Watch out for spiders!

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Two good articles Tom, thanks for the links. I don't know what the chemical is that they use in flea collars but it does work to keep spiders out. by cutting the collar, it exposes the inside chemical to the air.  Putting Naphtha near a flame just doesn't sound logical to me.

Jerry
 
jerryarlyne said:
Uh, I don't think mothballs are such a good idea guys. They are made of naphtha and will flash burn pretty easy.
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Jerry,

Naphtha and naphthalene are entirely different beasts. Naphthalene is solid which very slowly vaporizes (evaporates) at room temperature. Naphtha is a very volitile liquid mixture of various relatively low molecular weight aliphatic hydrocarbons. IMHO, I do not think that naphthalene (mothballs) evaporates at a rate fast enough to produce a combustible mixture, unless they were placed in a closed container and then there would not be an ignition source.

If you placed mothballs made of naphthalene in the combustion area of an appliciance where they could actually contact a flame, they would indeed ignite and burn.

I love topics which deal with chemicals, chemistry, etc.? :)

Regards,

Richard
Retired organic chemist
 
Richard

Thanks for jumping in. I'm not a chemist, so appreciate any and all help in this discipline. If I read your message correctly, you're saying that  mothballs are made of Napthalene and that it is (relatively) safe to put one in the burner tube of a water heater or refridgerator, but not directly in the flame. Did I read it correctly?

TIA
 
Tom said:
Richard

If I read your message correctly, you're saying that mothballs are made of Napthalene and that it is (relatively) safe to put one in the burner tube of a water heater or refridgerator, but not directly in the flame. Did I read it correctly?
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Tom,

I am not saying that you should place mothballs in the burner tube. However, placing them on the bottom of the outside refrigerator or water heater compartments would be no problem. Both of these areas are ventilated and, therefore, it is essentially impossible that napthalene vapors could build up to a combustible concentration. Placing them in the burner tube would drastically disrupt the flow of propane to the burner and definitely should not be done. Just having a few mothballs in the refrigerator or water heater compartment should keep spiders and other insects out of the area and therefore out of the burner tube. Just place them on the side of the compartment opposite to where the burner flame is located.

I hope that this clarifies the issue a little more.

Richard

BTW, the next time we are around a camp fire remind me to tell you about a Science Fair project partially made of mothballs which I entered in the Kansas City Science Fair in 1952. My exhibit placed second in the chemistry division but the entry did not last very long because mothballs "evaporate" with time.? :( :mad: The mothballs were painted and after about 4-5 months all I had was a paint shell where the mothballs had been.
 
Richard Sharp said:
I am not saying that you should place mothballs in the burner tube.
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Oops Richard, I meant to say near the burner tube.  :-[  Thanks for the correction and the remaining clarification.

remind me to tell you about a Science Fair project partially made of mothballs
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OK will do.
 
I have been told that there is a particular spider which just loves the armoa of either natural or propane gas.  It likes to build it's webs in burner orafices and the like and, thus, clog them so they do not work.

I do not know if this spider is otherwise harmless  but it is logical that it would build it's web anywehere  you find gas, the burner orfiace if it's a low pressure burner (Such as you hvae in your MH) or the burner tube, anywhere the gas is found.

Years ago I had to clean them out of my pool heater many times
 
Richard,
I am sure you are right about mothballs but I have been using the flea collar thing for many years and in that time I have never had a spider in my water heater or refer so as long as it works why change. Besides my local wally world would go broke if I didn't buy a collar once a year from them<g>. 
I have seen people that actually hung a mesh bag of mothballs right over the burner tube and were amazed when it burned up.

Jerry
 
We use moth crystals in 35mm film cans with holes punched in the cover.  A small piece of velcro usually holds it in place.  We have never had a problem with any critters in our water heater, fridge, or bays doing so.  The cans are far enough away from the burners to not pose a fire problem and the velcro keeps them from bouncing around (until it wears out).
 
Ned, I hadn't heard of moth crystals, so I used everyone's friend and came up with this.
 
Ned said:
We use moth crystals in 35mm film cans with holes punched in the cover.? A small piece of velcro usually holds it in place.? We have never had a problem with any critters in our water heater, fridge, or bays doing so.? The cans are far enough away from the burners to not pose a fire problem and the velcro keeps them from bouncing around (until it wears out).
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We have used mothballs or crystals (depending on availability) in the same manner since we got our first Bounder in 1991 on the recommendation of the owner of Pete's RV in Burlington, Vermont during the walk through.  With the same success as Ned mentioned.  The mothballs would have to be in direct contact with the flame to ignite.
 
Tom said:
Has anyone removed mothballs from the area of their burner tubes after reading Jerry's warning?
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Not yet, but if it works as well as the mothballs,  the flea collar idea sounds pretty goo to me. Less smell too.
 
Welcome to the forums DavidRoberts. Like IB said, you really revived an old one. Most of the time it's not a big deal, but just be careful when you respond to a post to check the date of the post to see if it's an oldie like this one..
 
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