Content:
- What are Sewer Flies?
- Where Do They Come From?
- What Sewer Flies Eat?
- Are They Harmful?
- How To Notice if You Have Sewer Flies at Home
- How To Get Rid of Sewer Flies
- Prevent Sewer Flies
- Something To Finish With
Sinks and drains in the home are ideal places for stagnant water or germs to collect, especially if the sink or drain is left unattended. You may have drain flies if you’ve noticed an excess of small, moth-like critters lingering about your sinks, showers, or tubs.
These common pests can multiply in as little as 48 hours, making it easy to become infested in a short period of time. Unlike other insect infestations, figuring out how to get rid of drain flies is very easy.
You can halt them in their tracks with basic products or pantry things around the house, and build a plan to stop them in the future, with a little attention. We’ll address all of your questions regarding how to get rid of sewer flies and who to call if you need expert pest control help in this article.
What are Sewer Flies
Sewer flies have several aliases, including moth flies, sink flies, or even drain flies. Their petite, moth-like wings and round, fuzzy bodies distinguish them from gnats and fruit flies, which range in size from 2mm to 5mm.
Sewer flies are also different in color from other little house flies, ranging from pale gray to black in color. Despite their appearance as moths, these tiny insects are unable to fly very far.
Instead of buzzing around your house like other pests, you’ll observe that they make huge hops from place to place.
Sewer flies have a lifespan of eight to 24 days, but they can lay and hatch up to 300 eggs in just 48 hours, so getting ahead of the problem before it spreads through your pipes is critical.
Where Do They Come From
Sewer flies prefer stagnant water because it collects even small amounts of bacteria and sewage, hence they congregate around:
- Sinks in the kitchen and outside
- Drains in the shower and bathtub
- Sinks in the basement (especially those that go unused for some time)
- Sewers
- Tanks for septic waste
- sewage-contaminated soil
Low, stagnant water is a common denominator in all of these locations. When water pools and gathers sewage, drain flies can lay eggs in the film that forms on the inside of pipes and drains. Drain flies may be drawn to the following items as a result of this:
- buckets and wet mops
- Compost heaps
- Standing water in storm drains
- Garbage cans, birdbaths, and barns are all examples of wet locations.
What Sewer Flies Eat?
Sewer or drain flies feed on organic material found in standing water, which can include sewage or other contaminated water, and are attracted to it when a film forms in a humid part of a pipe containing standing water.
Sewer flies flourish and multiply in this environment, thus your drains are great for them. Food and sewage can also be found near a pile of rubbish, animal waste, or compost gathering.
Are They Harmful?
Sewer flies are not dangerous to humans, in brief. Although drain flies ingest and thrive on sewage and germs, they are not disease-carrying insects, but they can spread bacteria in large groups.
Even if they are a major annoyance in your home, they have not been proven to be harmful to your health.
Sewer flies, as previously mentioned, may reproduce quickly, building nests throughout your pipes that can be expensive to remove if left unchecked.
How To Notice if You Have Sewer Flies at Home
You may not realize you have an infestation growing in your pipes until you notice these small moth-like insects throughout your home.
There are a few surefire techniques to see if your pipes have more drain flies living and breeding in them.
Test With Duct Tape
Wrap a piece of duct tape around your drain and tape it shut for the night. Drain flies will ultimately attempt to rise to the surface but will become trapped on the tape on their way out.
Not only will this get rid of some of the flies in your drain, but it will also show you how the infestation has progressed. Repeat the process multiple nights in a row to get a complete picture of the problem.
Checking For Larvae
Sewer flies lay their eggs in the organic debris that accumulates immediately at the drain’s opening.
Remove the drain cover, scrape some of the slimes off the sides, and search for drain-fly larvae that are thin, tube-like, and resemble drain flies.
If you don’t see any here but know you have an infestation, it’s possible that the eggs are being laid deeper within your pipes.
How To Get Rid of Sewer Flies
You may get rid of sewer fly infestations using either a natural or chemical approach, depending on the severity of the infestation.
In many cases, you may get rid of sewer flies quickly by using materials already in your kitchen or under the sink.
Natural Ways
Flushing out your drains can sometimes eradicate both the drain fly larvae and any temptation for drain flies to return. Use these ways to handle your infestation as both a preventative and a management strategy.
- Boiling Water
Pouring boiling water down your drain 1-2 times a day for approximately a week is the simplest way to clear out your drain fly problem. If the water does not catch all of the organic material that had accumulated inside, the flies will not return tonight.
- Mix Baking Soda, Salt, and Vinegar
To make a natural cleaning solution, combine these pantry staples and pour it down your drain overnight. With the vinegar, the baking soda expands, reaching more places than boiling water. Flush out the pipe with boiling water after letting the solution rest till morning.
- Mix Soap, Water, Sugar, and Vinegar
To a basin of water, sugar, and apple cider vinegar, add a few drops of dish soap. Allow the bowl to sit near the drain for a few days to attract drain flies to the sweet solution. The added soap will trap the flies in the water due to its thickness.
- Apple Cider Vinegar and Plastic Wrap
Cover a bowl, jar, or mug with plastic wrap to make another typical DIY fly trap. Fill the container with an inch of apple cider vinegar at the bottom. Small holes should be punched at the top of the plastic to allow the flies in but not escape.
- Duct Tape
You can also utilize the above-mentioned detecting approach to eliminate some of your drain fly problems. To catch flies that try to reach the surface, cover your drain with duct tape overnight for several nights in a row.
Chemicals
Drain flies are typically found in or around pipes, thus ordinary drain cleaners and chemicals can also be used to get rid of them. Always read the instructions before using chemical cleaners, and never mix them with other chemical or natural cleaning solutions.
- Traditional Drain Cleaner
You can clear away the residual residue with solutions like Drano and Bio-Clean after flushing your drain with warm water and brushing it with a metal pipe brush. Check to see if these products may be used more than once if necessary and if they can be used in drains outside of the bathroom.
- Chemical Sprays And Repellents
When the pests are indicated on the label, many standard pest control agents, such as those for fruit flies or gnats, can also be used to kill drain flies. Because many of these include caustic chemicals, see if you should store them out of the kitchen and be cautious of drain damage.
Prevent Sewer Flies
Drain flies are attracted to pools of stagnant water that contain sewage and other organic matter.
In order to prevent drain fly infestations, clean pipes must be washed out on a regular basis, either with water or, in more serious circumstances, cleaning chemicals.
If you have a drain that passes days or weeks without being used, cover it with a stopper to prevent drain flies from establishing a home there.
Keep an eye out for standing water outside of your drains and in other places of your property. Never put soiled mops in buckets of water, and make sure your septic system is in good working order.
Something To Finish With
We hope you found our post explaining what sewer flies are, how to get rid of them, and how to prevent them from appearing.
Even if you only encounter a few drain flies out of nowhere, remember to keep an eye out for early indicators of an infestation. It is critical to take preventative measures to screen for and treat a potential problem.
Please let us know about your thoughts and experiences!
