i have gnat like bugs flying around water/icemaker area .... i do not see them in the freezer and have cleaned and cleaned that area.... i am in a rental house and have never seen this before.... i noticed on this site in 2006 someone had this issue too, but no helpful solution to the problem was given....
definitely a flying bug about the size of a mosquita .....what gets rid of them?
.com/maintenance/bugs-in-icemaker-water-area-of-refrigerator-768866-.htm
First you should identify the insect. Flypaper usually helps: then (a) if their source is a single nest, you need to locate the nest and clean it our, (b) if not, you may get advice from local public health agencies, agricultural extension departments, etc.
Since you keep food there you do /not/ want to use an insecticide.
I'd clean out the whole area with rubbing alcohol and make sure to clean the area where they are laying their eggs. If it's hard to get at you should be able to just pour it in...but it would be best to disassemble and clean it all out.
thank you for your response... since the gnats are seemingly coming from the area you place a glass for water and ice... i continually am cleaning that exterior area.... today i placed vinegar in the trough area...the area that catches overflow... i have had about 10 or 12 dead gnats.... there is a vented like rubber square that you push so the water comes out of the fridge... i am wondering if they are behind it....!!!!!!
any suggestions would be appreciate.... thank you....
Sounds like fruit flies. Make a trap. Pour some fruit juice, wine, or cider vinegar in a jar about a half inch or so. Cover it with platic wrap, poke a hole with your finger. Place it near where you see the most bug. It will take a few days to a week to get past the life cycles. Meantime. use a dilute bleach solution to clean around the icemaker.
Sounds more like a troll.
gnat-like ? or the size of a mosquito? Which is it?
I would also throw out your garbage more often.
Fruit flies lay their eggs in soft materials (often meat, rotting vegetables or fruit) and that's what results in them showing up in your kitchen rather than any other room. They may just be congregating around the ice maker because it's a source of drinking water for them.
Also, if your kitchen drain pipe is leaking badly, solids from your kitchen sink will spill out (perhaps onto the crawl space below), and fruit flies will lay their eggs in that mass of rotting putrifaction. In that case, however, you'd see them throughout your house.
I would clean the area where you see these bugs congregating with bleach, and I would definitely hang up some fly paper. Fly paper is really sticky, so that it traps flies when they land on the paper and then can't take off again. That will break the breeding cycle so that once your existing crop of flies is stuck to the paper, you won't have a new crop.
thank you i am going to try to identify the pest..... cloroxing has not helped... i think they are breeding behind the vented rubber like square i push to get water... i do not know how to clean behind that area...it releases water when i touch it... i have considered misting it with clorox, but am not certain that is a good idea....
thank you for your help
thank you for your input... since i toss food items immediately into garbage disposal and run it... there is never any materials for insects to feed... i know these are not fruit fllies nor drain flies.... i will take them to get indentified and go from there... at the moment vinegar in the water trough area is killing them.... i do appreciate your response....
okay......so i have learned they are fruit flies.... i had a service man take the water/ice maker apart.... we found a lot of bugs there...but no food source to speak of.... he cleaned every area of bugs he could find.... put it all back together... and 10 minutes later several were back... i have added more vinegar to the tray... am thinking the vinegar is killing them and the cycle has to stop... still no idea where the food source is.... anyhow, good luck to anyone who gets this weird problem! and thanks to all who lended advice!
replying to philo , fruit fly lady wrote: When we had the ice maker replaced, the repairman warned against using bleach anywhere near where the water and ice come out. He recommended cleaning with vinegar. My husband has a recycling receptacle on the counter that he empties daily and that is the source of the fruit fly infestation. When he doesn't recycle, the fruit flies disappear. I periodically pour vinegar in the area where water and ice are discharged. This helps a little.
replying to mama needs help, Ashley wrote: Hi did you happen to find out what they are.. I'm having similar situation
replying to Ashley, SDeer wrote: We are too :( Ashley or original poster, any additional suggestions/input? Did you find out what the insects are? I do no think ours are fruit flies, but their size is similar.
replying to SDeer, Sandy wrote: I am pretty sure that these insects are fungus gnats, and may be the same thing that some people get as drain flies. They are a little smaller and darker than fruit flies. They eat...yes, fungus. I started noticing them episodically flying around my refrigerator ice dispenser. When I looked closely, I realized there was some black fungus in and around the working parts and on the cup holder base. I wiped out what I could, then sprayed Lysol on the cup holder, and up into the unit where you can?t reach, let that sit a bit, then wiped it off where the ice slides down. That has stopped it! You?ll need to repeat this now and then.
I am also having the same issue with gnats actually coming down when t is pressing the button on the refrigerator to get ice. Does anyone know the problem and solution?
hahaha
Thank you. I won't use the Lysol but I know the vinegar does get rid of them. Matter of fact, if you put vinegar in a bowl with a good drop of dishwashing liquid that makes a trap for the little buggers. But this is really gross now that I am finding them in my water glass. BLEH!
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