Automatic Insect Control Misting Systems

16 years ago

Have not found anything in the forum so I decided to post some ideas. Our build is complete so installation as part of new construction is not an option for us. I have learned, however, that the misting system tubing can be "pre-wired" with plastic boxes in the eaves before the roof and fascia are installed. Cover plates similar to cable TV are attached and the tubing lays in the rafters. Tubing is relatively cheap and you can install boxes yourself if you are runing low on money.

If you are past this point in construction, there may be an alternative for you. As I began to investigate the various systems, I noticed that most "retrofit" tubing is attached to the soffit (underside) thus leaving the tubing exposed. That look reminded me of the way in which cable TV is often installed in older homes; functional but not the cleanest look. In the process of thinking about the system, I noticed that our framers (for unknown reasons) ut a 1x2 strip on top of the 1x6 fascia all around the house. The guttering screws go through the 1x2 and the 1x6 with 3 inch screws, thus leaving a 3/4 inch gap between the backside of the gutter and the fascia. This space is is a perfect place to locate the tubing. The tubing clamps screw into the bottom "edge" of the 1x2 and the slimline style nozzles "wrap" the buttom of the gutter for a clean look. It is necessary to allow the T nozzle to swag down a little so the the nozzle clears the bottom of the gutter.

Even if you do not want to install an insect misting system as part of the new construction, put this item on your "planning" list because you may want to add it at a later date.

Most automatic misting systems use a 55 gallon barrel that you fill with a hose, but a new, smaller system now connects directly to the outdoor faucet and adds the insecticide to the water as it opertes. I don't know much about it but you may want to also plan your outdoor faucets if you are interested in that style.

Input from anyone with experience on these systems would be appreciated.

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pattiem93

16 years ago

Our in-the-wall system was in the house we purchased before we found it (the house was half-built when the original "owner" lost his job and backed out of the deal. Apparently, it's a standard feature in the homes by our builder. I have to say, we really like it as we have kids and pets and we love the idea of no baiting or digging or spraying. So far-no signs of any unwanted pests. The company comes quarterly (every 3 months) and plugs in outside the side of the house. Cost per treatment is 75 dollars. This includes treatment of all exterior areas of the house also. We live in North Carolina

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Comments (20)

