34theletterbetweenB&D Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 For a couple of months now, my dear wife has complained of occasional ants in the kitchen, and has pointed them out to me. I had been of the opinion that these were most probably introduced on the soft fruit; it is a rare summer day we don't pick some, and it comes into the house via the kitchen naturally enough. But now I suspect differently, because three times in a week I have found one inside the extractor hood, which is connected to an externally vented extraction system, and no part of this system has the soft fruiit bought anywhere near it. They are not on view at the intake or exhaust ends of the inside of the duct to an inspection by torch, and access to more of the duct would be destructive (as in first make large hole in ceiling or lift many floor boards) as it runs in a flame proof trunking in the underfloor void. What to do? Send a 'cloud' of Borax powder into the duct every day until ant non-appearance is achieved? Haven't found any good suggestions via Google... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Smoke? Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 There is no easy answer, a friend who is a Chef had the same problem in a restaurant kitchen, and the only answer is to trace the ants nest outside and clear it out. You can try ant poison around the vent outside, but don't drench the whole thing in chemicals inside. Do not in any way obstruct the vent or cover it with a cloth etc., it may affect the vent, but as it is only an extractor, not connected to a heater system, a fine wire mesh in brass could be fitted with due care to block the ants. Such mesh is available on ebay and from model engineers suppliers as water filters, I cannot see it would affect the flow of air, but would mean one more item to regularly clean, as oil crud might build up on it, although in theory the main filter should do this. Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Must be the phrasing of the search, try......"dealing with invasive ants in kitchen vents" and a legion of ideas come up mainly using "baiting"poison that is taken back to the nest by the ants themselves. Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Nippon Ant powder (if you can find it) is quite effective. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted August 15, 2016 Author Share Posted August 15, 2016 Nippon - Borax - is the very product I always turn to. However a quick trial has demonstrated to me that it won't carry very far into the duct as a powder. The ideal would be to make a borane and let that self ignite in the duct, but sourcing the requisite reagents is now difficult. (I got some of my chemistry tuition from a real rocket scientist, and he went well extra-curricular during the A-level course.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Nippon - Borax - is the very product I always turn to. However a quick trial has demonstrated to me that it won't carry very far into the duct as a powder.... Nippon is also available as a spray. Unfortunately Nippon products are no longer stocked by the chain garden centres such as (Bunnings) Homebase, so you need to visit the smaller "local" ones. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted August 15, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 15, 2016 Nippon ant powder is stocked by some supermarkets. If you can locate the nest there is a foam spray that you can inject into the nest that is supposed to be very effective. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted August 15, 2016 Author Share Posted August 15, 2016 That thar froth might be handy if I can locate the nest. See, frothing can have an upside shipmates... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 That thar froth might be handy if I can locate the nest. See, frothing can have an upside shipmates... We are all expect-ant. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacol Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Waiting in ant-icipation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Don't up the ant-e too far........ Stephen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted August 16, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 16, 2016 Time for a pregn-ant pause? Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted August 16, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 16, 2016 We are all expect-ant. Waiting in ant-icipation. Don't up the ant-e too far........ Stephen Time for a pregn-ant pause? Mike. Certainly time for a GROAN button. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Certainly time for a GROAN button. No need to go all ant-sy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted August 16, 2016 Author Share Posted August 16, 2016 Cured the embugger-ants. After a bit more thought about all possible access routes, the nest was found in the rock wool type insulation of the central heating combustor heat exchanger. Presumably the queen came in via the balanced flue intake, which communicates directly to the interior of the external casing as the first stage in scavenging heat by the intake air, and then found its way into the insulation via the small holes in the fold up sheet metalwork corners in which the insulation is contained. The CH pipe network to and from the heat exchanger then of course goes 'everywhere' in the underfloor space, an ant motorway around the house. There they were doing the Tom and Jerry 'ant chain' bit on the return pipe to the heat exchanger. In some ways I am surprised not to have had this type of trouble at any time previously in the 19 years since this unit went in. There's no access to the insulation for anything much bigger than an ant, but wasps in particular could build a paper nest in the airspace of the casing, provided they have the airspeed to beat the airflow through the intake when the combustor is operating. That, or the wit to wait for when it isn't operating. (The garden has old oak and hornbeam woodland as a perimeter, and I have seen more designs of wasp here than I ever knew existed in the UK. Some of the really petite wood wasps can get through the standard mesh screen in 1950s airbricks and nest in the wall cavity.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Cured the embugger-ants. .... ...so no longer ext-ant. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted August 16, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 16, 2016 All a bit of an Ant-e-climax really..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted August 16, 2016 Author Share Posted August 16, 2016 Not for me. I anticipate a pleasant and beneficiant outcome from this. What a pity that there's nothing expensive and relevant in the model railway sphere calling to me at presant. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 ....presant. Sorry, but you can't claim a bonus point for that one Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted August 16, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 16, 2016 Sorry, but you can't claim a bonus point for that one Come on Ivan, be toler-ant. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 I don't like those that have something against ants. I guess that makes me anti-anti-ant. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted August 16, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 16, 2016 I don't like those that have something against ants. I guess that makes me anti-anti-ant. Are you quite adam-ant about that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted August 16, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 16, 2016 Are you quite adam-ant about that. I ant-icipated that turning up at some stage. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Are you quite adam-ant about that. Ridicule is nothing to be scared of. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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