# What would happen if I just vacuumed up all the wasps? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-just-vacuumed-up-all-the-wasps/263327 "2004-09-06T13:59:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-just-vacuumed-up-all-the-wasps/263327/41 "2004-09-07T21:59:36Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > That’s right, you didn’t. Sorry about that. > > As to discussion I don’t see that there is anything to discuss. I think that when flour into a vacuum cleaner is suggested it isn’t a bit out of order to warn that finely divided and combustible material dispersed in a cloud is a bomb waiting for an ignition source be it static electricity or two metal screws banging together. The fact that there might be other danger sources doesn’t make it any less a hazard. > > And after having been told someone wants to ignore it that’s OK by me as long as they are in another part of town and I’m away for a vacation. Well, it looks like there _is_ something to discuss; you’re comparing apples with oranges; combustible dust **finely dispersed in a cloud and exposed to potential sources of ignition** is an explosion hazard - I’m not disagreeing with that at all, what I **am** questioning is whether flour being sucked up and **collected together into the confined space of a vacuum cleaner bag** is all that comparable - I don’t think it is. Does anyone know if there have ever been any cases of vacuum cleaner dust ignition explosions? ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-just-vacuumed-up-all-the-wasps/263327/42 "2004-09-07T23:08:57Z")
Wasp story: When I was a kid, my dad killed a ton of wasps one Sunday using a torch (propane, _not_ an English flashlight). There was a big stone wall that had wasps/hornets/whatever nesting inside. The little bastards stung every kid on the block at one point or another that summer. So my dad (a plumber) brought a big tank of propane and assorted fittings and hoses home. He got up before sunrise and set the torch up with visegrips as a holder and started the flame. A small crowd eventually sat and watched as my dad adjusted things so that the wasps perished as they flew through the flame. I remember the PILE of charred remains. Very cool. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-just-vacuumed-up-all-the-wasps/263327/43 "2004-09-07T23:24:26Z")
I’ve generally needed a baseball bat or a gun for the WASPs around my house, as they’re so large. I don’t think you could even suck up one of their babies… Oh, you’re talking about the insects. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-just-vacuumed-up-all-the-wasps/263327/44 "2004-09-08T01:34:45Z")
I was wondering how long it would take before the obligatory W.A.S.P. joke appeared. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-just-vacuumed-up-all-the-wasps/263327/45 "2004-09-08T03:07:16Z")
> [@Boyo Jim](#): > > I’ve generally needed a baseball bat or a gun for the WASPs around my house, as they’re so large. I don’t think you could even suck up one of their babies… > > Oh, you’re talking about the insects. Never mind. So energy inefficent and messy. Instead, make Bundt cakes spiked with arsenic and take them around the neighborhood. _This was another helpful household hint from Mrs. Bing._ ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-just-vacuumed-up-all-the-wasps/263327/46 "2004-09-08T03:25:37Z")
From a story one of my friends told about her husband’s horrifying experience (from his POV) a hand held dust-buster would work just fine. A friend of his had a bee problem, and her husband always wanted to keep bees, so the two of them had a great idea - they’d use a dust-buster to vaccum the bees up, and he’d take them home. (what he thought he was going to do without a queen, I don’t know). The plan worked great- for about 5 seconds. Sure, it vaccumed the bees in, at which point they were sucked so hard against the back of the dust buster that they were crushed. Every single bee. Her husband’s friend was pleased, but her husband was upset. They hadn’t taken the bees fragility into question before deciding on their course of action. Wasps are of a similar body structure so with a hard pastic vaccum and a powerful enough motor you too could have insect puree. ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-just-vacuumed-up-all-the-wasps/263327/47 "2004-09-08T14:28:52Z")
You need [Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Improvement) to soup up one of [these](http://www.oreck.com/special-offers/bug-vacuum.cfm)…it needs **more power** … ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-just-vacuumed-up-all-the-wasps/263327/48 "2004-09-08T20:05:39Z")
I don’t know if they do wasps, but entomologists use specialized vacuum gadgets to collect flying insects. A friend of my sister sometimes hunts mosquitos along the roadside, and gets very strange looks from drivers going by as he’s shooting his 1920s-style death ray into the air. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-just-vacuumed-up-all-the-wasps/263327/49 "2004-09-08T20:42:37Z")
> [@Jayrot](#): > > And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. And if I don’t? What are you going to do? Release the vacuums? Or the wasps? Or the vacuums with wasps inside of them and when you reverse the slow wasps fly out of their hoses? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-just-vacuumed-up-all-the-wasps/263327.md?page=2)