pattiem93
16 years ago
We have a system like this

Here is a link that might be useful: Taexx
worthy
16 years ago
Fascinating. Where do you live that such systems are considered?
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troykd, It sounds as if you have the controller. I suspect that it is low voltage, like 24VAC. You need to add a thermostat to your system. You can either add it before the controller or after. If you add it before the controller, you may be able to use a 120VAC prewired thermostat: http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/controls.shtml But your controller will have no power whenever it is cool and the thermostat has the system off. This might cause you to lose settings or run down the battery backup. Adding the thermostat after the controller is trickier if you have a low voltage system. One option will be to find a low voltage thermostat. I'm sure they are out there somewhere, but I cannot recall seeing one. Otherwise, you will have to use a relay. The 120VAC thermostat will energize a relay when over a certain temp, and the controller 24VAC signal will be conducted through relay and on to the valves. These relays are widely available at electrical supply stores. Be sure to enclose all of this in a protected box to prevent a mishap. Hope that helps.
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Mist systems don't have to be expensive: $300 bucks makes a 450 square foot mist yard. 1. DIG interval timer & valve. About $100. 2. 6 fence posts. About 20 bucks. 3. 10 stud length 2x4's. About 20 bucks 4. 7 16 foot 2x4's. About 30 bucks. 5. 200 feet of 75 psi rated 1/2" water line. About $40. 6. 240 low pressure misting jets (About $100 -- leevalley.com. I'm sure there is a cheaper source. They are antelco jets, rebagged.) The posts and 2x4's are used to make a simple 16' x 16 foot to 16 x 30 foot trellis. Plant the posts. Screw a 2x4 to the side of the post with a 2' overlap. Screw a second one to the side opposite. Screw the top end to a 16' 2x4. The long 2x4 should be between. Use a single screw until you get the other end up too. At this point you have 3 pi shaped supports in a row, about 15 feet apart. 4 16' 2x4s cross these. These brace the pi trellises from bowing toward each otehr form the tension in the pipe later. Snake the tubing back and forth on the trellis. Cut scrap wood with a notch that the pipe fits tightly in, and screw these to the trellis over the pipe to keep it still. Or pipe hanging tape. Or those copper saddles uses to secure copper water pipe. The pipes should be about 3 feet apart. So if you make a 16 x 30, you will need 6 x 30 feet of pipe, plus manifold pipe and connection to timer. Experiment with a jet to get a handle on the spread, but I think you want them about 18" apart. (Depends on water pressure, and brand of jet.) You want them on both sides of the pipe, so each pipe will have 40 jets -- adjust according to spray pattern. Antelco claims a 0.8 meter diameter, but normally you put sprinklers at a radius apart to compensate for irregular patterns. Punch and screw in the misting jets. Do a single row on two pipes, facing each other. Lay down some newspapers. Turn the system on. Watch the papers and see if they get wet uniformly. You may have to adjust the spacing which means either 60 more feet of pipe or a hatfull of goof plugs. The rationale behind 3 foot spacing: If you use standard 21x10 plant trays, you have a 15" aisle between rows of trays. This leaves no tray right under the pipes, which drip in use, and drain when the system turns off. You might be able to stretch this to 3 trays side by side the long way. Experiment. . Issues: You may need to make a manifold for the pipes so that it starts and stops reasonably fast. Every nozzle will drip. This concentrates too much water on whatever is directly underneath. Easiest way is to run your aisles under the pipe. The ground gets wet. (Surprise!) This can be messy. Cover the ground with old carpet, fuzz side down. Or do the gravel thing. Misting at the edges is erratic, becuase of breezes. This can be used to harden off cuttings that have gotten a start. You can compensate somewhat by scrounging sheer curtains, and hanging them around the mist yard. locate them so they are wetted by the mist. Breezes passing through them will be humidified. Run fence wire curtain height from the ground to hang the curtains. Staple the bottom edge to scrap lumber to keep it from blowing. Note: This will NOT be successful in strong winds. You are building this in a sheltered location, right? You may want to put sunscreen cloth or lath over the top.
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I have setup something very simple, even I can do this. What you need is a bed with a cover (four corrugated iron sheets and a see through roofing sheet you'll get both for free). Then you need a timer. You take care of the minimum time the timer can do, because not all timers can do times like 10 seconds some start with a minute. The timer works with batteries. At the tap you mount the timer, then either a piece of hose or a black plastic pipe for irrigation into you bed. There are misting valves, which are inexpensive and come in packs of 10. If you do cuttings you buy risers too which are little plastic tubes. All what you do is you push the risers into the polypipe and mount the sprinkler on top of it. Before you do that you get some sticks and thin wire. I place the sticks in the beds were I want the sprinkles and fix the polypipe to it. If the risers are a bit crooked I can fix them to the sticks. This way you can move your sprinklers around a bit. And don't forget and end cap for the polypipe.
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ccoombs1
16 years ago
What a fascinating idea!! I was planning on putting a mixture of boric acid and diatamoaeous earth inside my walls before the sheetrock goes up because I am terrified of the huge monsterous freaking flying cock-roaches that live in the south. they DO get in, and they attack!! I swear...the other day I was sitting on the couch watching TV and I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and saw one of those monsters FLYING RIGHT AT MY FACE!!!!!! It had to have been 10" long!! OK...maybe it was only 3" long. But he was only a few inches away when I spotted him. I had to twist around and scrunch down so he wouldn't land on me and actually pulled a muscle doing so. If I could find a way to make sure they never get in my new house it would be worth a fortune to me. How much is such a system??
grandlaker
Original Author
16 years ago
The system I discussed above is an outdoor insect control system also known as a mosquito misting system. The system is on a timer and activates several times a day to spray a fine mist of non-toxic pyrethrum insecticide. The in-the-wall system is an alternative to having your house sprayed by a pest control company; main advantage is that no access to the interior is needed.
ilmbg
16 years ago
We have used this system in our barn- you can set it up yourself- look in equine, agriculture catalogs. I would imagine the spray is different, as it is for flies and mosquitoes-safe for the horses, but probably not strong enough for Texas bugs! I had not thought of using it for a home!!
worthy
16 years ago
ccoombsl

Dat nuttin mon!

Mi maga wife from JA. She scares de piccannies wid tales of giant red poisonous centipedes be long as ya arm bwoy!

A tru, breden!

(Now I know why I'm never moving further south than Buffalo!)

Here is a link that might be useful: Name that Bug
ccoombs1
16 years ago
OK Worthy....that critter beats flying cock roaches!! Man...who could live in an area where there are 30" long centipedes!! I couldn't look at the Name that Bug link....I saw roach pictures and had to get out of it. Just the sight of a roach makes me feel ill. I am going to look into a in-the-wall sprayer though....cool idea!
davidandkasie
16 years ago
my wife and i want to install one of these systems. you cannot go outside our house at or after dusk. the pyrethrin is safe, but the system also has a temporary bypass feature so tha tif you are having an activity it won't spray and disturb folks.

the down side is the thing will run around 6 grand for the system and then a few hundred more for the chemicals.
grandlaker
Original Author
16 years ago
That was about the price of the estimate I received but I started looking at DIY. My estimate for a 4K sqft, two story house is less that $3K but you are correct that the insecticide is pricy. Estimate is that it will costs between $500-$800 per year, but we may be able to cut down on the monthly cost of pest control inside the house.
User
16 years ago
NO insecticide is "safe". If it kills something, then it's far from safe, it's just being administered at a dosage that won't kill you right then. Long term exposure is quite another matter. As is dealing with the concentrate that creates the mixture. And also there is the environmental impact of indiscriminate and widespread application of poison to beneficial insects rather than specific and limited targeting of certain pests with the least toxic option first.

Pyrethrins are based on natural plant toxins so are marketed as "safe and natural". They are far from it. They're quite deadly, and far more dangerous than many other plain jane man made chemical insecticides. They are deadly to aquatic life and don't belong anywhere in a watershed that feeds into a pond or river.

ANother environmental impact of general mass spraying of insecticides is that insects breed much more rapidly than do humans, and many are evolving resistance to overused pesticides because of this. Mass spraying of insecticides is actually contributing to "super bugs" that traditional pesticides can no longer kill.

I'm no tree hugging alarmist that wants to ban all pesticide use. Pesticide use certainly has it's place. This isn't one of them.
User
16 years ago
Totally agree with live wire oak and am frankly shocked that anyone would install a system that automatically sprayed pesticides around their homes. Like worthy, I wonder where everyone with these systems lives, cuz I sure have never heard of anyone in our area (Northern NY) having one. For the cost of installation and one year's supply of chemicals, you could have a nice screened in porch, a yard that your kids/pets could actually play safely on *and* a lifetime supply of fly swatters.

sandyponder
kelntx
16 years ago
DH is making his own system for the outside of our house. It will go around the foundation and have micro sprays.

I live in Texas but grew up in PA. Those of y'all up north have no idea the bugs down in the south. I swear I see something new every week that I have never seen before. Bugs that give you blisters, spiders that can kill you with one bite, fire ants that are the devil, centipedes that can kill you...I could go on! The scorpions along are enough to make me say sure put one in!! DH killed a centipede the other day that was longer then his hand. I was picking up rocks and a GIANT scorpion came after me! I swear it was coming after me. I picked up the rock and kept hitting it. I told DH it had spots on its back and he said they were the babies....GROSSSSS!

So, I am not one for spraying the crap our of your house and we buy organic but even that is not any safer for us or our dog, but I am on board for this system.
amyks
16 years ago
We live in Maryland, you know, south of the mason dixon line but still considered north to most people. I have to agree with the southern posters that are keen on this system. We don't have the super-sized bugs and creepy crawlies they do. I don't want that type of system in my home, and I could stand on a soapbox and say it's because of my children and future pets, but I swear to God above if I had to deal with some of the things people down south do I would be first in line for this.

Amy
dallasbill
16 years ago
Very well put, live_wire_oak! Anybody with small kids, that thinks pyrethrins -- natural or artificial -- are safe is whistling past the graveyard.

They are a neurotoxin -- that's how they kill. Not to mention that you will also kill every single beneficial around also, thus INCREASING the chances of pests in your yard.
grandlaker
Original Author
16 years ago
While everyone is entitled to their opinion, there is a marked difference between (a) Pyrethrum (natural insecticide made from the flowers of certain species of chrysanthemum) and (b) Permethrin (one type of pyrethroid, a synthetic insecticide whose structure is similar to natural pyrethrum). Natural pyrethrum is a relatively low toxicity insecticide that breaks down quickly when exposed to sunlight and has a low environmental impact. Pyrethroid insecticides are generally more toxic and more environmentally persistent.

For what it is worth, I am tired of spiders and centipedes and mosquitos and dirt dobbers and millipedes and on and on and on, to say nothing of the squirrels that crawl all over our house eating the bugs that are caught in the spider webs. Although chemical companies invented a selective grass killer for use in flower beds, I don't think a similar product has been developed that can distinguish between "good" insects and "bad" insects. With apologies to Will Rogers and the tree huggers, my wife and I never met a spider that we liked. As for the centipedes, big, black 8 inchers crawling in and around your house are a literal nightmare.
ccoombs1
16 years ago
OK...so this system sprays outside the house?? that would never work for me. I have over 13,000 in koi ponds in my back yard and can't risk harming my fish with poisons (Pyrethrums are very toxic to fish). I wouldn't mind a system that keeps a barrier down inside the walls, but I dont want spraying outside the house.
kelntx
16 years ago
The system we intend to put in sprays outside around the foundation. We are not getting the system that is inside the walls. I totally understand the concern that some have with pesticides and believe me I do not have a love for them either. BUT....I do not want a brown recluse spider in my daughters room where she could possibly get a bite and die. One of our masonry workers brothers died about a month ago from a bite. I have been bitten by one and let me tell you, I thought I would die. I do not want a centipede in my coffee pot in the morning, have my friends over and 4 people end up in the hospital and one dies. This happened to a neighbor of ours where we are building.

I try to do the best I can with organic and we do have a dog and I do worry about her and my daughter. Sometimes you do what you have to do on certain things. I wish I could have built totally green and not ever have the need to put out pesticides or eat them on our foods or be able to afford to buy all organic foods. Unfortunately that is not the case, at least with us anyway. Ok, I'm off the soap box now!
pattiem93
16 years ago
I think it's up to each person to do what's right and best for their home and family. Of course, nobody wants to deliberately harm the environment and certainly we all want to keep our children and pets safe. We do the best we can under our own circumstances.
We bought our home with an in-th-wall system in place and have been VERY pleased with it. I will do it again when we build
davidandkasie
16 years ago
until i get teh system, i will just have to continue spraying Malathion around the house every couple weeks. too bad i don't have any diazinon left, since that was the only thing that really kept the mosquitoes at bay. this system is MUCH safer than that!

around here you have 2 choices, spray chemicals to kill the mosquitoes, or die from west nile or any number of other mosquito borne diseases. the city and county constantly spray much harsher chemicals to control them from both trucks and from cropdusters. at least twice a week one or the other passes my house spewiing a cloud of chemicals. if this is not done, we see a huge rise in kids and older adults getting sick from insect bites.

the people who raise such a stink about using pesticides do not live in an area where you cannot go outside for the bugs. my daughter got 38 mosquito bites in LESS THAN 15 MINUTES last month, and this was during the day. the black and white mosquitoes, we call them tiger mosquitoes, are not bothered by direct sunlight and do NOT require stagnant water to breed. they swarm all hours of the day and night. there are over 30 different breeds of mosquito in my area and each one carries a different disease. plus we have ticks, fleas, and all sorts of dangerous spiders and other insects. sure teh system kills the beneficials as well, but so do the other chems used for mosquito control. at least i prefer to use the least harmful EFFECTIVE method.

as for a screened in porch, they will find a way in there as well. when you are dealing with literal clouds of them, they always find a way in with enough nnumbers to be more than just a bother.

Automatic Insect Control Misting Systems

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