The Simple Trick To Stop Pesky Gnats From Taking Over Your Drains

Gnats are frequent chart toppers on the most-annoying-pest list. Once you spot one, a dozen or more will soon be swooping about your kitchen, jumping from fruit to fruit and setting up shop around your drains. There are several options for ridding your home of these unwanted guests, and one that's been making the rounds on TikTok involves just two items: water and bleach.

Gnats thrive in damp areas, and they are especially fond of ones that include food and other waste scraps. Your kitchen sink, clearly, fits both of those criteria. You can't do much about the dampness, but you can prevent the build up of food by scraping large remnants into the trash or compost pile. All oils should stay far away from drains, as well as starchy liquids and powders. But if you notice gnats in your own home, here's how you can quickly get rid of them.

A viral video from TikTok user BigMamaCooks_ says that dealing with gnats begins with boiling a big pot of water. Once the water is boiling, pour half a cup of bleach down the drain followed by half of the hot water. You'll then repeat this step with another half cup of bleach and the rest of the boiling water in the pot. You can use this easy hack as often as needed — BigMamaCooks_ does it once a week in the summer.

Now, before you grab your bottle of Clorox and turn up the stove dial, it is important to know the precautions for handling bleach. It's a strong, corrosive chemical that can cause irritation and even burns if the exposure is great enough. When using the drain cleaning method mentioned above, you'll want to open any windows in the area and possibly wear a mask. You likely won't get the bleach on you since it's going down the drain, but you could inhale toxic fumes once the hot water is added. It's also be a good idea to run tap water to thoroughly rinse any leftover bleach from the pipe.

Bleach will certainly take out any gnats or eggs inside the pipe, but its use may not be suitable for every house. Bleach should stay out of drains that lead to a septic system or those that are made of older lead or plastic. The chemical can corrode those systems and pipes and, in the worst cases, it could cause a burst.

Instead, you can try pouring only the boiling water down the drain. The heat from it will still be enough to kill off the gnats' eggs and wash out most bacteria. If you want to add another layer of bacteria killer, reach for the white vinegar. Simply pour a cup of it down the drain once the boiling water has passed through. Hydrogen peroxide is a simple solution on its own, too, though it could take more than one application of it. Just pour a half cup of it down the drain each day until you notice the gnats are no more.

There's also the option of mixing up your own gentler solution using salt, baking soda, and white vinegar. Combine a half cup each of the salt and baking soda with one cup of the vinegar. Plan to pour it down the drain just before you go to bed so that it can sit overnight. The next morning, boil a pot of water and pour as slowly as the hot steam will let you.