Last spring, when I tackled my annual house cleaning, I kept noticing a strange buzzing sound.
- I also found a couple of bees flying around inside.
I didn’t think too much about it until the weather warmed up. When I lowered the thermostat and started up the air conditioner a swarm of bees poured out of the supply vents. The bees were very angry. I wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. I started by calling the HVAC contractor who handles the seasonal maintenance of my heating and cooling system. They had just serviced the air conditioner about a month before but obviously didn’t catch the hive concealed inside the ductwork. I was told that I needed to hire a professional bee removal company. Certain types of bees are endangered and protected and can’t be exterminated. Hiring a bee company cost me quite a bit of money and I ended up with some damage to the ductwork. I then called the HVAC company back in order to get ductwork repairs and cleaning. The bees left behind quite a bit of debris that would definitely have restricted airflow and negatively impacted air quality. Scheduling all of these various appointments not only disrupted my daily life but also meant that my family was without air conditioning. Every day, the outside temperature was a few degrees hotter, and the humidity kept climbing. We opened windows and ran box fans but struggled without cooling. I was not happy with how much those bees cost me, but I was very relieved when the air conditioner and ductwork were once again operational.