| General > General Technical Chat |
| How to not damage a vacuum (Stink bug problem) |
| (1/5) > >> |
| Jwalling:
For some reason we've been inundated with stink bugs this year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_marmorated_stink_bug Rather than killing them by squashing them (which really does stink, and your hand will stink as well) I've bought a dirt devil portable vacuum. Works great, but these things seem to live for weeks in the vacuum, so you can't empty the thing till they're all dead. Of course, there's always new ones to suck up, so you never reach the point where they're all dead. I don't want to spray bug killer into the thing as it might damage the motor. I thought of putting it into an oven at 170F / 76c (the lowest my oven will go) but then I'm concerned about damaging the Lithium battery. Any ideas? |
| Whales:
Dang, those little vacuum cleaners combine the catch area and the nozzle into one. That makes it harder than 'just adding a bag' Do these things use a normal fan or a centrifugal fan? I think the latter, which destroys my idea of adding a reversing switch + blowing them out into a woven bag. Perhaps fight vacuum cleaner with vacuum cleaner, ie use a bigger vacuum cleaner to empty the front out of this one :D Get a cheap-n-smelly second hand one off eBay and keep it outside under cover. EDIT: The solution I use is a lot lower tech: two long & skinny pieces of pine. Slap them together either side of the bugged citrus leaf. |
| tom66:
Submerge the nozzle in diluted isopropyl alcohol (30-50%). The IPA will kill the bugs and sanitise it at the same time, and it will evaporate causing no harm to the electronics (remove the battery first.) Only risk I can see is it may damage inks and adhesives, so avoid saturating too much of the motor bay. |
| Zero999:
How about emptying it into a paper bag, which can then be burned, or immersed in bleach solution and binned? |
| jogri:
Drill a small hole in the collection container that can be plugged with a small screw or duct tape and get yourself a bug killer with a tube as a spray nossel and spray it directly into the collection container (while the thing is off). |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |