Author Topic: Are mice in a gas stove a fire or explosion hazard?  (Read 6271 times)

neophyte

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Are mice in a gas stove a fire or explosion hazard?
« on: April 16, 2015, 10:19:20 AM »
And how do I keep them away from the oven? I have a cat and I've put out some traps, but plugging the entry holes and getting rid of mice completely isn't really feasible. 

TrMama

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Re: Are mice in a gas stove a fire or explosion hazard?
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2015, 11:27:25 AM »
Pull out the oven and clean really well behind it. If there are crumbs or food back there they'll be drawn to it. Also, make sure the inside is spotlessly clean. I'd also remove the bottom drawer so they don't have such a nice hiding spot.

Why isn't plugging up the holes they're using to get in an option? Without doing that, you'll likely always have issues.

neophyte

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Re: Are mice in a gas stove a fire or explosion hazard?
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2015, 01:07:51 PM »
I'm on the third floor of a hundred year old building with landlords and a roommate who don't really care. The other half of the building is owned by a different landlord who mainly rents to students.  Seriously, the landlord doesn't care. They live in the same building too.

Some fun quotes from my roommate:
"It's just one mouse."
"You just have to accept some background level of mice and cockroaches living in these neighborhoods."
"Lazy cat, you're in trouble for dereliction of duty."

There are some perks to living here too though.

Spork

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Re: Are mice in a gas stove a fire or explosion hazard?
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2015, 01:43:25 PM »

LOL.  I've heard "it's just one mouse" before.  There is no such thing as "one mouse".

I suspect there is unlikely explosion hazard here.  But I'd seriously work to plug the holes and get rid of them for other reasons. 

paddedhat

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Re: Are mice in a gas stove a fire or explosion hazard?
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2015, 06:03:20 AM »
Mice are amazing. I lived in a new home, in rural area, and never suspected that I had a mouse problem. One day the oven gave off a really funky odor while baking. A bit of investigation revealed that there was some dog food hidden in the inner working of the stove. A complete disassembly of the stove was then required, since the entire stove was packed full of dry dog food, literally several pounds of it. A mouse, or maybe a posse of them, had carried the big dry nuggets about 20 feet, crossing the kitchen, until they completed the mission, and never got caught. Now we didn't have a cat on scene, just a Golden Retriever, who was very lovable, and extraordinarily useless in matters such as this.

Spork

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Re: Are mice in a gas stove a fire or explosion hazard?
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2015, 07:51:48 AM »
paddedhat brings up a good point.  They do tend to be pack rats....err... pack mice.  And they're just as likely to pack an area with bedding material.  You might end up with a big void in the oven insulation that is packed with shredded paper.

I've restored a couple of old stoves.  Both had significant mouse poop in the service cabinet.

Greg

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Re: Are mice in a gas stove a fire or explosion hazard?
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2015, 08:43:42 AM »
My only experiences with this are when I bought a second hand stove for my home and stored it temporarily in the kitchen during construction.  Mice moved into the fiberglass insulation of the stove and made it very smelly, removal of the affected insulation was the remedy.  Once our home was finished it wasn't a problem, but the first few times we used the oven it still gave off an unpleasant smell.

Similar problem for my neighbor but a larger infestation.  In addition to halfway disassembling his oven, and him doing most of the cleaning, we found major holes in the wall where the wiring and gas piping for the stove came up from the crawlspace.  Once these were plugged a few traps solved the problem.  Odor was similar on his stove, but eventually went away.

While it's unlikely that you would see a fire or explosion, it's still possible.  As others have mentioned, any paper nesting material is a fire hazard.  Additionally, the urine and feces can be corrosive and cause wiring and other problems.  And they tend to nibble on stuff, so wiring can be exposed where they shouldn't be.