Follow the links available in Doug's original post to get to the Texas A&M article which references both electric and magnetic field influences. In my locale (Atlanta, GA), University of Georgia folks speculate the attraction is due to thermals (2013 AJC article: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/breaking-news/crazy-ants-the-ants-that-eat-electronics-march-int/nZ3zy/). Looks like there are folks who have been researching this over the past 20 years or so.
The GFCI attraction may have been from alien ants like on CBS' Braindead which are intelligent enough to realize that the GFCI is more safe. ;-) Regards, Adam adam.di...@ieee.org On Thu, Sep 15, 2016 at 8:25 AM, IEEE <d...@ieee.org> wrote: > I wonder if there are any entomologists that are studying this effect? Has > anyone looked up any of the ant specialists to see if they’ve been > exploring this phenomena? > > WRT to Don’s experience, I wonder if it’s the magnetic field that is > attracting them more than the electric field? The GFCI has some toroidal > current transformers that might be part of the attraction… > > I was also wondering if the abdominal signalling/pheromone release > behaviour following the electric shock was a call to battle with a > perceived enemy, against which they could not win. I guess if you pile on > enough dead ants you can eventually trip the breaker feeding the circuit, > and the ants “win”, at least in the moment. > > Anyway, sounds like we need some bug guys involved in this discussion… > > Doug Nix > d...@ieee.org > +1 (519) 729-5704 > > On Sep 15, 2016, at 06:14, Gies, Don (Nokia - US) < > don.g...@nokia-bell-labs.com <don.g...@nokia-bell-labs.com>> wrote: > > Yes. > > I had a GFCI 20A circuit breaker in my panel feeding my pool pump motor. > I went to open my pool last spring and the breaker kept tripping. So, I > concluded that the breaker went bad. > > I opened up the breaker panel to change the breaker and found that the > GFCI breaker was infested with ants (regular ones, not fire ants), but > interestingly, the GFCI breaker was the ONLY breaker in the entire panel > that had ants. > > > *DON GIES* > *NOKIA Bell Labs* > SENIOR PRODUCT COMPLIANCE ENGINEER > GLOBAL PRODUCT COMPLIANCE LABORATORY > 600-700 Mountain Avenue > Room 5B-104 > Murray Hill, NJ 07974-0636 USA > Phone: +1 908 582 5978 > Mobile: +1 732 207 7828 > *don.g...@nokia-bell-labs.com <don.g...@nokia-bell-labs.com>* > > > *From:* Doug Powell [mailto:doug...@gmail.com <doug...@gmail.com>] > *Sent:* Wednesday, September 14, 2016 6:04 PM > *To:* EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG <EMC-PSTC@listserv.ieee.org> > *Subject:* [PSES] Fire ants > > All, > > I was wondering if anyone has any real experiences with fire ant > infestation in electrical equipment that they would be willing to share. > > > http://articles.extension.org/pages/30057/ants-and-electrical-equipment > > > It seems to me that for high current contractors and electrical > disconnects (not using self-wiping contacts) with contaminants between > connection points can result in resistive connections, I^2R heating, > potential arcing and if enough voltage is present, series arc faults which > over time can erode connections and result in a fire. Does anyone have > experience with this as a real problem? > > Thanks Doug > > > > -- > > Douglas E Powell > > doug...@gmail.com > http://www.linkedin.com/in/dougp01 > - > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc > discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to < > emc-p...@ieee.org> > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html > > Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at > http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in > well-used formats), large files, etc. > > Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to > unsubscribe) <http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html> > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > Scott Douglas <sdoug...@ieee.org> > Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> > > For policy questions, send mail to: > Jim Bacher <j.bac...@ieee.org> > David Heald <dhe...@gmail.com> > - > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc > discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to < > emc-p...@ieee.org> > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html > > Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at > http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in > well-used formats), large files, etc. > > Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to > unsubscribe) <http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html> > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > Scott Douglas <sdoug...@ieee.org> > Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> > > For policy questions, send mail to: > Jim Bacher <j.bac...@ieee.org> > David Heald <dhe...@gmail.com> > > > - > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc > discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to < > emc-p...@ieee.org> > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html > > Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at > http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in > well-used formats), large files, etc. > > Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to > unsubscribe) <http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html> > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > Scott Douglas <sdoug...@ieee.org> > Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> > > For policy questions, send mail to: > Jim Bacher <j.bac...@ieee.org> > David Heald <dhe...@gmail.com> > - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <emc-p...@ieee.org> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <sdoug...@ieee.org> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <j.bac...@ieee.org> David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com>
