Works well - at times...
Written: Jul 05 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Works well when it works
Cons: Fan plugs up easily, weak fan, lots of time spent cleaning the fan
The Bottom Line: Undecided - TBD
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| ssslider's Full Review: SkeeterVac |
I bought the SV-35 SkeeterVac about 2 months ago to help reduce the mosquito population around our house. We live on a 43 acre treed lot with a quite a few low lying damp regions not too far from the 3 acre yard, include two small swamps (about 1/3 of a mile away).
At first the SkeeterVac just didn't seem to attract any mosquitoes. The mosquitoes were still swarming and aggressively biting us; they just weren’t interested in the SV-35 (so much so it almost seemed to repel them at first). I moved it around to different areas and caught maybe 10 mosquitoes in the catch area and maybe 100 on the tack paper during the first 2 weeks. The SkeeterVac did seem to slowly attract more and more mosquitoes during the second week (swarming around it). The 3/4 full (at first) propane tank ran out then too. Most other reviews state the catch area fills up before the tack paper so I started to suspect my fan wasn't working very well.
During the second tank it worked a little better, catching 100's in the catch area and completely covering the tack paper. Again the tack area captured most of the mosquitoes. I didn't get around to filling the tank for a couple of weeks (and was thinking of trying to return the unit).
I don't know what changed, but the third tank of propane has been insane for attracting mosquitoes. During the first 24 hours the fan plugged up solid and the catch area was filled more than I had ever seen before (~1/2 full).
After spending an hour or so cleaning it properly, including changing the tack paper again, I put it back into action. 24 hours later it plugged again with the catch area filled completely this time. Unfortunately the tack paper also was completely covered - all within 24 hours. This was the only time the unit really seemed to work well.
This has now been going on for 2 weeks (fan plugging up daily) and unfortunately the catch has been rapidly declining, yet the plugging up has been getting worse and worse. At the same time the tack paper has been filling up much faster (it is 90%+ covered if I change it the day before). Also the fan is hardly blowing any more and spins at a slow rate.
There is now some plastic melting and dripping into the catch area and at the best of times the fan isn't working well enough to really blow the bugs into the catch area. I tried cleaning the fan area extra well and blew compressed air through the unit to clean out all of the bugs. Still the fan doesn't seem capable of blowing hardly any air.
Last night I cleaned it around 6:00 PM; by 10:00 PM the fan was plugged up with mosquitoes again. I cleaned it around 11:00 PM and by 7:30 AM it was plugged up with mosquitoes again. The catch area was almost empty both times.
The good news is SkeeterVac customer service seems fantastic. I just called them and they are sending out a new "engine". Hopefully this new one will have a little more airflow and won't plug up as often.
I haven’t given up on the unit yet. After seeing the potential that one night when it worked properly I’ll give it some more time when the new "engine" arrives.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
ssslider
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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