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Old 05-30-2022, 09:34 AM   #1
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Ants, ants, ants

We've been parked at the New Holland, PA KOA all month. A pretty nice campground as KOAs go. A couple of weeks ago we had some medium sized black ants discover our honey jar. After cleaning that up we bought some Terro traps that seemed to do the trick, although the ants seemed to attempt splitting the colony before we got them all. We found a couple of openings based on their trails and caulked them. We've had a few more come in on scouting missions but not too bad. Then this morning, unhooking the power cord, I found a nest of tiny ants between the cord and the power outlet, egg larvae and all. A few had gotten past the outlet and into the camper under the dinette bench. I used the water house to wash out the exterior side and vacuumed up the few that I found inside. Anyway, for those debating the removable power cord vs. the one that slides into the underseat space, this should settle to be question of pest intrusion.
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Old 05-30-2022, 10:12 AM   #2
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With apology, I'm not understanding your narrative (not sure if "unhooking the power cord" refers to the park-pedestal-end or the trailer-end?).

Are you saying that you have the ETI removable power cord option and despite that the ants got through the connector mounted on your trailer to the inside?

Thanks in advance for clarification.
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Old 05-30-2022, 10:32 AM   #3
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Having had similar ant problems with past campers with attached umbilical power cords, we chose the removeable cord for our 2018 5.0. You can always change your umbilical cord to a removeable though.

Enjoy,

Perry
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Old 05-30-2022, 02:29 PM   #4
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Sorry, let me clarify. We do have the removable power cord, NOT the permanently attached, retractable cord. Upon de-camping this morning, I found hundreds of tiny ants under the power plug when I removed it. I used my city water hose to spray them all away. A few had found their way into the under-bench area. After three hours of driving to our new campground, upon lifting the flap on the outlet...more ants. I suspect they were/are trying to move out. Attached photo is what I found just a few minutes ago after arrival at the new campground.
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Old 05-30-2022, 06:26 PM   #5
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Gotchya, thanks for the clarification.

One might wonder if the pests got into the gaps between the foam insulation and the trailer shell around the connector on the inside? We'll hope they work their way out of wherever they are in short-order.

I've already swapped my ETI removable cord connector for the SmartPlug version, but it might well be subject to the same sort of invasion by very determined ants.

The pesky buggers seem attracted to electricity as I've learned from exterior outlet boxes at my rural home. They seem to be especially motivated to such behavior during particularly wet spring seasons.

I'll admit my disdain for ants indoors outweighs my environmental sensitivities, I resort to local application of chemical ant killer when I find that situation.
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Old 05-30-2022, 08:14 PM   #6
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I've had good luck tying a rag saturated with ant spray around the power cord. The little buggers are definitely attracted to electrical boxes.
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Old 05-31-2022, 03:25 AM   #7
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One thing I forgot to order, the removable power cord. Maybe I should have spent longer than 5 minutes on the build sheet.

Maybe I'll add that this year.
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Old 05-31-2022, 07:47 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug2000 View Post
One thing I forgot to order, the removable power cord. Maybe I should have spent longer than 5 minutes on the build sheet.

Maybe I'll add that this year.
If you are also considering a PMS (fancy surge protector), I would do both at the same time. It will save duplication of effort and allow you to lay everything out inside your trailer before you start cutting expensive wires. Just a heads up.
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