Home Repair (alt.home.repair) For all homeowners and DIYers with many experienced tradesmen. Solve your toughest home fix-it problems.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 16
Default drain fly riddance??

I've had these annoying flies for several years now and nothing I seem
to do gets rid of them. On the advice of an exterminator, I tried
spraying the drains with a spray called "Bac-A-Zap", but it didn't seem
to do much good and the flies have persisted. They seem to be all over
the house and at times won't leave me or other family members alone.
The best method I've found so far to at least take a bite out of their
quantity is putting up sticky fly paper at various spots around the
house, but aside from annoying the wife with their appearance, even they
don't get them all.

Any ideas would be welcome to get rid of these annoying things.

thanks,
Sam
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,232
Default drain fly riddance??

On 8/18/15 6:23 AM, Sam Seagate wrote:
I've had these annoying flies for several years now and nothing I seem
to do gets rid of them. On the advice of an exterminator, I tried
spraying the drains with a spray called "Bac-A-Zap", but it didn't seem
to do much good and the flies have persisted. They seem to be all over
the house and at times won't leave me or other family members alone. The
best method I've found so far to at least take a bite out of their
quantity is putting up sticky fly paper at various spots around the
house, but aside from annoying the wife with their appearance, even they
don't get them all.

Any ideas would be welcome to get rid of these annoying things.

thanks,
Sam



They're hard to kill because they are covered with hairs that repel
water. They breed in organic matter in drains.

Pulling any hair out can help. A snake or a drain-cleaning gel can help.
Some say bleach, boiling water, and vinegar don't work.

I like to maintain drains by pouring down a little baking soda, maybe a
tablespoon, adding an ounce or water, and letting it sit. Then I cover
the drain with a flap-style universal stopper and put in a couple of
inches of water. I remove the stopper and use a plunger.

I've had drain flies, but only briefly, so maybe my cleaning method works.
  #3   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,349
Default drain fly riddance??

On 2015-08-18, Sam Seagate wrote:

Any ideas would be welcome to get rid of these annoying things.


http://bugasalt.com/

nb
  #4   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 22,192
Default drain fly riddance??

On Tue, 18 Aug 2015 06:23:01 -0400, Sam Seagate
wrote:

I've had these annoying flies for several years now and nothing I seem
to do gets rid of them. On the advice of an exterminator, I tried
spraying the drains with a spray called "Bac-A-Zap", but it didn't seem
to do much good and the flies have persisted. They seem to be all over
the house and at times won't leave me or other family members alone.
The best method I've found so far to at least take a bite out of their
quantity is putting up sticky fly paper at various spots around the
house, but aside from annoying the wife with their appearance, even they
don't get them all.

Any ideas would be welcome to get rid of these annoying things.

thanks,
Sam


Are you sure they are coming from the drain (s)? You can bring in
fruit flies from the market with produce or critters from a garden
center via plants or plants outside that you bring indoors.

Maybe you have P-trap drain pipes that dry out?
  #5   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 112
Default drain fly riddance??

I was battling drain flies for a couple of years, not knowing what was going on for many months. A few months ago, with a stench coming from beneath the kitchen sink, I took apart the drain piping and found the worms that beget the flies. I tried putting bleach down the drains. I tried vinegar. I tried vinegar and baking soda. I tried overnight soaks, blocking off the drains so I could let the various chemicals sit for several hours. Finally I found a web site that said to use an "enzyme" drain cleaner. From Home Depot, I purchased "Instant Power Commercial Drain Maintainer" advertised on the label as "bio-enzymatic with natural enzymes," made by Scotch Corporation, Product #1510. It has a "100% money back if I fail 'but I won't' " sticker on the gallon jug. It is also called "Instant Power Commercial Drain Cleaner," with the same product number (1510). I stopper'd the drain pipe under the kichen sink and let the pipes soak for 1.5 hours, mixing 1 part of the chemical to 2.5 parts water until I filled the drain pipes completely.

Usually I see half a dozen drain flies by noon. So far I have seen only one..

The staff at Home Depot also recommend the "Green Gobbler" products they have. The above products are among the drain cleaners in the plumbing section..

I paid $14 for the gallon jug at Home Depot.


  #6   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 14,141
Default drain fly riddance??

On Tue, 19 Mar 2019 09:54:20 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

I was battling drain flies for a couple of years, not knowing what was going on for many months. A few months ago, with a stench coming from beneath the kitchen sink, I took apart the drain piping and found the worms that beget the flies. I tried putting bleach down the drains. I tried vinegar. I tried vinegar and baking soda. I tried overnight soaks, blocking off the drains so I could let the various chemicals sit for several hours. Finally I found a web site that said to use an "enzyme" drain cleaner. From Home Depot, I purchased "Instant Power Commercial Drain Maintainer" advertised on the label as "bio-enzymatic with natural enzymes," made by Scotch Corporation, Product #1510. It has a "100% money back if I fail 'but I won't' " sticker on the gallon jug. It is also called "Instant Power Commercial Drain Cleaner," with the same product number (1510). I stopper'd the drain pipe under the kichen sink and let the pipes soak for 1.5 hours, mixing 1 part of the chemical to 2.5 parts
water until I filled the drain pipes completely.

