How do I get rid of Drain Flies?

Factual Questions
1

I have yucky little fruit fly-like bugs coming out of my bathroom drain. Apparently, they’re called Drain Flies.

I poured some bleach down the sink last week, and nothing much changed. I just went up to wash my hands, and there were about 15 around the sink plunger and the bottom of the bowl. Gross.

Any thoughts? There’s a bunch of chemical cocktails for them, but they’re kinda expensive. They apparently lay eggs and hatch larvae in the gunk that grows on the side of the drain. It’s organic, so I was thinking there may be a lemon juice and baking soda fix, or something like that.

Thanks.

2

I have the same thing and I thought they were drain flies and they’re not. They look like fruit flies but they’re a moth like creature.

Bleach will not work, nor will hot water, or vinegar or any other household remedy. You have something in your drain trapped and that is hiding the eggs. This is allowing them to live. The matter isn’t big enough to slow the drain so you’d notice, but it hides the eggs.

First give the drain a good plunging to dislodge anything. Then let the water run.

Then you need to buy the thick Draino. Then follow the directions. (don’t plunge with Draino) You can also use the generic kind. I bought my thick generic Draino at Walmart.

THIS got rid of them, but you have to do it a few times. It took almost the whole bottle before I got rid of the clog that was hiding their eggs.

3

Do you know what they’re called? They’ve been living in my brother’s basement bathroom for years now.

4

I don’t know exactly they’re related to drain flies, which also are moths. The guy at the local Ace Hardware told me what they exactly were and they are like drain flies but more resistant. That’s why they survive the vinegar and hot water and bleach.

Draino or any other kind of clog remover that’s thick should work. They breed in the water that the bend in the drain traps. I suppose you could disassemble the drain and take the trap out and clean it well. But that’s a lot more trouble then shooting Draino down the hole

5

The Drano you need is the “foaming pipe snake”. It fills the pipe with foam, and gets rid of the gunk that they breed in.

6

Yup.

I’ve had them a few times. A good foaming cleaner wipes them out.

7

We had them - in a couple of loos that are not flushed much between visitors staying over.

Getting rid is as above. Keeping rid we found simple bleach once a week and a flush every day or two in all the loos prevented reinfestation.

8

I’ve had little critters flying around here lately, too. Thought they were fruit flies and put out bowls of apple cider vinegar with a drop of dish soap in them, which in the past has handled fruit flies excellently, to no avail.

Will try the foaming pipe snake (which normally is useless for drain clogs IMHO) and see if it works as pest control.

9

For what it’s worth, I eliminated a similar problem by pouring boiling water down every drain in the house several times a day for a week.

You have to do it repeatedly because the ones that are currently flying around will just lay more eggs to replace the ones you boiled.

At least that’s what worked for me.

10

sulfuric acid clears almost anything out of a flowing drain… its in the drain cleaner aisle of my local hardware store.

11

Band name!

12

Too late – it’s a trademarked name by Liquid-Plumr, a subsidiary of the Clorox Company.

13

It also clears out some of the metal from the pipe and is dangerous if you have to work on the lines.

14

Not so long ago on another forum, I posted my weekly drain cleaning routine for Korean drains. As a few other posters here are also located in Korea, this may help them.

Before you pour bleach into the drains, you have to clean the drains out. Bathroom drains in Korea (at least every one I’ve had the occasion to clean out) are a bit different than what I’m used to back in the US. Here’s the procedure for cleaning the drains here:

