We have a terrible mosquito problem in our yard, thanks to a nearby pond and a large "gully" behind our house that stays wet. I've been reading about the various mosquito traps for several years; we hadn't bought one because the prices were too high, considering the "iffy" reviews they were getting. Lately, however, the prices have come down and the reviews have gotten a little better. We finally decided to buy the SkeeterVac SV5100 by Blue Rhino.
We bought this machine from Amazon. It arrived during the week of April 18. Although the shipping carton did not seem to be damaged, the plastic cover on the bait compartment was broken. We called Blue Rhino the next day, and they shipped us a new part. It arrived on April 25th. We replaced the part and set the machine up that evening.
It did not have any bait with it, which I thought was odd, but it did have the sticky "Tack Trap" that wraps around the unit. While we were waiting on the replacement part, I'd ordered the standard "octenol" bait and more Tack Traps. They were here by the time the replacement part arrived.
The machine had to be assembled, and we had to buy a propane gas tank. The assembly was easy. We put the bait in and opened the compartment halfway, as a company representative had recommended. The lighting was easy. At first, we were not sure whether the unit was working, as there was no sound. After a few minutes, we heard the fan whirring and saw that the gauge hand had moved up. Having set the machine up, we went out of town for a week, leaving it running.
While we were gone, there were storms, and the weather had turned cool, factors I considered when we returned home to find not one single mosquito in the trap. The Tack Trap on the outside of the machine had a few bugs stuck to it, but not many of them were mosquitoes. During our trip, I'd learned that the octenol was not the best bait for our area. We have those mean little tiger mosquitoes, the ones with the black-and-white-striped legs, which supposedly respond better to a bait called Lurex. I ordered Lurex while we were on our trip, and it was here by the time we returned home. We replaced the octenol with the Lurex on May 2.
I have been checking the trap every few days, and although we have seen a few mosquitoes hovering around the machine, so far all we've caught is pollen/lint. Yesterday, we moved the machine a few feet, thinking that maybe a nearby storage shed was blocking the bugs' view of the thing. This morning, there are still no mosquitoes in the trap. I brushed the lint out of the trap and came inside to call Blue Rhino for other suggestions.
The customer service rep advised us to cut back on the propane flow. We'd opened the valve all the way. She said there might be a build-up of gas in the hose (which I thought should be a good thing, but I guess not). She advised us to shut off the gas, disconnect the hose, and then hold down the "control button" for 30 seconds to bleed the remaining gas from the machine. After about 5 minutes, we're to hook it up again and re-start the machine, opening the valve no more than 1.5 turns. She also said to try adjusting the opening of the bait compartment, starting with the lowest setting, giving it a couple of days between each adjustment.
We'll try this later today.
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