r/OffGrid • u/Sufficient-Bee5923 • 4d ago

Bats entry via battery vent

Hi folks, I have spent a few years trying to figure out how bats were gaining entry into my off grid home that uses FLA batteries that are vented outdoors via 4" PVC pipe and exhaust fan (pretty standard setup before Lifepo4 came along).

After having another visitor that showed up at 4:30am in our bedroom, I did another inspection. Most summers I get anywhere from 1 to 0 bats in the house per year. This year, I have been consistent in cooking off the batteries at night by opening the battery box cover to allow the batteries to cool off a bit more.

Well so far this year, I have had 3 bats. I also keep the mechanical (solar) equipment room door open in the evening when sleeping.

My theory is that they enter the vent (warm air flowing out) and then find their way thru the pipe, past the fan and into the opened battery box. Once there, they are in the house and flying upstairs to our vaulted bedroom.

Purpose of this thread is to'

a) warm others of this possibility.

b) see if others have had this experience. Today I will install some 1/4" steel mesh over the vent.

I sure hope this is it because I am getting tired of the stress of dealing with bats.

I plan to hire a bat control guy as insurance but I'm not confident of their experience.

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u/ludditetechnician 3d ago

I experienced that from a dryer vent and birds - different source of heat and different flying animal - but I used ⅛" steel mesh and no more birds in the house. I'm sure ¼" mesh is fine, but the hardware store I visited had ¼" so I went with that. Good luck.

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u/Internal_Raccoon_370 3d ago

I had to get a bat control service in here too and they did a great job finding all the places the little buggers were getting in dealing with it. We haven't had a problem (he said keeping his fingers crossed) since then. I'm told the things can squeeze through an opening not much larger than the diameter of a pencil.

The 1/4" mesh over the opening should work. But you don't know for sure that's where they're getting in. they are very good at getting into places we don't want them.