Anybody ever have to deal with the little gnats that come out of your sink drain? I need some advice.

If they’re the kind I get, they are drain flies. They look like this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychodidae

We pour boiling water down there, but you could also try pouring a dollop of ammonia down, and cover all the openings to the drain and wait a day or so. They need to breathe, and the fumes will do them in.

@snowberry thanks! I did pour boiling water down the drain once already and I’ll try it again. I don’t have any ammonia on hand but before I spend any money I probably will just call maintenance tomorrow.

Another thing I noticed a little while ago is that when I pour water down the bathroom sink, it is kind of slow to go down, so I’m thinking that probably they need to clean the drain.

I do have the drain thingy closed right now, plus I put a piece of tape over the overflow hole, so hopefully that will keep them out tonight. And I have definitely been able to trap some in my little vinegar traps that I have. I just want to make sure they’re gone for good.

Oh, and I can keep the drains covered, but it’s my only bathroom, so I’ll have to let the water go down when I wash my hands obviously. Fortunately, I don’t see any around my toilet or my shower.

Yes! I tried a few different things and I don’t remember for sure what worked, but I did get rid of them. I think I used foaming Drano. I remember the first and second homemade things I tried didn’t work. One was some recipe of vinegar to catch them. Nothing like that worked.

Once I was rid of them they never came back. It’s been a few years. I have no idea how they got into the house.

@LifeQuestioner Read the details in the link I provided. it says that a clog such as hair can hold them there (icky, but informative, and i think interesting!)

I got ‘em with baking soda, if I recall correctly; probably in tandem with white vinegar.

Online research at the time took me to an exterminator guy who wrote on his website that drain flies were his favorite pests because they were so slow and unwary. Indeed they were so easy to dispatch that it didn’t seem like a fair match.

I got ;em with a 3 quart pot of boiling water poured in quickly so it got all sides of the pipes . I also poured the water into the overflow drain neat the top of the sink. I needed a funnel to do Then I followed it up with a one quart of a bleach chaser I mixed up with 5 parts water to 1 part laundry bleach.
You have to go at it hard so there are no survivors.
I pour that bleach mix into my other drains occasionally just to discourage future infestations even if I don’t see any.

There are many bugs that come out of drains. Our exterminator suggested we could pour some Drain-O down there to kill them. But all these pour-down-the-drain solutions are really only good for killing the bugs in the drain line. Eventually more will come.

@seawulf575 Try the foaming drain stuff. Read the directions. Do it again a couple of weeks later in case there are some eggs hatching. I never had them again, and I think that’s what worked. If you just pour liquid or gel Drano down the sink it doesn’t hit all sides of the pipe.

@JLeslie I understand. But my problem is that no matter what you put down the drain, it won’t kill everything in the septic tank or in the sewer lines beyond your lines. It will kill stuff in your lines, but the little buggers are tenacious and will eventually work their way back up your pipes.

@seawulf575 I never had them previous to my current house, which is on sewer. I just had them about two months out of the seven years here. I didn’t think they came up through the sewer lines; I assumed I brought them in somehow. I lived on septic for 8 years and never had them.

Dain flies happen. You are unlikely to eradicate them, but you can manage them, and that should be the goal.

Also, the link I provided above says that if you continue to battle them, it’s probably due to a clog.

What if you pump the septic and treat the drains and then I would add some extra “good bacteria” to be on the safe side after using the chemicals.

I have never heard of this, but if you seal your drain, be sure to also cover the overflow opening.

@JLeslie we have had some drain flies here, but mostly we get earwigs that our exterminator says come out of the drains as well (since we have a septic tank). But the idea of treating is the same.

@JLeslie and everyone else. I live in an apartment on the second floor, and I don’t think we have a septic tank in the rental community. At least, I’m not sure but I don’t think we do.

Try the chemicals and make sure you use the garbage disposal if it is a kitchen sink. . Garbage disposals are gross inside.

Is it both your kitchen and bathroom?

@JLeslie no, it’s just my bathroom sink.

My husband said never use Drano.
He said clean out your trap under the sink (the curved piece) as thats where the water ‘sits’, a water trap.
Good luck.

If it’s just in one sink then I assume it is not coming from the sewer or septic, but closer to the actual sink.

@KNOWITALL I love drain cleaner. I use the littlest bit once every 6–8 weeks, and it super cleans. It’s like the whole house smells fresher. I put it in a drizzle bottle so I apply the thinnest coating around the drain’s side walls and the rubber thingy that blocks anything spraying up from the garbage disposal. A small bottle of Drano can last me more than a year. I actually use very little chemicals overall. I mostly clean my counters with soap and water, I have a special cloth to clean windows and mirrors with just water.

I once bought bacteria to use to clean pipes, but I don’t have it anymore. I don’t know if it’s just for septic. I never was able to really test it over time.