Without regular cleaning, your air conditioner becomes a breeding ground for silverfish, spiders, and more. You can easily dismantle and clean your AC's central hub and surrounding components as follows: Ensure your unit is off and no power is flowing to it. Use a wet and dry vacuum to clean the unit's fins.
Your air conditioner can offer easy access to the inside of your home. The bugs most commonly found in your AC system are flies, cockroaches, mosquitoes, ants, and spiders.
They can squeeze through any small gaps or cracks around window and door frames; sealing these up can help prevent spiders from crawling inside. If you have a real dread of spiders cover all vent pipes and air bricks with fine mesh – make sure there's still sufficient ventilation. Try not to leave outside lights on.
Bugs enter air conditioners through the gaps around the air ducts, outdoor units, and even cracks in walls. Though some holes might seem small, they create a way for the tiny bugs to pass through. One way to address this problem is to caulk any gaps to prevent bugs from coming into your home.
Easy access. Anything from a small crack in the wall to an opened window is a spider invitation. There are even some Araneae species that get clever and use holes made by other types of vermin and crawl in. So, if you don't fancy the idea of hosting spider parties, take care of any entry points.
In addition to peppermint, which was mentioned earlier, you can try using essential oils like lavender, eucalyptus, or citrus, as spiders tend to dislike these scents. You can create a homemade spider-repellent spray by mixing a few drops of these essential oils with water and applying it to spider-prone areas.
Spiders are attracted to various factors in their search for shelter, food, and mating opportunities. Some common factors that attract spiders include the presence of insects or other prey, warm and dark spaces, and moisture.
It's not uncommon for insects to attempt to build nests near or even in a condenser. If so, you might think that the next step would be to spray a pesticide or insecticide near or in your condenser unit. You should not do this, though, because it can be potentially dangerous and possibly harmful to your condenser.
Cockroaches can even crawl into your AC unit, where they might find more moisture and warmth, especially during colder months. It's also possible for cockroaches to nest inside your HVAC system.
In winter, bugs like to come inside your house, or any structure that's a warm, cozy alternative to the cold weather. While most bugs don't like the cold, winter itself won't kill insects unless that happens to be the end of their natural life cycle.
Seal Holes and Cracks in the Walls
Look around the outside of your home for any small cracks or holes where spiders are entering your home. The harder it is for them to get inside, the easier it will be to keep spiders away. Use weatherstripping to close off any gaps around doors or windows.
Spiders aren't attracted to the light, but they are very attracted to the arachnids that are. So if you leave your windows open and the lights on, you won't only have to deal with the moths dancing around the bulb… you might also have a spider lurking! *Adds 'Turn lights off, close windows' to to-do-list.
Spiders have two common methods they use for entering homes. The first is extremely obvious – through windows, doors, cracks, gaps, holes around piping, vents, etc. Any opening to your home is a potential spider entry point. The key to prevention is to seal up any of these openings you can.
Put Screens Over Air Vents
One solution to this problem is installing insect screens on your indoor and outdoor vents. This is a service you can have done for you, but you can easily DIY by removing the vent cover, then using that as a pattern for how big a piece of insectscreen you'll need to cut.
Common locations where spiders may lay their eggs include walls and corners of rooms, underneath furniture, in closets, and even within cracks and crevices in walls. Some species prefer outdoor environments, such as garden areas or sheds, laying the eggs in the web, on the leaves or tree branches.
It's very common for homes to experience an influx of spider activity every winter. You would think that it is the cold air that pushes spiders indoors during the winter, but spiders can actually endure those temperatures quite well. What they can't do is find insects to feast on outdoors during this time of year.
Leaving the light on doesn't deter cockroaches effectively because they can navigate in low-light conditions. While they're mostly active at night, they may still come out in search of food or water. During the day, cockroaches hide in dark areas not directly exposed to light.
In cockroaches, air enters the body through their spiracles. Spiracles are external openings found in some animal species such as insects.
Roach nest, unlike birds' nests, isn't a physical structure but rather a hidden congregation point for roaches, typically in dark, moist areas close to food and water sources. To find a roach nest, look for signs like droppings that look like coffee grounds, oval-shaped egg casings, and increased night-time activity.
Without regular cleaning, your air conditioner becomes a breeding ground for silverfish, spiders, and more. You can easily dismantle and clean your AC's central hub and surrounding components as follows: Ensure your unit is off and no power is flowing to it.
Please note that you should not use Lysol to sanitize your HVAC system's return vents. Lysol has a high ethanol alcohol concentration, which means it is highly flammable.
The good news is that you absolutely can spray water on your air conditioner if it needs a cleaning, and nothing bad will happen.
Spiders really don't like strong scents such as citrus, peppermint, tea-tree, lavender, rose or cinnamon. Add 15 to 20 drops of your chosen essential oil or a couple of capfuls of Zoflora fragrance to a spray bottle filled with water, and spritz around the house.
Spiders avoid people, animals, and most insects – except for the one's they're about to eat of course. As stated above, most spiders are relatively small. That makes them especially vulnerable. Many birds and animals may try to eat spiders, or at the very least, they'll probably interfere with the spider's food source.
Spiders do not live in nests with other spiders. They are lone hunters. You should not be worried if you see a single spider in your home. But it is possible to have a spider infestation and there are key signs to look for to indicate that you don't simply have just one spider creeping along your floors.