Warning !!! Danger !!!

Thanks for the warm welcome. I didn't think that I would have much to offer here on SMF. After all I've read here I'm left with very few questions. But today I came across an issue that I have yet to read about.
Today I made my rounds to my favorite thrift stores. 2 cell phones, 2 printers, 1 Dell Optiplex tower ( $9.00 U.S ) was the take and I headed home. I plugged in the tower to warm it up and I guess it got warm alright! A ROACH came running out of the floppy drive slot.:mad:. To make a long story short it now sits outside in the pouring rain after I sprayed a whole can of bug kill'em in it.I guess we will forget Ebay this time. Justa friendly reminder, Be careful what you bring into your home! You may not be getting a good deal after all.

Nothing I pick up comes into my home until I open it up outside first.

My thoughts are the same as Brandon. I open it outside, or in the shop first. Then an only then will i think about it bringing it up stairs to the house.

Never had a creepy crawler come out of my stuff, it's bound to happen so I do it all outside or in the shop. An may someone have mercy on the poor bugs soul that does come out in my shop or outside..for I surely won't.

Sirscrapalot - Wascaly wabbit!

I've opened a few desktops to find rats' (mouse's) nests. No rodents yet...but that was nasty enough.

Har!! That's one of the advantages of living in the Great White North! I ain't never even seen a roach!! Nor a tarantula nor a scorpion nor a copperhead nor an alligator.....

Unh, whats that you say? Oh, yeah, sure, I've seen a mosquito big enough to skewer Sir Scrapsalots face munchers. And black flies so thick you breath them in your nose and out your mouth.....but I don't find those in my computers!!

Jon.

lol...You got flying critters that size I'll stick to the water bugs, spiders, scorpions an hurricanes. ;)

Thanks for the laugh Jon.

Sirscrapalot - bzzz bzzz bzzzz!

Par for the course in the south. Electronics are nice warm places to hide and vents and slots provide access. I'm actually more surprised when I find a clean appliance than one that has been colonized by SOMETHING. Some bad ones still make me cringe. It can help to have an air compressor handy if you get too squeamish, but keep in mind that all that stuff under the roach crap is money.

I'm now able to do most of the "rough" breakdown work outside and bring components into my shop for finer breakdown. Still need to keep the shop sprayed. Keep in mind some of the critters might get into your vehicle also.

This time of year theres nothin alive outside that I gotta worry about. Deep freeze came early this year. been below freezing since last week and we got a little less than half a foot of snow on the weekend. Been a few years since we had snow before christmas!

But yeah the squidos and black flies are horrendous in the spring. Up at the lake, just after sundown, you can hear em all buzzing around. And im talkin like you can hear em out in the woods buzzin around, not around your head.

Most of the items I scrap are PC's. I am very allergic to the dust that collects inside and because they may contain critters each one is opened and given a thorough blast with my leaf blower. My neighbors already think I'm crazy so I can only imagine what they think when I unload 25 PC's in my backyard and get the leaf blower out. It dosen't take long and I don't have to worry about sneezing or anything crawling out of them.

When I did a lot of metal scrappin with my wrecker I've brought home birds, eggs, cats, snakes, mice, rats and lots of giant spiders. That stuff never came inside. Escrap is a lil different. I'm really liking the air thing, compressor in my case

Yeah, I'll bet a compressor works really good.

Danger Will Robinson! Danger! Danger! (how many of yall remember that? ; )

Thankfully I haven't picked up too many infested items, and those were early on, and were put straight into the trailer, which got parked behind the old barn. As far as I know, none of them ever made it past the chickens in the barnyard, or shown up in the backyard of the house, so I'm yet to buy a single can of bug spray.

Far as dust goes, I learned early on the effect of a good air gun on computers, as I also learned early on it's best done outside, well away from the house, haha ; )

Thanks for the tip with the leaf blower/compressor - that will come in handy.

If you break down power supplies go ahead and blast the dust out of it too while you're in there ; )

Here we have stink bugs and most pc's left outside in the summer will have one or two.

