Drain flies in your shower can be extremely annoying. While they’re completely harmless, you still don’t want to see them sitting on your walls all the time. So you may be wondering how to get rid of drain flies in your shower. Thankfully, in this article, you’ll learn why drain flies are in your shower, how to get rid of them, and most importantly, how to prevent them from coming back!
So keep reading to find out everything you want to know about how to deal with drain flies in your shower!
Why Are Drain Flies In Your Shower?
If you notice drain flies in your shower, then there are three main reasons. They favor areas that are moist, damp, and have a good food source. As you can imagine, there are areas in and around your shower that are going to provide all three for drain flies. As well as their larvae and eggs!
You may think that there’s no food for the drain flies to eat; however, they love to eat everything we find gross. For example, certain shampoos and shower gels, natural oils, soap, scum, human hair, and detritus are all excellent food sources for drain flies and their larvae.
On top of this, it’s not uncommon for drain worms to enter your home via the sewer system, where they’ll begin to pupate and eventually hatch.
Some common places you can expect to find drain flies thriving are:
Under Loose Tiling
You may not think anything is going to be able to fit under the loose tiles in your shower, but you’d be surprised. Drain flies can fit into tiny spaces, and once there, if the conditions are right, they’ll begin laying eggs and breeding. And before you know it, drain flies will be filling your bathroom constantly.
A Leaky Shower Pan
Another area drain flies maybe live in is underneath leaky shower pans. If water is constantly dripping under your shower pan, then it’s going to create the PERFECT conditions for drain flies to live and breed.
In fact, even if there aren’t drain flies living under your shower pan yet, you should still get the issues fixed as quickly as possible, as it will only be a matter of time before they end up there.
The Shower Drain
You can often find drain flies in your shower drain as well. If you don’t thoroughly clean your shower’s drain, then all manner of grime and muck can end up down there. This, combined with the dark, cool, moist atmosphere again, creates the perfect breeding ground for drain flies.
Other Areas Of Your Home
Lastly, drain flies may actually be coming from other areas of your home. For example, there are plenty of places in a toilet where drain flies will happily make their home. As well as the toilet, they may also be coming from the bathroom sink as well. In fact, there are SO many places that drain flies may be coming from.
You should check out this article to find out all the things that might be attracting drain flies to your home!
How To Get Rid Of Drain Flies In Your Shower
The good news is, if you have drain flies in your shower, in most cases, they’re not going to be too difficult to get rid of. In fact, here are some of the most common ways to remove drain flies from your shower.
Boiling Water
The easiest thing to do is pour boiling hot water down your drain; however, this is only going to work if the infestation isn’t too severe. Boiling water will kill any drain flies that it comes into contact with. However, it’s not uncommon for the eggs to survive boiling water.
So if you think boiling water won’t be enough, then you should move on to the following.
Use A Pipe Brush
You can also use a pipe brush to help dislodge all the eggs and muck down your shower drain. Just make sure after using the pipe brush, you sanitize it properly. The last thing you need is the eggs sticking to the pipe brush and then hatching somewhere else in your home.
Vinegar And Baking Soda
Vinegar and baking soda are one of the best natural ways to get rid of drain flies and make sure they don’t come back.
To use vinegar and baking soda, pour half a cup of vinegar down your drain. Once you’ve done this, pour half a cup of vinegar down there as well. The two will then react to each other and begin to bubble up. Any larvae or drain flies that come into contact with this reaction will then perish.
You should leave the mixture overnight to ensure it does what it’s fully intended to do. Then in the morning, pour boiling water down the drain to clean them through.
Try Drano
If you’re looking for something even more powerful, then you should definitely try using Drano. It’s one of the most effective ways of getting rid of drain flies, larvae, and eggs; however, caution should also be taken when using it.
One of the main ingredients in Drano is lye, so as you can imagine, it’s extremely effective at completely eradicating. However, lye is so powerful it can also cause damage to older pipes and all pipes if it’s left to sit for too long.
So if you plan on using Drano, ideally, it should be flushed from the pipes after 15 minutes. Or in the most severe infestations 30.
Enzyme Cleaners
Enzym cleaners are generally considered the most effective way to remove drain flies. Not only are they extremely powerful, but they’re also better for the pipes in your home as they’re not going to cause damage.
When you apply an enzyme cleaner to the areas the drain flies are living, it will remove their food source as well as any eggs too. This means the drain flies will be unable to eat or breed, so they’ll either die or find a new location.
And if you’re making sure to keep all the areas in your house clean, drain flies will have no choice but to leave.
When you’re using Enzyme Cleaners, you don’t need anything too fancy. In fact, even Amazon’s own Enzyme Cleaner is effective!
Call A Professional
In the most severe cases, you may need to call a professional to get rid of all the drain flies in your home. This is most likely going to be the case when drain flies aren’t just in your shower, but you notice them everywhere. Or times when no matter what you do they keep coming back!
How To Get Rid Of Drain Flies Around Your Shower
The problem with drain flies is they don’t just stay in one place. In fact, you’re likely to notice them flying around everywhere. So it’s important to make sure you’re not just removing them from your shower but also anytime you see them around your home. So you should try:
Killling Them On Sight
The easiest method is to just kill drain flies whenever you see them. You just need to give them a whack and then clean up afterward. However, if you don’t like the idea of that, you can also try:
Apple Cider Vinegar Trap
An apple cider vinegar trap is another great way to kill drain flies and one in which you won’t have to worry about getting your hands dirty.
To make an apple cider vinegar trap, pour apple cider into a small tub and then wrap the top with plastic wrap. Then poke a few little holes into the plastic wrap. Then place it in areas the drain flies are most scene.
Once set up, the apple cider vinegar will attract the drain flies, and they’ll crawl through the holes to get to it. However, once in, they won’t be able to get back out again. Eventually, they’ll get tired and then drop right into the apple cider vinegar.
Then all you have to do is chuck the vinegar away and create a new trap.
How To Prevent Drain Flies From Coming Back?
Now you know how to get rid of drain flies; you’re going to want to make sure they don’t come back. Fortunately, making sure they don’t come back is a lot easier. You’ll just need to make your home so unappetizing to them so that they won’t want to live there.
To do this, you should remove any standing water that builds up in your home. You should also frequently wash and flush any drain, making sure any buildup of muck is being removed.
As you can see, a lot of prevention is just keeping the forgotten areas of your home clean enough to prevent drain flies from coming back.
You should also look around your property for any areas drain flies may be living in secret as well. Here’s a great list of places to look when drain flies aren’t coming from your drain.
Recap
As you can see, removing drain flies from your shower doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, in most cases, it can be as simple as pouring Drano down the pipe and removing any visible adults. However, in more severe cases, you may need to use a couple of the methods recommended above.
And if you liked this article, make sure you check out the rest of the website. Otherwise, have a great day!
