How To Keep Wasps Out

[BENTE]

ok i have a pal that lives in florida. he tells me they get wasps in the vents of their refrigerator, and their hot water heater.. he does not own a forrest river camper so i told him i would come ask ya'll..

so if any of you have a suggestion please let me know....

[TulsaSteve]

Dang.. I read the subject and I was hoping you were going to tell us how to keep wasps out!

Wish I knew.. I get them in my chimney at home every year... One year I went into the attic to spray.. The spray got on the rafters, made them slick as ice and I ended up with one foot in an upstairs bathroom.

DOH!

[dimurrrw]

Flying Insect Screens - Product - Camping World
http://www.camco.net/Menu.cfm?SupCat...CategoryId=270

[EdJunior]

I just used some window screen in my old Skamper. Got to get "a round tuit" on the new 5er. All the flying buggers are getting pretty bad around here.

[grhodes50]

Here's a link for what your friend might be looking for.
RVWholesalers.com RV Parts and Accessories*,*Results for screens

I bought mine at my dealership.

[Acara]

Method "A" ...

Buy a Hartz Flea collar.
Cut collar in half
Put half in the heater vent & the other half in the fridge vent
Replace semi-annually


Method "B"

Go and buy a roll of expanded metal "gutter guard". Comes in 6" x 20" or 50' lineal foot rolls. Don't use the plastic version (at least not on the heater vent. The actual spec is called 1/4 #18 or 1/4" #20 (1/4" swd (short way of diamond), 18 gauge sheet) G60 galvanized or aluminum.

You have four basic entry points for Wasp (a.k.a. Mud-daubers(sp?) if your from up North ....at least thats what my wonderful & lovely yankee wife calls them). Range/stove vent, furnace vent, fridge vent, heater vent....
. Range/stove vent and furnace vent are most likely the culprit if you have wasp inside your unit.

Measure for your particular units .... but most post 2005 units are as follows (material cuts with household scissors);

Stove discharge vent is 4-1/2" (h) x 11" (L) .. I usually take the full 6" roll width and fold it pback on itself at the 4-1/2" mark with a 60-degree return bend (the return bend makes it stay in the vent cover easier).

Rear heater vent is 5" (H) x 7"(W)
(you will need three trash bag twist ties, cut-in half, to install. Strip the plastic off the wire ties to expose the metal (eliminates melted plastic fire hazard). Open the vent cover and attach the gutter guard ppieces from the inside using the trash bag ties.

Fridge vents; Remove the cover. The slat openings are actually horizontal ... so cut the expanded metal gutter guard to length and form the gutter guard over the openings from the inside & then Duct/HP tape the guards in place from the edges. Hospital-edge the rounded corners on the ends of the slat & tape over to seal.

Furnace vents; cut 3" OD circles and cut 4 more trash bag ties in half & strip the plasti for fastening. These covers will mount externally with the trash bag ties.

If this is too much of a DIY,, you can also buy pre-made mesh covers for he penetrations and vents ...... but the methods mentioned above will cost you about $6.00-$8.00 either way, and take under an hour to make/install.

As an alternate to the expanded metal, you can also use the galvanized "hardware cloth" that they sell in any DIY store (spec is 1/4 X 1/4 A 23 GA, gaw ... but most stores sell it as 1/4", .025 welded, galvanized after, or "utility" cloth).Personally I find the expanded metal diamond pattern easier to work with & you dont have to worry about lining up squares to reduce the opening.

[Acara]

Careful on the insect screen. The uncoated aluminum or bronze are fine ...but the epoxy coated or fiberglass insect screens aren't rated for the exaust temps of the furnace or heater discharge vents.
Also you've got a significant difference in openings ( % open area) on that insect screen, so the air flow and heat dissipation rate are going to be affected.

The OEM punched vents are typically 1/4" or 1/2" square lattice patterns, which have greater than 50% open area and much higher VFR than insect screen (.045" x .055" rectangular openings).

[BENTE]

wow those are alot of good ideas i just told him to use steel wool but your ideas are better than mine



thanks alot

[Acara]

The steel wool (and other things) may work as a physical barrier, but unfortunately you will probably affect the VFR (volumetric flow rate) of the discharge and backpressure the vent.

Typicallly it's only a 12v motor and a "cheap-as-they-could-make-it" plastic fan blade in most cases ..... so they dont generate a lot discharge pressure.

