No one likes tiny flies all over their home. So, why spend time chasing them around when there are ways to make them disappear completely. In this article, we’ll list the top ways to get rid of pesky drain flies.
Getting rid of drain flies is not that complicated. It is as easy as pouring boiling water down the drain once or twice a week and clean it with a drain brush. For better results, you can also use an enzyme drain cleaner. Alternatively, you can use a baking soda mixture for similar results. You will need a drain fly trap to get rid of those still flying around.
Let’s start by quickly understanding what drain flies are.
What are Drain Flies?
Drain flies look like small furry moths. Measuring about one-eighth of an inch (2-5 millimeters). They are grayish in color, have rounded wings and a set of antennae. People also refer to them as sink flies, sewer flies, or sewer gnats.
You are probably tired of dealing with the common flies and now you need to deal with these ones too.
These pests can live wherever water accumulates for a while. Drain flies love stagnant water, especially if there is food or bacteria around. And your sinks and showers are perfect places for them to thrive. The decomposing matter in the interior walls of your drains become food for them.
It is unlikely they will gather in areas you use every day, but you can expect them to welcome you home when you leave for a vacation. Not exactly a pleasant welcome.
Drain flies can live for a maximum of three weeks, but their new eggs hatch in 48 hours, so they can become a real problem in a matter of days.
As disgusting as they may be for most people, there is no evidence showing that drain flies carry any human diseases. But it may not be easy to convince your mother in law of this fact.
Real quick, before you start using one or more of these methods, you need to identify which pipes are causing the problem. This may be obvious but I’ll say it anyhow. If you see flies around the kitchen sink, the kitchen sink pipes should be your first target.
So, let’s go over top ways to get rid of pesky drain flies.
Boiling Water
By far, the easiest way to ensure drain flies are not hatching in your pipes is by pouring boiling water through the affected pipe. Boil a pot of water (3.0 to 5.0 qt) a couple of times a week and pour it slowly down the drain.
For best results, gently scrub the pipe with a pipe brush to eliminate most of the inside’s organic material.
Although this may be all you need to get rid of the pesky drain flies, you may want to double punch them by using a drain cleaner.
Drain Cleaners
Drain cleaners present a sure way to unclog your drains and remove any matter that draws the flies inside your home and causes their take-over of your bathroom and kitchen.
Although you can use chemical drain cleaners, such as Drano, Enzyme drain cleaners, such as Bio-Clean are considered a safer option. This is especially important if you have a septic system like us. Chemical cleaners pose a risk to the beneficial bacteria generated in your septic tank.
If you already applied boiling water and cleaned the pipe with a pipe brush, the drain cleaner should eliminate the remaining residue in the pipes.
Baking Soda Mixture
This cleaning method is easy and accessible and may be as effective as a drain cleaner, and it is based on natural ingredients.
Just mix baking soda and salt 1 cup each, add them to 1 cup of vinegar, and pour down the drain. Leave it overnight, and make sure nothing else goes down the drain. In the morning, pour boiling water, cleaning the pipes from the debris that dislodged thanks to your mixture.
Drain Flies Traps
It’s one thing to clean out your drain and stop new flies from emerging, but what about those flies that are still flying around?
There are a few simple methods to trap them.
Make a mixture of equal parts of sugar, vinegar, and water, adding a bit of dish soap. Put that in a small bowl and leave it out. Flies will swarm to the sweet aroma, but it won’t end well for them.
You can also pour apple cider vinegar into a small bowl or a cup. Cover it with cellophane wrapping paper and poke small holes with a toothpick. Flies will be able to enter but not leave your trap.
Another way is to pour apple cider vinegar into a jar, enough to cover the bottom. Then, add a piece of a peeled banana and the banana peel. Roll a piece of paper and put it into the jar to form a funnel. This has a similar effect to the above solution.
The video below shows also an effective method to trap drain flies with apple cider vinegar and soap.
How to Prevent Drain Flies
By now, you know how to get rid of pesky drain flies, but you can also do a few things to prevent them.
Common sense tells you that it’s essential to keep the area around drains clean and tidy. Another prevention step most people don’t know is to cover drains that you don’t use much. Ideally, you should also use drain cleaner perhaps once a month to keep the organic matter in the drains to a minimum.
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