Drain flies are common across the globe and go by many names, including sewer gnats, filter flies, moth flies, or bath flies. They’re the tiny bugs that seem to congregate around your bathroom sink, your shower, and even your kitchen sink. While they don’t cause damage, they’re a big nuisance and are often a sign that you have a clogged drain.
At Spencer Home Services, our professional plumbers provide expert-level pipe and drain cleaning services to remove debris that attracts pests. We’re genuinely dedicated to helping our community feel comfortable in their homes, and that includes enjoying your kitchen and bathroom spaces without fear of encountering insects in your drains. Call us to schedule a professional drain cleaning, and then relax, knowing your problem will be taken care of by knowledgeable local plumbers.
Need to know how to get rid of drain flies? Learn more about DIY solutions and our Burlington plumbing services.
What Are Drain Flies and Why Do They Show Up?
There are different types of drain flies. Some may look like tiny moths, while others may appear similar to fruit flies. These insects are nocturnal, so you’ll typically see them at night. They’re not dangerous, but they’re an annoyance, living inside Boston-area plumbing drains and household sewage systems.
So what causes drain flies? Drains and plumbing systems offer these bugs the winning combination of a dark, damp environment and a reliable food source. Their larvae thrive in damp, aquatic, or sludge-based habitats, and they eat bacteria and other rotting organic material. The adults will lay their eggs in drain clogs and debris. This makes a clogged shower drain or kitchen sink an ideal habitat for them to live in.
How To Tell If Drain Flies Are Living in Your Pipes
When you have a drain fly infestation, you’ll notice signs like:
- Multiple small, often fuzzy-looking, flies are around your sink, bathtub, or floor drain.
- Larvae that appear similar to grains of rice near drain openings.
- A bad, musty odor caused by clogged drains.
Try shining a flashlight down the drain to check for larvae. Unsure where they’re coming from? You can try covering the drain with plastic wrap or placing a fly trap over it overnight. You’ll know by the next morning whether you have an infestation.
DIY Ways To Get Rid of Drain Flies
Want to learn how to get rid of sink flies on your own? There are a few DIY tricks to remove drain flies from your home that you can try before contacting your local Massachusetts plumber. These include:
- Scrub the areas surrounding your drains, sinks, and pipes with a stiff brush to eliminate any organic material.
- Rinse the drains with boiling water.
- Use a mixture of baking soda and vinegar to sterilize the affected areas.
- Make sure there’s no standing water in or around your house.
- There’s some evidence that drain flies do not like certain essential oils, like mint and eucalyptus, which may act as a natural repellent.
The more you can eliminate water and food sources for drain flies, the less likely they are to survive. They’ll move on to a new space with more decaying material to feed on.
When DIY Isn’t Enough: Why You Need Professional Drain Cleaning
If you’ve tried to eliminate drain flies on your own but they just keep coming back, it’s time to call the professionals. Drain cleaning is an important service our plumbers at Spencer offer, helping homeowners like you resolve issues like slow drains, foul odors, sewer backups, and pest problems.
If you have drain clogs, we can clear them fast, often within a few hours. Professional drain cleaning gets the job done correctly the first time. We’ll get rid of the drain flies for good in a single afternoon appointment, so you don’t have to share your living space with them anymore.
Once we’re done, we’ll provide a thorough drain inspection to make sure the blockages (and the flies) are gone, then clean the drain grates and openings so you can enjoy your newly cleaned drains right away.
Benefits of Professional Hydro Jetting vs. DIY Cleaning
While DIY cleaning is often a good start, you also risk damaging your plumbing system. Some common mistakes homeowners make when trying to get rid of a clog are:
- Using harsh chemical cleaners, which can corrode the pipes.
- Using snakes or other tools too forcefully, leading to damage.
- Using the wrong tools.
Not only do you risk damaging your property, but with the wrong chemicals or techniques, you could seriously injure yourself.
Calling Spencer Home Services for professional hydro jetting is the best way to clear your plumbing of clogs, sludge, and organic waste. It’s basically a plumbing-safe power washing service that uses a strong stream of high-pressure water to clean the system out and remove blockages.
How To Prevent Drain Flies From Coming Back
The best way to prevent another infestation is to schedule regular plumbing maintenance. This way, you’ll know for sure that all organic buildup stays removed, your drains are clean, and there’s nowhere for drain flies to live.
On a weekly or biweekly basis, you can also clean your drains regularly with a brush and plumbing-safe cleaners, cover unused drains to prevent flies from getting in, dispose of all waste properly, and fix any leaks in or around your sinks, showers, and floors.
Contact Spencer for All Your Burlington-Area Plumbing Needs
Contact Spencer Home Services today for reliable home services. We deliver same-day service, plumbing repairs, installations, tree root removals, leak detection, water heater services, and more.
Whatever your plumbing needs in the North Shore Region, count on us for quality long-term solutions. Our plumbers never take shortcuts. We offer decades of experience, licensed plumbers, and industry-leading warranties that help us deliver the best customer service possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
What instantly eliminates drain flies?
The most effective way to get rid of drain flies entirely is a professional hydrojetting appointment. This will remove their habitat, their food source, and their eggs and larvae, all at once. As long as the area remains clean, the flies won’t return.
Are drain flies harmful?
Drain flies aren’t usually harmful to humans. They don’t carry diseases that affect us, but in rare cases, they can cause myiasis by laying eggs inside an open wound. They may also transmit bacteria and sometimes aggravate asthmatic conditions.
Why do drain flies keep coming back?
Pests like drain flies will return as long as there’s a source of decaying matter, where they breed, eat, and live. If you don’t completely remove the sludge inside your pipes, like hair, soap, food waste, and grease, drain flies will move back in. Schedule a professional drain cleaning to get rid of them for good.
How often should drains be cleaned?
At Spencer, we recommend you have your drains professionally cleaned and inspected at least once a year. This way, you’ll avoid the harmful buildup that’ll attract drain flies and stop serious plumbing problems from occurring through early detection.