[list=a][li]For the bathroom drain:[/li]
[ol][li] Invest in some cheap wooden chopsticks and either a wire brush or wire scrubbing pad such as Brillo or SOS. [/li][li]Remove the metal drain cover. [/li][li]Underneath that cover is an upside down cup covering the drain. Remove that also. [/li][li]Remove the accumulated gunk (hair and other matter) that’s blocking the holes in the cup. Flush the gunk down the toilet or dispose of it with your other household garbage. [/li][li]Take the wooden chopstick and carefully remove the gunk in the moat around the drainpipe. Flush that gunk down the toilet or dispose of it with your other household garbage. [/li][li]Scrub both the drain cover and the cup with the brush or Brillo pad. Ensure you clean both sides of the drain cover and both the inside and outside of the cup. [/li][li]Using the wire brush or Brillo pad and the chopstick together, scrub the inside of the moat around the drainpipe. You should be running the shower attachment in your bathroom while doing steps 6 and 7. [/li][li]When finished, replace the cup and the drain cover. [/li][li]Pour bleach or other drain cleaner into both the floor drain and the sink drain. Close the sink drain cover and fill the sink with water. [/li][li]After a half-hour, open the sink drain and using the shower attachment, flush both the sink drain and the floor drain with water for a few minutes each. [/li][li]Repeat this procedure in one week.[/li]
[/ol]

[li]For the kitchen drain: [/li]
[ol][li]Boil a large pot of water–the larger, the better. Do this on the cooking range instead of using one of those electric water pots. [/li][li]Remove the drain cup and pour whatever is in it into a food garbage bag. [/li][li]Use a dish washing scrubbing pad (the rough side) to clean both the inside and outside of the drain cup. [/li][li]Put the drain cover over the drain in the sink. Do not replace the drain cup yet. [/li][li]Put the drain cup into the sink and fill the sink with the boiling water. [/li][li]Remove the drain cover after a few minutes to empty the sink, then repeat steps 4 and 5. [/li][li]Replace the drain cup, then pour bleach or other kitchen drain cleaner into the drain. Put the drain cover over the drain and fill the sink with water. [/li][li]After a half-hour, remove the drain cover to empty the sink. Remove the drain cup and attach a sink drain cleaning tablet (available at every Home Plus, E-Mart, Lotte Mart, etc. in the country) to the inside of the drain cup. [/li][li]Replace the drain cup. [/li][li]Repeat this procedure in one week. [/li][li]After every single time you use the kitchen sink, you should remove the drain cup and pour whatever is in it into a food garbage bag, then replace the drain cup. Tie the bag closed tightly and dispose of it following your area’s garbage collection schedule.[/ol][/list][/li]
Another thing to remember is to wash the plastic trash before you dispose of it. Simply run hot water over it and then place it in the recycling bag. In my area, food garbage is collected twice a week and plastic garbage is collected twice a week. They are not collected on the same days. If you don’t wash the plastic/vinyl/whatever you want to call the packaging, you’ll be attracting other critters.

Hope this helps and doesn’t gross anyone out.

15

I have had these aggervating things coming into my 2 bedroom trailor for the past month …errr…after first pest control coming out and putting some stuff down my drains that would kill them supposedly, then ,a plummer coming to tell us that our septic tank was full,so we had that emptied ,still having the problem with the bugs :frowning: I have a 15 month old and it just driving me crazy trying to keep up with them, I kill so many daily and then they just come back again, seems they tend to be calmer during the day but toward the evening they start moving around ! I just want them gone :frowning:

16

Did the foaming draino you were talking about completely get rid of them ? @ Doreen ?

17

It got rid of the gunk in the drain that they were breeding in. I also used flypaper to get the ones that had already hatched. It took a couple of days, but I haven’t seen them in years

18

An extreme case of sewer flies.

Video shows what can happen if a broken drain pipe goes unnoticed.

19

I had a nasty drain clog last spring. After using all sorts of brand name commercial remedies (which I wasn’t even supposed to mix, and snaking did nothing) I resorted to alternating washing soda and borax, flushed with boiling water. I firmly believe washing soda is about the greatest maintenance for your drains, and even seemed to clear this one for me. I think regular soda would make life very harsh for insect life in the drains, as well.

20

Draino, boiling water and bleach will help kill them. To prevent them from coming back, and some mineral oil to the drain on a monthly basis. This stops them from laying eggs and having the larva hatch.