Fly Killer

[djbj]

Hey,

I'm having to leave my window open (For the air conditioner) and as such loads of small flys/moths come in attracted by the light. I have been looking into some fly killer devices (the ones with the UV light and electric grill) but just want some advice. I'm not sure how safe these devices are to use in the home, as afaik UV light is harmful for long periods, and i'll be in the room for long periods. If I go ahead and buy one of these devices what safety precaucations should I take to ensure the safety of the occupants?

Thanks, DJBJ

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Why go to a lot of expense? make a wooden frame of 1"x 1/2" and the exact inner dimensions of the open window so that it fits snug into the inner frame of the open window,cover it(pin)with fine mesh curtain fabric.

You can take it down when summers over.

Job done air circulating and no fly's,wasp,midges,kangaroos,moths. :-)

[gort]

On the experience of the large obe we have at work I would not bother. Flies just seem zoom past sticking their fingers up at it!!!

Dave

[gort]

That should be large one, of course.

[Richard Downing]

djbj wrote: I have

I bought two of them. Completely useless. They have absolutely no effect at all on house-flies and blue-bottles and the like. The commercial ones might be better, but I doubt it.

R.

[Dave Fawthrop]

|Hey, | |I'm having to leave my window open (For the air conditioner) and as |such loads of small flys/moths come in attracted by the light. I have |been looking into some fly killer devices (the ones with the UV light |and electric grill) but just want some advice. I'm not sure how safe |these devices are to use in the home, as afaik UV light is harmful for |long periods, and i'll be in the room for long periods. If I go ahead |and buy one of these devices what safety precaucations should I take to |ensure the safety of the occupants?

The dangers of UV are much exaggerated in the media. A reasonable amount of UV is very good for you. In the West Riding we have ATM an outbreak of rickets

>> Rickets appeared in epidemic form in temperate zones when the factories of the Industrial Revolution produced so much smoke that ultraviolet rays were blocked. Rickets was probably the first childhood disease caused by environmental pollution. At that point in history, the deficiency of sunlight could be said to have caused the rickets epidemic in industrial areas.

[nightjar]

Regulations required me to have one when we were running a clean room. To avoid the problem of body bits falling, which happens with the high voltage ones, it had translucent sticky film over the lamps, which automatically rolled on every 12 hours - a high tech fly paper. Once, when a rat died under the factory, we had a plague of flies and it proved to be very effective, but only over a relatively small area - up to about a couple of metres away.

Colin Bignell

[dennis]

Common house flies are not attracted to the lamps. You have to bait them to get them into the killer. Without bait they are useless for flies.

Many of the commercial ones come with a bait board or film that you change every so often so you could cut up a refill and use that.

[Mary Fisher]

We have a little battery powered one for our caravan, where the windows are almost always open.

It's excellent for mosquitoes, midges, even crane flies, but I've never seen a house fly in it. Mind you, we don't get house flies in the caravan.

I suggest a fly paper would be an effective, if unsightly, solution to your problem.

We don't bother, they all end up dead on the windowsill anyway, along with other insects I don't see and take outdoors.

Mary

[tinnews]

Only caravan flies I would guess.

[Mary Fisher]

There's no such thing :-)

We often stay in places where there are small flies associated with cattle, they don't come in the caravan either.

Mary

[meow2222]

having the window open while running ac doesnt sound like a very good combination! Rather than trap flies I'd sort the problem out properly.

NT

[Pete Cross]

Is the window open for the outlet hose of the a/c ? mine came with a long foam strip with a cutout that matches the hose end, you cut the strip to the length of the opening and then trap it in the window with the hose sticking through, flies can't get in but the heat from the hose can get out AND not get blown back in again..........

[Bookworm]

Reminds me of the storyof the guy that goes into the Bakers Shop and says 'can I buy 2 dead wasps?'

The Baker says 'I am sorry sir, we dont sell those'

'Why not?' says the guy 'You have got two in the window'

[Mary Fisher]

... and that reminds me of the butcher near the links who put stray finds in his window.

A customer came in and asked what they were, he told her they were golf balls.

A week later, when there were more on display, she said, "I see you've killed another golf"

Mary

[tinnews]

Well that's a surprise!

We often get the "large flies associated with horses", especially during last few days.

[Mary Fisher]

;-)

Horse flies - clegs - are awful but we've never had them in the 'van.

Mary

[Derek ^]

Iff they are the Ginny Spinners or Mozzers as described by fowk in the East Midlands they are not out yet.

DG

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Mary Fisher" saying something like:

Ah's seen a house fly...

[Mary Fisher]

But Ah's never seen an elephant fly ...

Oh they don't make 'em like they used to ...

Mary