your truck....they do not like strong smells. When i put my trucks away for the winter, I'll hang air fresheners on the mirror, or even use dryer sheets (like Bounce) inside the cab. Just make sure to check on it periodically and add more if the smell starts to fade.