Gnat Infestation

[JudyJB]

I have a dishpan in the side of my double sink that has the trap. I fill it with water, but usually dump it in the opposite side. Now, I have a gnat infestation. They are driving me nuts, and I am going to have an accident trying to swat them while I drive!

I don't think it is in the black tank because I never leave it hooked up and open. And I never see any gnats there. I looked into my kitchen sink drain on the side with the trap and there is a bunch of gunk, so I poured some of that RV grey water odor control stuff into both sides and have been letting it sit--it was all I had, but it says it has corrosives in it, so I am guessing it is similar to regular drain cleaner.

Before I go to bed, I am also going to pour boiling water down both sides. I figure it can't hurt.

Now, my question: The web sites about gnats/fruit flies, and similar critters are divided. Some say to regularly dump ammonia. Other say to dump bleach down the drain every couple of days. They say to repeat this every couple of days to catch new eggs from hatching. So, have any of you had good results from bleach or ammonia??? I have some of each, but am going to buy a better supply tomorrow.

Or should I buy more of the odor control drain cleaner??

I hate to buy fresh fruit these days. Last time I had this problem I had bought a watermelon. Last week I bought berries and a watermelon, but put them both in the refrigerator. I did have to leave some lemons out a few days ago. Anyway, this is a yuck day. Just makes me really feel creepy as if stuff is crawling on me. Oh, and I looked at the pictures of the different kinds of little critters on the web, but my vision is MUCH too bad to try to identify my bugs.

[Birdie]

Judy, I get the fruit flies when I get fruit. But the gnats in the grey tank I treat with hot soapy water and I try to remember to always dump my dishpan equally, one day one side the next day next side. I also put the stopper in and close it when I have those visitors. I haven't had them in a while. I regularly use the grey odor control simply because the grey tank will stink if you carry it with you for a while. Also, one of the reasons I don't like to leave my grey tank open when hooked up. If I have to go open black tank and dump why not grey after it. I do for overnight dump stops. If I open the sewer at the campsite and those guys fly up to greet me, I wait until I am ready to dump before I hook up, at least most of the time. I suppose you could get some of those sticky fly sticks for them.

Good luck! Travel safe.

[avalen]

I know you know not to do bleach and ammonia at the same time, but I just had to say it
Personally, I use vinegar and hot water in the drains. However the one time I did get
those nasty little fruit gnats, they came out of the trash, only lasted a couple days

[retiredhappy]

I'm assuming you use one of those mesh drain covers to catch "stuff" before it goes into the grey tank? I always used vinegar regularly just in case, for my grey tank. Before I started using those mesh drain covers my grey tank smelled worse than the black tank.

[MandysMom]

I googled sewer flies and got lots of information. Many said salt followed by baking soda then vinegar and hot water. I use yellow sticky traps for occasional fruit flies when I bring summer fruit in and get a few.
Velda

[JudyJB]

Thanks, everyone. I almost never leave my grey or black tank lines open when they are hooked up, so I really don't think these are coming from the sewer. Also, I use my rinse mechanism to clean my black tank fairly often. It seems they are coming from the kitchen sink drain, which I have really woefully neglected to clean regularly. I think they have laid eggs on the yucky stuff lining the pipes that I can see down there. Luckily, there has been no odor.

Anyway, we shall see how my treatment worked. I will try to remember to retreat every couple of days for a while and do a better job of keeping the trap clean.