Have you observed that early fall is the worst time of year for stink bug infestations in North American homes? This isn’t happening by luck. Stink bugs are the same as any other insect or animal in that they naturally try to avoid the cold by hibernating or moving south. Stink bugs are unique from other insects in their dogged determination to find a warm area for fall and winter. Stink bugs are an exception to the rule, as it is unusual to encounter pests inside your home during the winter.
A stink bug will hibernate if it cannot find a warm home to spend the winter in. However, throughout September and October, these pests are determined to get inside your house to spend the winter there. They will find a way in via whatever crack or crevice they can discover and settle down for the winter inside your home. A crack in the foundation, a broken window screen, a gap in the sill, a hole in the stove’s exhaust vent, a hole in the chimney, or any other opening they can locate will do. Let’s say a stink bug that wants into your house will find a way in. During the fall, this is their main priority.
Stink bugs can enter your home through various entry points, but the window air conditioner is one of the easiest. After all, it serves as a literal entrance to your house. Because its purpose is to draw outside air into your house, it serves as an open invitation to these pests. This is an obvious issue with any home exhaust system, such as a central air conditioner or any other entrance into your home. These are also possible entry points for stink bugs. The critical distinction is that your home’s outside is quite close to its interior, making it an easy target for a stink bug’s initial foray into your living quarters. A window air conditioner unit is an open invitation for stink bugs to enter your home if you don’t take the appropriate steps and safeguards to seal it off and make it fully air-tight and impenetrable, except for the flow of air molecules.
Remember that even the tiniest of crevices between the air conditioner and the wall may be just big enough for stink bugs to slide through, as air conditioners are devices installed into an opening cut out of your wall. Once stink bugs learn to identify the heat source from this device, believe it or not, they will discover a method to breach it. Stink bugs have a well-deserved reputation for being highly persistent in their attempts to gain entry to and thrive inside dwellings.
It is possible, perhaps likely, that your professionally fitted air conditioner will not be a perfect fit into the opening in your outside wall, even if only by a few millimeters. This is true not only for brand-new installs and replacements but also for long-standing window units. Here are some things you can do to seal up your window air conditioners and keep the stink bugs outside where they belong:
If air leaks between your window AC and the wall, duct tape is the best solution. It creates a sturdy, impregnable wall. It’s adhesive so that it won’t come undone easily, and it can catch any stink bugs that get close to it, preventing them from entering your home.
It may seem counterintuitive, but dishwashing liquid soap is quite effective as both a pesticide and a deterrent for dealing with stink bugs. Dish soap sprayed on the outside of a window should be enough to deter them. If you don’t want to risk getting dish soap on yourself, you can hire a professional power-washing service to clean your windows and the rest of your home.
Caulk can seal any cracks in the window sill or where the window meets the frame. After dries, stink bugs won’t pass the caulk’s thick, watertight, impenetrable barrier. This will also eliminate any stink bugs that have found their way into your home through these openings and are currently hiding inside the walls. Caulking the cracks will prevent any stink bugs from reentering your home and will also prevent them from dying of suffocation inside the wall.
An option is to permanently encapsulate the air conditioner in a cover with holes too small for insects to fly through but big enough for air molecules to flow through. A cage analogy works well here to describe this situation.
Another option is to encase your air conditioner in a cover when it is not in use, especially in the winter.
During the colder months, you can avoid running the air conditioner by removing it from its window and boarding it up, caulking the edges, and ensuring it is airtight.
In the summer, a window air conditioner is essential in homes without central air conditioning. The effort required to make sure your air conditioning equipment doesn’t leave your home subject to an infestation of stink bugs is a price worth paying for the luxury and pleasure it provides.
If you already have a problem with stink bugs, you may want to hire an exterminator who knows the best methods for eliminating this pest.
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