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Way OT: Mosquitos in my drains 'year round

Craig Donges

Stainless
Joined
Oct 19, 2008
Location
Berlin Center (NE) Ohio
Greetings all;

For a number of years I have been plagued with this and have never found an answer. Now, I come to the all knowing PM guys. If you folks can't help, an answer doesn't exsist.

I have two drains (that I'm aware of) that have mosquitos in them 'year round. One is the sink in my shop. I have killed mosquitos even in the dead of winter. It can be -10F and I still see mosquitos flying around when I run water down the drain. It seems to me the water would be to foul, since a shop sink gets oil and grease residues from washing hands etc. ? The other drain is in my home garage where I keep the Mutts water bowl. When I go to fill the bowl, mosquitos are flying out.

Both drains are tied to a common septic system.

What's a poor fella to do? I am getting tired of killing mosquitos in January!

Any and most all remedies tendered here will be tried. Help!

Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving;
Craig Donges
 
No I'm thinking they're coming from the trap. Thats why I said to put the check valve before it, right on the sink bottom.

ETA In between the sink and the trap.
 
Can we assume both traps are working as they should?

It generally takes standing water to breed mosquitoes. I'd try flushing the drains 2x a week. The garage drain probably sits longer than that. The shop drain is more of a puzzle, but I'd guess the only time you're actually breeding mosquitoes there is if the drain hasn't been flushed for a while?
 
What about a few drops of bleech? just keep it bleechy and it should kill them all off in a few weeks.
 
If they are coming from the traps you have to break the egg/larva/mosquito/egg cycle by killing the larva every day for a couple of weeks. One way would be by pouring a quart or so of boiling water down each drain every day. They couldn't be coming from the septic tank since the traps are a barrier to them getting out. Good luck with this wierd one..........Bob
 
Takes about 10-14 days for most of the common nuisance mosquito species' eggs to pass through the larva and pupa stages and hatch. So you could just run enough water down the drains to flush the traps every few days. The eggs/larvae would just wash into the septic tank. Dump the dog's bowl completely dry every few days.

There are over 2000 species of mosquitoes in North America.

Check around for other pools of stagnant water nearby. Gutters, birdbaths, buckets, old tires, tarps that hold puddles, etc. Eliminate the standing water in them and rearrange things so it doesn't reoccur after a rain. The female adults need a blood meal to reproduce, so these critters are getting them somewhere, probably outside, and you may be seeing just a small part of the population.

If you are using Frontline as a tick preventative for the dog you can switch to K( Advantix, which also adds mosquito repellent.

If the things are really breeding in the trap, you can get bits of a solid Bt pesticide to put in there, maybe tie them onto the drains, but I think it's probably block the flow.
Still, you should put the stuff in any standing puddles you can't eliminate. Here's one description: http://www.ghorganics.com/MosquitoDunks.html Don't feed it to the dog, though.

But the best control is really eliminating all the sources of standing water around, inside and outside.
 
I know you are getting some oil in the sink, but perhaps it emulsified enough to not float on top of the water. A spoon of oil should suffocate the little larva bastards, then you can spray the adults with you favorite neurotoxin such as Raid :D Might work.
 
BTW since the traps end up in the septic be careful what you put down there. Oil is a big no-no, doesn't break down and ends up clogging the leaching system.

A little bleach is ok, but too much kills off the beneficial bacteria that keep the system operating.

Another way to get the eggs out of the drain traps is to just drain them directly. Modern traps have a little plug to unscrew at the low point of the P, or S. If yours don't, it's a cheap quick fix to replace them with ones that have the drain. Then just drain it a few times to break the breeding cycle.
 
Just put a slow release bromine tablet for use in a hot tub down the drain. However high flows will wash it away. It will stop both the smell and the mosquitos. Also works well for sump pump sumps with little flow and toilet tanks to reduce rust staining.

Peter
 
A lot of real good responses here.

I have no standing water in the shop or outside that I know of. In the winter, standing water would be frozen so that should be moot.

The sink drain is the one that puzzles me. I have had this problem for quite a few years. I use the sink daily with hot water. I use a lot of Go-Jo type produts to wash my hands also. To the best of my knowledge, I have never been bit in the ass when on the turlette, so i don't think they are coming from the there.

The one for the dogs is not coming from the water bowl, but once again the drain underneath it.

How about something aggressive such as Sulphuric acid? All of my plumbing is PVC and ABS. Would sulphuric harm these palstics or my septic, in small doses?

Beats the heck out of me.

Craig Donges
 
I had the same problem in a basement floor drain. I put some lye in the drain and let it set for a couple of days before flushing. That took care of the problem. The acid should work just as good. A major change in pH seems to kill the larvae.
 
The best air type spray for skeeters is Malathion, they haven't banned it YET so it must be fairly safe.
Here in Fl they spray the ditches with some type of oil to prevent the larvae from breathing and they die. My neighbor sprays a garlic solution. ???? But he is Italian!
 
In New England we do a couple of things for skeeter control, even in drains. Bopth work for standing water as well. The first is to pour just a little cooking oil in the drain. Not much, just a small capful or less from the bottle. Canola oil works well, and the heat from hot water keeps it from messing up the pipes. We do this in small drainage ponds but with a gallon or two. There are also some little donut shaped skeeter control "chemicals" that people put in drainage ponds (meaning about 20 feet across, not huge) that sit and slow release. You may want to look into these and just put in the sink in an area where water from washing will erode it off a bit at a time into the drain. They are supposed to be wildlife safe.
 








 
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