Nice thing about the gutter guard is that you can use the rest of the roll to put a guard are your roof discharge vents (exact height of the bracket and stack) and you can also make covers for your stabilizer jacks and spare tie mounting arm (the other places that the mud wasp love to make thier nest in Florida).

[BENTE]

he said they only make a nest when it is in storage i told him to use the steel wool until he goes out in it.. then to make sure he takes it out


thanks for the imput and for replying

[Acara]

Originally Posted by BENTE

he said they only make a nest when it is in storage i told him to use the steel wool until he goes out in it.. then to make sure he takes it out


thanks for the imput and for replying

I pulled seven wasp nest, all in excess of 6" in diameter out of my vents 4 weeks ago while doing maintenance on my TT before our 2 week vacation.

Not good for someone who has a wife who is deadly allergic to wasp/bee stings and has to carry an EPI-Pen whe we go out camping..

"Necessity is the mother of invention" applies here

[MikeInColo]

I have problems with wasps but oddly enough, they only seem to want to build nests in my furnace intake/exhaust. I usually have a cover over the RV when not in use but I cannot believe how fast they can start building a nest (if I have the cover off for a couple days prior to a trip-watch out!).

I solved my problem by cutting a piece of cardboard and punching holes in it for a couple of the screws that hold the metal finish piece for the furnace intake/exhaust and fixing it over the vents.

Seems to work and it only takes a few minutes. It is also pretty obvious so I won't forget to remove it before we leave (don't want to look like a doofus driving down the road with the cardboard attached).

[fixer58]

Originally Posted by BENTE

ok i have a pal that lives in florida. he tells me they get wasps in the vents of their refrigerator, and their hot water heater.. he does not own a forrest river camper so i told him i would come ask ya'll..

so if any of you have a suggestion please let me know....

You most asuredly would not want to anything that blocks airflow.


Here is a company that sells the water heater screen.

They have the thin screens that cover the openings forn the refer vent on the lower opening on the bottom behind the back of the refer. but they don't have it on-line. Their number is 1-866-636-2267 they are also a Rockwood dealer.

For thr opening on the top of the camper use window screen

Fix

[BENTE]

thanks to all of you who answered. i sent him all of your ideas. he said if he knew there were this many nice people over here at this forum he would have considered the forrest river products a little more..

thanks again

[2Susan]

We found two wasps inside flying around while we were driving - the children belted into their carseats started screaming because the wasps were buzzing their heads. So I am watching this thread closely. I'd hate to think that our weekend adventure brought home more than memories.

I'm sure there are many different varieties of wasps. Around here the trick is to inflate a paper bag, the opening tied with string and then hang it from a roof over hang, tree branch etc. The stores sell something similar. The idea is that the wasps see an existing nest and go elsewhere. So, will it work in all situations - probably not - but I think it falls into the can't hurt, might help, and doesn't really cost anything department.

I also have several traps. 2 are glass reusable, 2 are plastic (home depot). The plastic ones came with a phermone attractant, both need water added and something that will rot (like a scrap of lunch meat) to attract the wasps. They fly in and can't get out. The traps made a serious dent in the population. We went from not being able to eat outside they were so thick to only seeing one occasionally.

So while preventing entry into the RV is a good idea, I think supplementing it with reducing the wasp population is also good.

[BENTE]

the whole paper bag thing is interesting.. i will pass all of your info on


thanks

[2Susan]

another trick is to use a dryer sheet. Supposedly wasps don't like the odor and tucking one in your pocket will keep wasps and mosquitoes away. Frankly I file this in the highly unlikely to work catagory simply because if it did, folks would snap out a few Bounce sheets and all those companies that make stuff for wasps would be out of business overnight. On the otherhand I suppose it also falls into the "can't hurt, might help, and doesn't really cost anything" catagory so perhaps it's worth a try?

[kappel15]

i just cut some screen material to fit the frig cover, and cut slits, and use clothes pins to hold in place tightly. did the same for the furnace vent. on the hot water heater, i cut a pc to fit, and stuck it on the inside. when we are going to go camping, i take them off.

[52Dodgeman]

While ours is in storage we plug the refer vents with plastic bags. We do the same for the ends of the awnings to keep the birds from nesting in there. All other vent openings are covered with mesh.

[The_Stuff]

lol or like mine all i have for outside exposure is the AC and furnace lol