Power supplies and heat sinks with fans usually have the most dust.
Unrelated topic but something to think about. About once a year my clothes dryer is taken outside and cleaned out with my leaf blower. Its amazing how much lint is in there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jimicrk

Power supplies and heat sinks with fans usually have the most dust.
Unrelated topic but something to think about. About once a year my clothes dryer is taken outside and cleaned out with my leaf blower. Its amazing how much lint is in there.

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LOL as we get older...them leaf blowers come in handy for a lot of things

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...ykohl/cake.jpg

even birthday candles ;)

I brought home an old large screen TV to scrap and when I opened it I found 1 live roach, spider webs and mouse turds. It was pushed far away from the house and scrapped.

You know you're getting old when you have to substitute individual candles for the kind that are shaped like numbers.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I was wondering how many of the forum readers would get my lil Lost in Space reference. Great job Bear.

I got the Lost in Space reference - just did not want to admit it. Actually, reruns are on tv here - I think the station is "ME TV". Haven't watched on recently though.

Did you ever hear the saying Never Shi............t Where You Eat ? How could you bring these machines into your house? They are Breading grounds for all kinds of creepy crawlers, I have heard of brining work home but this is just plain stupid.Watch out for the Bed Bugs

I remember a couple years back I did a curb alert from a post on Craigslist. It was late and dark and I picked up a few electronics and misc. Later that night some one posted another post on CL regarding the same address of the curb alert and it said "Nasty that stuff is full of roaches!". So I went outside where I put the stuff and sure enough the stuff I picked up was also full of roaches. Luckily it was stored outside though.

The very first car I ever loaded had an opossum under the hood, I screamed like a girl when I popped that hood and Steve laughed at me. Had a black snake one time in a door panel and a few wasps, really pretty good ratio for being in Arkansas

Wow. I had a car that sat too long. Popped the hood to jump it and got a face full of a huge possom that had built a nest in the engine compartment. That WILL scare the bejebez out of you.

In conclusion, I took said mentioned tower apart last night. The night I sprayed I it only one roach lay dead on the ground. I found about 50 dead ones inside it though. So please remember to think before you bring something in your home or car.

I guess this would go in this thread..I opened up a $1500 u-line wine cooler this morning. Smelled like death. I thought, great, dead mice or something. Nope, a very ripe wheel of brie, a big one. Must have cost a couple hundred dollars. Ooo la la! That went in the garbage, and guess what's wrong with the cooler? One tiny wire was pulled out of the connector to the control panel...that and it really smells bad. Thanks for being so wasteful!

Got a projection tv last week and took it apart last sunday. Must have been around 200 lady bugs in there. All huddled around in the corners.
"Well...thats an exciting bit of news." -Dr. smith

Leaf blower works good to get the water out of toilets when you're winterizing a house. Lol

First make sure it has been well-flushed before attempting that.

There are bugs inside your homes right now, probably not more than a foot away too. Step on em and scoop em up for your compost pile ;)

Bugs are like "germs" ... Everyone is terrified of them, but don't realize even after sanitizing you still have germs on you.

Now if it's poisonous bugs or critters, that's a different story.

3 months ago I opened a PC threw the cover in the steel pile, reached down to pluck out the ram, only to find a black widow lurking near the hard drive. I killed the hell out of it, and left the guts on the scrap to warn any others what's in store.

Really important to look out for bed bugs. My sister works for a cleaning company that cleans government housing and deals with bed bugs on regular basis (they wear hazmat overalls) and they never take electronics into their homes from anywhere unless it is new. We have a bed bug epidemic here. You can't freeze them out, you have to superheat the stuff, which gets fried from the high heat required. It can cost a couple of grand to eradicate bed bugs from a home.

According to this article, they can be frozen to death...But yes, heat is the preferred treatment, just not with electronics.

"If the bugs have gotten into the electronic, things get more complicated. The item needs to be fumigated by deep-freezing. The only safe method so far is pressurized carbon dioxide snow, best known under the brand name Cryonite. Not all exterminators will be able to use pressurized carbon snow, so ask beforehand."- Killing Bed Bugs in Electronics - