Electronic spider repellers seem to come in two forms:

* ultrasonic which presumably emit some air pressure waves which are either
at a fixed or variable frequency
* electromagnetic which presumably superimpose a signal on the mains wiring

Right so far?

The surprising thing is that reviews of them seem to vary enormously. For a
given unit (which may combine both of the above functions) on Amazon UK some
people say it is wonderful while others say it doesn't work at all!

Anyone any ideas as to why the reviews differ so much? For example: Do none
of them work and any benefits are just coincidence or people's imagination?
Are some units faulty but with no way to tell whether they are working or
not? Do spiders differ? Do some people just not wait long enough? Does
plugging in a second electromagnetic unit diminish the effect of a single
one?

Any other causes of such widely differing opinions?

James

"James Harris" wrote in message ...

Electronic spider repellers seem to come in two forms:

* ultrasonic which presumably emit some air pressure waves which are either
at a fixed or variable frequency
* electromagnetic which presumably superimpose a signal on the mains wiring

Right so far?

The surprising thing is that reviews of them seem to vary enormously. For a
given unit (which may combine both of the above functions) on Amazon UK
some people say it is wonderful while others say it doesn't work at all!

Anyone any ideas as to why the reviews differ so much? For example: Do none
of them work and any benefits are just coincidence or people's imagination?
Are some units faulty but with no way to tell whether they are working or
not? Do spiders differ? Do some people just not wait long enough? Does
plugging in a second electromagnetic unit diminish the effect of a single
one?

Any other causes of such widely differing opinions?

James


Had a daughter who was terrified of spiders. Got one of those things for her
bedroom and although I never saw any evidence what so ever that it did
anything, peace was restored, so I suppose it worked.

Andrew

On Thursday, 5 June 2014 12:32:19 UTC+1, James Harris wrote:
Electronic spider repellers seem to come in two forms:

* ultrasonic which presumably emit some air pressure waves which are either

at a fixed or variable frequency

* electromagnetic which presumably superimpose a signal on the mains wiring

Right so far?



The surprising thing is that reviews of them seem to vary enormously. For a
given unit (which may combine both of the above functions) on Amazon UK some
people say it is wonderful while others say it doesn't work at all!



Anyone any ideas as to why the reviews differ so much?

Well there are around 650 specaies of spider in the UK alone.
I doubt they all react the same, as they don;t lok act or live in simialr places or ways.

For example: Do none
of them work and any benefits are just coincidence or people's imagination?

It could be even placebos 'work'


Are some units faulty but with no way to tell whether they are working or
not?

Just like any other appliences.

Do spiders differ?

Oh yes but they all have 8 legs.

Do some people just not wait long enough?

I've heard that with the mice & rat electronic repelant that they get used to them after a few weeks so they do work but the critters get used to the sounds like humans would if they have titntitus.

Does
plugging in a second electromagnetic unit diminish the effect of a single

one?

And doe sit matter where you plug in in.....upstairs, downstairs, dolton abbey, near a door or window ?

Any other causes of such widely differing opinions?

Location of house, type of house, south, north facing, time of year, (I heard october is the worst for spider infestation as they come in during long persiods of damp weather), lighting, heating, humidity, in the room.

all intersting questions, it might be worth asking on an Arachnology group I'd rely more on them than a store or manufacturer pushing a product or a reviewer.

James Harris wrote:

The surprising thing is that reviews of them seem to vary enormously. For a
given unit (which may combine both of the above functions) on Amazon UK some
people say it is wonderful while others say it doesn't work at all!

I've got an electronic elephant repeller. Works wonderfully.

(All depends on point of view, dunnit!)

--
Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

Scott M wrote:

I've got an electronic elephant repeller. Works wonderfully.

So you're not troubled by electronic elephants? That must be a relief.

"Scott M" wrote in message
...
James Harris wrote:

The surprising thing is that reviews of them seem to vary enormously. For
a given unit (which may combine both of the above functions) on Amazon UK
some people say it is wonderful while others say it doesn't work at all!

I've got an electronic elephant repeller. Works wonderfully.

i've got a mate in africa who would like to buy it off you


i'd be really weary of these 'electronic' repellers, they started with rat
repellers decades ago, and now thye seem able to repel every kind of 'pest'
foxes, cats, squirrels, dogs, teenagers and now spiders,


i posted this years ago here, but maybe i can milk it again


A friend had seen a rat in his garden, worried it was going to chew through
the bricks to get into his house, then chew on his throat whilst he slept
(or some similar bollox made up to make them look bad) he went and bought
one of those 'ultrasonic rat repellers'

he put it in the garden and was convinced it worked as he didn't see anymore
rats,

i doubted how it could work as rats communicate in the ultrasonic range, so
it's not exactly a sound they woudlnt have heard before (unless the makers
have it saying 'go away mr rat, your not welcome here' in ultrasonic or
something)

At the time i kept fancy rats, so i brought one round to his house and put
him down on the lawn infront of the 'rat repeller'
My pet rat wandered around a little to get his bearings, then casually
walked over to the repeller unit and gave it a good sniffing and
investigation, then lost interest and started rooting around for bugs in the
grass to eat.

My friend took the unit back to the shop the next day to complain, and was
tol that 'pet rats have different hearing to wild rats'
and the stupid twonk believed him, so it was re-installed in the middle of
his lawn magically working to keep only wild rats away, but let any nice
friendly pet rats play infront of it as if it didnt work


BTW, spiders apparently hate conkers, so a possible much cheaper way to keep
spiders away from those **** scared of the things,

On Thursday, 5 June 2014 14:27:15 UTC+1, Scott M wrote:

I've got an electronic elephant repeller. Works wonderfully.

That's an expensive option.

My father always kept a nutmeg in his pocket to keep the elephants away. When we kids pointed out that there were no elephants in South Wales he claimed that was proof of the nutmeg's efficacy.

I have never heard so much rubbish in my life. You want to encourage
spiders, they are good for the house and generally keep flies down.

I can remember building a circuit many years ago which claimed no only to
deter spiders, but cats and squirrels as well, now I never tried it on
Squirrels, but my neighbours cat picked it up and took it outside, so maybe
he thought it was a mouse. No it did nothing to spiders that I could see.
It was ultrasonic pulsed
I do not understand the electromagnetic ones, I just hope they do not
transmit crud so radios don't work though.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message
...
"James Harris" wrote in message ...

Electronic spider repellers seem to come in two forms:

* ultrasonic which presumably emit some air pressure waves which are
either at a fixed or variable frequency
* electromagnetic which presumably superimpose a signal on the mains
wiring

Right so far?

The surprising thing is that reviews of them seem to vary enormously. For
a given unit (which may combine both of the above functions) on Amazon UK
some people say it is wonderful while others say it doesn't work at all!

Anyone any ideas as to why the reviews differ so much? For example: Do
none of them work and any benefits are just coincidence or people's
imagination? Are some units faulty but with no way to tell whether they
are working or not? Do spiders differ? Do some people just not wait long
enough? Does plugging in a second electromagnetic unit diminish the effect
of a single one?

Any other causes of such widely differing opinions?

James


Had a daughter who was terrified of spiders. Got one of those things for
her bedroom and although I never saw any evidence what so ever that it did
anything, peace was restored, so I suppose it worked.

Andrew

On Thu, 5 Jun 2014 16:19:46 +0100, Gazz wrote:

At the time i kept fancy rats, so i brought one round to his house and
put him down on the lawn infront of the 'rat repeller' My pet rat
wandered around a little to get his bearings, then casually
walked over to the repeller unit and gave it a good sniffing and
investigation, then lost interest and started rooting around for bugs in
the grass to eat.

Not at all surprised. Before we realised that deporting mice 100 m
down the paddock wasn't far enough or the cat adopted us we had a
couple of mice/rat ultrasonic dubries. Doubt they had much effect,
the mice still came in in the autumn. The could hear it though, mouse
in cage, switch on device, mouse visibly jumps but doesn't seem
otherwise bothered nor when the device was switched off. Repeat a few
times and each jump becomes smaller and smaller.

--
Cheers
Dave.

James Harris wrote

Electronic spider repellers seem to come in two forms:

* ultrasonic which presumably emit some air pressure waves which are
either at a fixed or variable frequency
* electromagnetic which presumably superimpose a signal on the mains
wiring

Right so far?

The surprising thing is that reviews of them seem to vary enormously. For
a given unit (which may combine both of the above functions) on Amazon UK
some people say it is wonderful while others say it doesn't work at all!

Anyone any ideas as to why the reviews differ so much?

That's the placebo effect.

I did once decide that there might be some value in the high voltage
dust reducers, because you do get a significant dust build up on the
old glass TV screens, but when I tried one, it didn’t do a damned thing.

For example: Do none of them work and any benefits are just coincidence or
people's imagination?

Yep, the placebo effect.

Are some units faulty but with no way to tell whether they are working or
not?

Nope.

Do spiders differ?

Corse they do, but you don’t see anyone reporting a
consistent result with a particular type of spider either.

Do some people just not wait long enough?

Nope, it makes no difference how long you wait, none of them work.

Does plugging in a second electromagnetic unit diminish the effect of a
single one?

Nope.

Any other causes of such widely differing opinions?

There are lots of fools around, that’s why snake oil salesmen
are so effective and why there are fools that are still into
homeopathy and changing what they eat when they are
diagnosed with cancer and start sticking needles into
themselves etc. And why even more stupid people pay
huge amount of money for ground rhino horn etc.

On 06/06/2014 07:58, Rod Speed wrote:


That's the placebo effect.

I did once decide that there might be some value in the high voltage
dust reducers, because you do get a significant dust build up on the
old glass TV screens, but when I tried one, it didn’t do a damned thing.


Is it broken?
I have one and you have to clean the dust off the collector plates every
week.

Gazz wrote:

"Scott M" wrote in message
...
James Harris wrote:

The surprising thing is that reviews of them seem to vary enormously.
For a given unit (which may combine both of the above functions) on
Amazon UK some people say it is wonderful while others say it doesn't
work at all!

I've got an electronic elephant repeller. Works wonderfully.

i've got a mate in africa who would like to buy it off you


i'd be really weary of these 'electronic' repellers, they started with
rat repellers decades ago, and now thye seem able to repel every kind of
'pest' foxes, cats, squirrels, dogs, teenagers and now spiders,


i posted this years ago here, but maybe i can milk it again


A friend had seen a rat in his garden, worried it was going to chew
through the bricks to get into his house, then chew on his throat whilst
he slept (or some similar bollox made up to make them look bad) he went
and bought one of those 'ultrasonic rat repellers'

he put it in the garden and was convinced it worked as he didn't see
anymore rats,

i doubted how it could work as rats communicate in the ultrasonic range,
so it's not exactly a sound they woudlnt have heard before (unless the
makers have it saying 'go away mr rat, your not welcome here' in
ultrasonic or something)

At the time i kept fancy rats, so i brought one round to his house and
put him down on the lawn infront of the 'rat repeller'
My pet rat wandered around a little to get his bearings, then casually
walked over to the repeller unit and gave it a good sniffing and
investigation, then lost interest and started rooting around for bugs in
the grass to eat.

My friend took the unit back to the shop the next day to complain, and
was tol that 'pet rats have different hearing to wild rats'
and the stupid twonk believed him, so it was re-installed in the middle
of his lawn magically working to keep only wild rats away, but let any
nice friendly pet rats play infront of it as if it didnt work


BTW, spiders apparently hate conkers, so a possible much cheaper way to
keep spiders away from those **** scared of the things,
We once got a whole bunch of them to put earths on to make them legal in
Australia, so I got some mice and cockroaches and put them in an
enclosure with the repeller and none of them acted any differently on or
off.

On 05/06/2014 12:32, James Harris wrote:
Electronic spider repellers seem to come in two forms:

* ultrasonic which presumably emit some air pressure waves which are either
at a fixed or variable frequency
* electromagnetic which presumably superimpose a signal on the mains wiring

Right so far?

The surprising thing is that reviews of them seem to vary enormously. For a
given unit (which may combine both of the above functions) on Amazon UK some
people say it is wonderful while others say it doesn't work at all!

Anyone any ideas as to why the reviews differ so much? For example: Do none
of them work and any benefits are just coincidence or people's imagination?
Are some units faulty but with no way to tell whether they are working or
not? Do spiders differ? Do some people just not wait long enough? Does
plugging in a second electromagnetic unit diminish the effect of a single
one?

Any other causes of such widely differing opinions?

Spiders tend to move indoors during the autumn. I have found an old
remedy that is to distribute conkers (horse chestnuts) about the area of
the house you want to clear. An old country remedy but it works for me.

--
Peter Crosland

Reply address is valid

Bert Coules wrote:
Scott M wrote:

I've got an electronic elephant repeller. Works wonderfully.

So you're not troubled by electronic elephants? That must be a relief.

Reffffeeerrrreeeeeeee!!!! That was below the belt that was, picking on
my grammaticals like that for a cheap joke! I dunno! As a penance, go
and write some more non-canon Holmes ;-)

--
Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

Scott M wrote:

As a penance, go and write some more non-canon Holmes ;-)

I'd be happy to, but you'd need to convince the BBC to buy them, which at
the moment they're extremely reluctant to do. Apologies for the
not-very-good joke at your expense.

Bert

In message , Scott M
writes
Bert Coules wrote:
Scott M wrote:

I've got an electronic elephant repeller. Works wonderfully.
So you're not troubled by electronic elephants? That must be a
relief.

Reffffeeerrrreeeeeeee!!!! That was below the belt that was, picking on
my grammaticals like that for a cheap joke! I dunno! As a penance, go
and write some more non-canon Holmes ;-)

We have an *imitation* wasps nest!

Experience so far is that it works as the otherwise regular loft
visitors have gone elsewhere.


--
Tim Lamb

"dennis@home" wrote in message
eb.com...
On 06/06/2014 07:58, Rod Speed wrote:


That's the placebo effect.

I did once decide that there might be some value in the high voltage
dust reducers, because you do get a significant dust build up on the
old glass TV screens, but when I tried one, it didn’t do a damned thing.


Is it broken?
I have one and you have to clean the dust off the collector plates every
week.

Well seeing as the 'high voltage dust reducers' use an electrostatic type
charge to attract the dust, it works in a similar way to turning a CRT tv
off,

only the static created by the tv is a lot more powerfull than the dust
reducer and has a larger area.

On Fri, 06 Jun 2014 10:40:38 +0100, Tim Lamb wrote:

In message , Scott M
writes
Bert Coules wrote:
Scott M wrote:

I've got an electronic elephant repeller. Works wonderfully.
So you're not troubled by electronic elephants? That must be a
relief.

Reffffeeerrrreeeeeeee!!!! That was below the belt that was, picking on
my grammaticals like that for a cheap joke! I dunno! As a penance, go
and write some more non-canon Holmes ;-)

We have an *imitation* wasps nest!

Experience so far is that it works as the otherwise regular loft
visitors have gone elsewhere.


So do we!



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
My posts (including this one) are my copyright and if @diy_forums on
Twitter wish to tweet them they can pay me £30 a post
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 06/06/2014 00:40, Dave Liquorice wrote:


Not at all surprised. Before we realised that deporting mice 100 m
down the paddock wasn't far enough or the cat adopted us we had a
couple of mice/rat ultrasonic dubries. Doubt they had much effect,
the mice still came in in the autumn. The could hear it though, mouse
in cage, switch on device, mouse visibly jumps but doesn't seem
otherwise bothered nor when the device was switched off. Repeat a few
times and each jump becomes smaller and smaller.


I once tried a ultrasonic cat repel device. Same result, first time cat
was frightened, but not enough to run away. Within the week it took no
notice of it. It was still working because the pulse on ramp up/off ramp
down was just in the human audible range.

--
mailto:news{at}admac(dot}myzen{dot}co{dot}uk

On 05/06/2014 12:32, James Harris wrote:


The surprising thing is that reviews of them seem to vary enormously. For a
given unit (which may combine both of the above functions) on Amazon UK some
people say it is wonderful while others say it doesn't work at all!

I assume that you haven't noticed that the reviews with 5 stars are from
those who are praising Amazon for the fast delivery or the pretty
package that the device came in.

The 1 star rating are those from people that have used the device for
more than a week.


--
mailto:news{at}admac(dot}myzen{dot}co{dot}uk

dennis@home wrote
Rod Speed wrote

That's the placebo effect.

I did once decide that there might be some value in the high voltage
dust reducers, because you do get a significant dust build up on the
old glass TV screens, but when I tried one, it didn’t do a damned thing.

Is it broken?

Nope, it collects dust fine, but doesn’t have any effect on my hay fever
etc.

I have one and you have to clean the dust off the collector plates every
week.

Sure, but I got no result in the weeks I did that except wasting my time
like that.

Bert Coules wrote:
Scott M wrote:

As a penance, go and write some more non-canon Holmes ;-)

I'd be happy to, but you'd need to convince the BBC to buy them, which
at the moment they're extremely reluctant to do.

Pity. I've just read "The Lost Special" which is just crying out for a
Further Adventure :-)

Presumably this is down to Cumberboozle's version. The Beeb always get
funny about other versions of stuff when they're doing something on
telly. They were the same with Dr Who when it came back.


Apologies for the not-very-good joke at your expense.

Don't be silly, I just wanted to put something other than a boring old
smiley in!

--
Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?