Mosquito control chemicals and your pool

[ar26pt2]

Anyone have any real knowledge about the safety of various common mosquito control products that inadvertently enter your pool?

For example, we use a large commercial pest control company to spray the yard monthly with a backpack sprayer. I’m sure residue flies into the pool. I have blind assumption this is safe because “they are pros” and all that.?

I recently bought a thermal fogger with black flag mosquito fogger which makes quite a cloud of poison in my yard and works ok as a short term skeeter controller. Chemicals in it are “Pyrethrins” and supposedly safe around pools.

To up your thermal fogger game, some use 36% permethrin supplement to fogger solution to give residual effect of a few days. In lower dose this is considered safe for clothing when dried, but anyone know when it falls into the pool what happens?

Another notch up is Nylar or pyriproxyfen which can be added that inhibits mosquito eggs and adds weekslong coverage to your fog arsenal. Anyone know of safety?

Again, none of this is directed at the pool directly, but the fog gets everywhere and small amounts (likely minuscule after wind distribution and thermal heating) wind up in the pool. I imagine sunlight and chlorine oxidize and break it down some. But still, what is general consensus about safety?

Thanks, ar

 

[the_sphynx]

Hmm, not a chemist but here's my take.
I live in rural SoCal and purchase the concentrates of various pesticides & pre-emergents. When reading the labels on those it specifies a dilution rate based on targeted pests/coverage/etc. Most of the time it's 1oz-to-2oz per gallon of water, sometimes less. Anything over-diluted becomes ineffective and since most pesticides state that they are safe after a brief application period with the proper dilution rate then any overspray/fine mist that hits the water in an 18k gallon pool is going to be rendered useless and likely safe.
I also had those concerns when I 1st started doing my own pest control but after realizing that overspray in the pool exponentially decreases the active ingredients in the pesticides via dilution I really stopped caring. I am not actively spraying chemicals into my pool either but I just don't worry about the minute amount of stuff that somehow gets into the pool as after the FC and filtration for a day or two gets it, there's no trace of it.

 

[mguzzy]

welp... I used use a pest company to come out and spray my yard... then they raised my rates.. then the raised it again... so I called them up and cancelled... and honestly, I really don't see a difference. I have changed my tactics.. I make sure I don't leave stuff out that will attract ants, wasps, etc. I set out wasps traps in the spring to catch them before they make nests, I make sure there are no open puddles of water for breeding mosquitoes. I use mosquito bits or donuts to kill the larvae. My son insists on putting out a fly trap.. yeah it catches files.. but I think the stench attracts them more than if we didn't have it.. I was never a big fan of having chemicals sprayed all over the house. Especially when the kids were little. So I found organic/preventative ways of dealing with them buggers. It seems to work.

sorry if I hijacked the intent of your thread.

 

[Shirker]

Most residential pesticides are designed to breakdown in the environment. I would *think* that they would break down even faster in the presence of chlorine. Regardless, I usually try to limit the amount I use outside. I mainly just sport treat fore fireants.

 

[afbatts]

we live in the Country in South Central Louisiana. we dont spray anything in our yard for mosquitos because of pets, we like to walk barefoot etc... We use something called Mosquito Eradicator. It works extremely well and you hang them around the property. They have how to's, as far as where to hang them. I can say that they work extremely well. We only had mosquitos once this season that were bad and it was right after the hurricane passed and i am guessing the wind blew them from far away. After 2-3 days they were under control again. They last about 90 days but i change mine out every 75 days during the summer. just important to get on top of them in the spring before they get bad. Spartan Mosquito Eradicator - Order Today!

 

[Katodude]

The only thing that has ever worked for me for mosquitos is a Mosquito Magnet. We have two in our yard and it really does work.

 

[afbatts]

The only thing that has ever worked for me for mosquitos is a Mosquito Magnet. We have two in our yard and it really does work.

How long does the propane tank last? Do you run it all the time or just at night? Thanks

 

[bmoreswim]

we live in the Country in South Central Louisiana. we dont spray anything in our yard for mosquitos because of pets, we like to walk barefoot etc... We use something called Mosquito Eradicator. It works extremely well and you hang them around the property. They have how to's, as far as where to hang them. I can say that they work extremely well. We only had mosquitos once this season that were bad and it was right after the hurricane passed and i am guessing the wind blew them from far away. After 2-3 days they were under control again. They last about 90 days but i change mine out every 75 days during the summer. just important to get on top of them in the spring before they get bad. Spartan Mosquito Eradicator - Order Today!

Interesting product. Thanks for the introduction to it. I may invest for next year.

