Series № 5 of 7 Acreage Kitchens
Chewed Wiring and Nesting in an Outdoor Kitchen
The cover comes off in spring and there is shredded paper in the cabinet, droppings on the drip tray, or a wire with its coating gnawed away. On acreage beside fields and woods, an outdoor kitchen left alone all winter is shelter, and mice take it.
Written by
Hollis Yamada
- Role
- Service technician — refrigeration and cooking
- In the trade
- 21 years in the trade
How can you tell mice have been living in it?
Open the doors and the signs are usually plain. Small dark droppings along shelves, on top of the drip tray or in a drawer runner. Paper towel, cover lining or insulation shredded and dragged into a corner. A stale, musky smell in a cabinet that stayed shut all winter.
On wiring, look for insulation that is nicked, thinned or chewed down to bright copper. Check the spots a mouse would choose: under the control panel of a built-in grill, the cabinet directly below it, drawer runs, and the space behind the lower grille of an outdoor refrigerator.
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Why is a nest near the burners a fire question?
A burner behaves only when gas and air meet in the tube that feeds it and burn at the ports. Nesting packed into that tube, or heaped in the burner area, upsets the mix and can send flame where it was never meant to go.
Viking already warns that spiders and insects nesting in burners, venturis, orifices and valves can start a fire behind the manifold cover. A mouse nest is the same blockage, built from dry paper and fluff that burns readily.
If you have seen nesting anywhere near the burners, the grill stays unlit until they have been lifted out and checked.
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Does chewed wiring matter on a gas grill?
Yes; an outdoor kitchen carries more wire than people expect. Current Viking 5 Series grills light with igniters that glow on household power, and Viking’s first check for them is simply whether the grill lights come on. Older 300 and 500 Series grills plug into an outlet as well. An outdoor refrigerator runs on a dedicated circuit of its own, and lights or a warming drawer add further runs.
Bitten insulation is worse outside than in, because rain and damp can reach the bare conductor. If you find any, switch that appliance off at the breaker and leave the wire alone. Tape over the damage hides it; it does not repair it.
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How do you clean up droppings and nesting safely?
Follow the CDC’s advice, not a broom. Open the cabinet doors and let the space air out first, then put on rubber or plastic gloves.
- Spray the droppings and nesting until wet with a disinfectant, or with one and a half cups of household bleach in a gallon of water, and leave it five minutes.
- Wipe it up with paper towels, bag it, bag that again, and put it in a covered bin.
- Wash your gloved hands, take the gloves off, then wash your hands again.
Never sweep, vacuum or blow any of it out; that is how the dust ends up in the air. Keep the spray off anything electrical, and leave the burners themselves for the visit.
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What happens on the visit?
We start where the mice were. Grates and briquette trays come out, the burners are lifted, and each venturi is looked through with a light and cleared. The valves and orifices are checked for packed material, and the igniters and their leads are followed along their run. Damage found on other runs in the island, such as the lighting circuit, is pointed out so the right trade can put it right.
A wire bitten through is traced to both ends and repaired or replaced properly, never wrapped. Only when the burner area is clean does the gas go back on, and each burner is lit and watched from high to low. If parts are needed, you have the price before any work begins.
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How do you keep them out next winter?
Take away the reasons to move in. Clean the drip tray after each cook, as Viking asks, and leave no grease, food scraps or bags of birdseed in the island cabinets. Keep cabinet doors shut, and look for gaps where pipes and cables enter the island.
Let the grill dry fully before its cover goes on; Viking is firm that a damp grill is never covered. Through the idle months, lift the cover now and then, look underneath with a flashlight, and light the grill once in a while.
An outdoor refrigerator shut down for winter needs its door closed again once the inside has dried, or it becomes the best nest box on the patio.
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Follow-ups
Can I blow the nest out with a leaf blower or a shop vac?
Please don't. The CDC's clean-up guidance is never to sweep or vacuum droppings or nesting, because that lifts the dust into the air you breathe. Soak it with disinfectant, wipe it up wearing gloves, and have the burners looked at before the grill is lit. Woodinville Viking Repair, (425) 321-3414, checks inside the burner area on the visit.
The outdoor refrigerator still runs. Do a few chewed wires matter?
They do. A bitten wire can carry on for weeks and then short, trip the circuit or run hot where its coating has gone. Switch the unit off at its breaker, leave the wire untouched, and have it checked before it runs again. Book it as a refrigerator call with Woodinville Viking Repair, (425) 321-3414, and say it stands outdoors.
Can I light the grill to burn out whatever the mice left?
Please don't. Viking warns that anything nesting in the burners, venturis, orifices or valves can send fire behind the manifold cover or the control panel instead of out of the ports, and a mouse nest is exactly that kind of blockage. Leave every knob off and the supply closed, and ring Woodinville Viking Repair on (425) 321-3414.