It’s incredibly simple for a bug to kill your contactor. Basically, while bugs are crawling around your contactor, the air conditioner calls for the compressor to run. The contactor is then pulled in to cause the compressor to run, pulling voltage. At this point, the bugs get caught in the mechanical closing in the contactor. They are now flattened or electrocuted. As the bugs build up between the contacts, the compressor ends up pulling low voltage or no voltage. The contactor is now burnt up and needs replacing.

There are many different techniques out there to help keep bugs OUT of your air conditioner. Here’s a technique we use.

• First, wash AROUND (and only around, DO NOT put this IN your air conditioner) your air conditioner. This will get rid of scent trails from the insects.

• Wipe peppermint essential oil around the unit. (Again, not IN, only AROUND.)

• Place cedar  mulch around your unit. It acts as a natural repellent.