 

[Newdude]

We had lots of mosquitoes for years. The usual fixes helped some but never got rid of all of them. A neighbor got citrinella plants because she liked the smell and put them around her front deck. A month later she reported that not just mosquitoes but all her bugs were gone. So we got 2 ourselves and put one on each side of the corner where we hang out at the pool. Not one flying insect of any kind since.

Citrinella candles are well known not to work well. Maybe they use the scent and it’s actually the plant oils that repel. I dunno but this was our second year big free and will buy a few every year from now on. You can bring them in the house for the winter in a colder climate if you don’t want to replace them every year

 

[mguzzy]

We had lots of mosquitoes for years. The usual fixes helped some but never got rid of all of them. A neighbor got citrinella plants because she liked the smell and put them around her front deck. A month later she reported that not just mosquitoes but all her bugs were gone. So we got 2 ourselves and put one on each side of the corner where we hang out at the pool. Not one flying insect of any kind since.

Citrinella candles are well known not to work well. Maybe they use the scent and it’s actually the plant oils that repel. I dunno but this was our second year big free and will buy a few every year from now on. You can bring them in the house for the winter in a colder climate if you don’t want to replace them every year

The cheap citronella candles are just that, scented. You have to get the ones made with actual citronella oil. Or make your own.

 

[Katodude]

A propane tank lasts about three weeks. You need to run the system 24/7, and replace the tank ASAP. Also the addition chemical attractants you add help a lot.

We have them actually tied to our main underground propane tank so we don’t need to mess with portable tanks. That is also cheaper since the big tank refills are 1/3 the cost. We have half an acre but we run two of them for overkill. We HATE mosquitoes.

We have tried a lot of other solutions but this has worked the best for us. The science behind it is pretty solid.

Every couple of months when I clean out the traps there are hundreds of dead mosquitoes in there.

 

[markayash]

A propane tank lasts about three weeks. You need to run the system 24/7, and replace the tank ASAP. Also the addition chemical attractants you add help a lot.

We have them actually tied to our main underground propane tank so we don’t need to mess with portable tanks. That is also cheaper since the big tank refills are 1/3 the cost. We have half an acre but we run two of them for overkill. We HATE mosquitoes.

We have tried a lot of other solutions but this has worked the best for us. The science behind it is pretty solid.

Every couple of months when I clean out the traps there are hundreds of dead mosquitoes in there.

Anyone have any real knowledge about the safety of various common mosquito control products that inadvertently enter your pool?

For example, we use a large commercial pest control company to spray the yard monthly with a backpack sprayer. I’m sure residue flies into the pool. I have blind assumption this is safe because “they are pros” and all that.?

I recently bought a thermal fogger with black flag mosquito fogger which makes quite a cloud of poison in my yard and works ok as a short term skeeter controller. Chemicals in it are “Pyrethrins” and supposedly safe around pools.

To up your thermal fogger game, some use 36% permethrin supplement to fogger solution to give residual effect of a few days. In lower dose this is considered safe for clothing when dried, but anyone know when it falls into the pool what happens?

Another notch up is Nylar or pyriproxyfen which can be added that inhibits mosquito eggs and adds weekslong coverage to your fog arsenal. Anyone know of safety?

Again, none of this is directed at the pool directly, but the fog gets everywhere and small amounts (likely minuscule after wind distribution and thermal heating) wind up in the pool. I imagine sunlight and chlorine oxidize and break it down some. But still, what is general consensus about safety?

Thanks, ar

I bought some of these back in Feb and an very happy, was going to post about them and found this thread,,We usually get eat up this time of the year especially after all the rain but not this year.
My only issue is finding a place to hang them, had one get knocked off the fence and spill but bought 2 more

 

[StunningStanley]

I bought some of these back in Feb and an very happy, was going to post about them and found this thread,,We usually get eat up this time of the year especially after all the rain but not this year.
My only issue is finding a place to hang them, had one get knocked off the fence and spill but bought 2 more

Hey. So, any updates? I tested everything mentioned above and I could say that Pyrethrins are indeed safe (can't say the same about permethrin though). Citronella and thermacells are pretty good, though you'll need plenty of those if you have a big area to cover. I would also recommend this solution because it can cover bigger areas attracting and destroying various insects.

 

[markayash]

Hey. So, any updates? I tested everything mentioned above and I could say that Pyrethrins are indeed safe (can't say the same about permethrin though). Citronella and thermacells are pretty good, though you'll need plenty of those if you have a big area to cover. I would also recommend this solution because it can cover bigger areas attracting and destroying various insects.

I learned you have to replace them after 60 to 90 days or the water gets nasty and becomes a breading ground. Also have to put out in early spring, I am going to try them again this year.