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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Topic: Tiny little bugs
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 03-05-2012 09:16 AM
quote: Monte L Fullmer
Algae growth will harden up in the lines to be like a black, rubbery substance that will plug up both ice bin drain lines and soda drain lines. I've had to clean out both using compressed air since the goo can easily be discharged under pressure.
You should see the sludge that grows inside the drains from the beer tap in a bar! Yeast and bacteria from the beer grows on the inside of the pipes until it evenly coats them but, once the growth gets heavy enough, gravity pulls it away from the surface of the plastic pipe and it sloughs downward to make room for more growth. After a while, a whitish, snakelike skein of yeasty bacteria grows inside the pipe. It's friggin' scary!
The only thing that kills it is boiling water and pure lye. Bleach won't touch it. (The biofilm resists bleach.)
Pour a good, healthy cupfull of lye crystals down the drains, followed by a pitcher full of hot water from the coffee pot. Let it sit overnight and follow with another pot of hot water in the morning. Rinse with hot tap water until the drain runs clear. Follow with a drain snake if necessary. (Be sure to wash out all the lye lest you get chemical burns!)
Point I'm making, here, is that you might have some kind of biofilm coating on the insides of your drain lines that resists bleach and cleaners. Pure lye and/or mechanical cleaning might be the only way to remove them.
While you're at it, do the floor drains, the sink drains and any condensate drains from coolers or refrigerators, too.
Also, do you have any floor drains in areas that don't get used very often?
At Mercyhurst, we occasionally have problems with the drains in the downstairs dressing rooms drying up. During the summer, the dressing rooms don't get used very much and the water evaporates from the traps in the shower stalls and floor drains. When that happens, sewer gas and, sometimes, flies come up the drain.
Housekeeping and maintenance don't clean the dressing rooms during the summer because nobody uses them. The dressing room doors are all locked and nobody even goes in there. Why bother cleaning them? Right?
Well, the correct answer is that, even if they aren't used, somebody needs to go in there every couple-few weeks to check on things and run hot water down the sinks and showers, flush the toilets and pour a bucket of water down the floor drains.
So... Do you have a sink, a drain or a soda tower in a corner or a back area somewhere that doesn't get used very often? Since nobody ever uses it, you might think it doesn't need any attention from the cleaners but I think it pays to give them a look-see every so often just to make sure.
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Robert Crabtree
Film Handler
Posts: 91
From: Largo, FL
Registered: May 2008
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posted 03-16-2012 03:44 AM
Since I'm paranoid about the use of hazardous chemicals, I've come to use essential oils for a few tasks, including insect repellant.
Most essential oils are good at deterring a few specific insects. Some, like peppermint, lavender, and eucalyptus make a good broad-spectrum deterrent. You could try them out individually to see if they help drive them from your building.
I mix those three in equal parts in large batches, and as needed, place 3-6 drops in a mug of hot water. Pleasant, slightly medicinal smell to it. You can pick the oils up at GNC and most health food/whole food stores. Even if they don't work on the flies, these oils (particularly lavender) can be used with cleaning products or as a lobby fragrance.
More effective, but less adaptable as a "lobby fragrance", would be a mixture of 2 parts lemongrass with 1 part each peppermint, thyme, and lavender. Reasonably innocuous/pleasant odor, but thyme oil is comparatively scarce relative to the other oils.
Or do what my colleague from the Buckeye state does: she weekly wipes down every surface in her home with pure ammonia. Hasn't seen a roach or most other insects at home in over 18 months, and that's quite an accomplishment in Florida.
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