Usually I see half a dozen drain flies by noon. So far I have seen only one.

The staff at Home Depot also recommend the "Green Gobbler" products they have. The above products are among the drain cleaners in the plumbing section.

I paid $14 for the gallon jug at Home Depot.

Septic or city sewer?
  #7   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 390
Default drain fly riddance??

On Tuesday, August 18, 2015 at 5:23:08 AM UTC-5, Sam Seagate wrote:
I've had these annoying flies for several years now and nothing I seem
to do gets rid of them. On the advice of an exterminator, I tried
spraying the drains with a spray called "Bac-A-Zap", but it didn't seem
to do much good and the flies have persisted. They seem to be all over
the house and at times won't leave me or other family members alone.
The best method I've found so far to at least take a bite out of their
quantity is putting up sticky fly paper at various spots around the
house, but aside from annoying the wife with their appearance, even they
don't get them all.

Any ideas would be welcome to get rid of these annoying things.

thanks,
Sam


I have a fly strip in each room. They really catch most of them.

The flies are a nuisance, but they come and go.

Andy


  #8   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 112
Default drain fly riddance??

On Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at 12:19:24 PM UTC-6, wrote:
Septic or city sewer?


City sewer.
  #10   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 112
Default drain fly riddance??

On Wednesday, March 20, 2019 at 10:43:28 AM UTC-6, wrote:
On Wed, 20 Mar 2019 07:58:03 -0700 (PDT), honda.lioness
wrote:

On Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at 12:19:24 PM UTC-6, wrote:
Septic or city sewer?


City sewer.


I suppose you could put a little insecticide in each trap to knock
them down. Once you break the cycle they will usually stay gone a
while but they are living in the sewer pipe. Be sure your traps are
staying full of water (no bad vents)


Thank you, Andy and for sharing your experiences. I use all drains regularly, so I believe the three traps (in my small condominium) are staying full of water. The daily count of flies-that-go-to-heaven is down to about one-third of its recent peak. The temperatures have also dropped where I am, so my study may be biased.

Eggs laid, 30-100 per female fly. Hatch in two days.
Larva stage 8 to 24 days. Larvae can survive in low oxygen conditions.
Pupa stage one to two days.
Adults breed only once, usually right after emerging from the pupa.
Adults die after 3 to 4 days with no food. If food is available, they will live around 7 to 21 days with liquid carbohydrates available.

https://agrilife.org/extensionento/p...s/drain-flies/

I have a couple of plastic containers near the drains with a mixture of apple cider vinegar, sugar and a drop of dishwashing soap (for fragrance) that usually catch a fly or two each day at this point.

I have repeated once so far the multi-hour soaks of the piping upstream of the traps, using the Home Depot bio-enzymatic drain cleaner. I have been using the bulb of a turkey baster and a hose clamp to stopper off the drain pipes and do these soaks, just above where they join the u-traps. This approach is a little easier than taking apart all the drain piping beneath the sinks and scouring with a brush. (I have dis-assembled and scoured in the recent past.)


  #11   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 9
Default drain fly riddance??



Eggs laid, 30-100 per female fly. Hatch in two days.
Larva stage 8 to 24 days. Larvae can survive in low oxygen conditions.
Pupa stage one to two days.
Adults breed only once, usually right after emerging from the pupa.
Adults die after 3 to 4 days with no food. If food is available, they will


No wonder the suckers are so hard to get rid of.
:-)

Andy

Need to find a way to trap them and make them turn a wheel and generate some electricity.
  #12   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 112
Default drain fly riddance??

Andy, yessir.

In addition to treatments with the aforementioned drain cleaner, I also now:

-- cover all three drains in my condo , per the advice of this fellow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px_f...1&feature=plcp


-- run the dishwasher once a week. The principal locale of infestation a few months ago was the 7/8" dishwasher drain hose, running from the dishwasher to the in-sink garbage disposal. I replaced the hose with a new one cut from a roll at Ace Hardware. The hose has printed on it that it is for dishwasher drains.

I now see maybe one fly every couple of days. I will cut back on all the treatments in a month or two and see what happens.
Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Funny Cartoons - Bush good riddance RB[_2_] Metalworking 0 January 26th 09 05:58 PM
Funny Cartoons - Bush good riddance Larry Jaques Metalworking 0 January 20th 09 12:40 AM
Shower Drain Strainer Won't Fit, Part II -- How to Remove a SmallLength of a Drain Pipe? mtco Home Repair 3 February 7th 07 05:45 AM
Will dishwasher drain if sink doesn't drain and garbage disposal is rusted in place. mm Home Repair 2 August 20th 06 04:08 AM
Washer drain cycle pushing water up floor drain in basement Steve Brady Home Repair 7 May 8th 06 02:04 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:40 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 DIYbanter.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about DIY & home improvement"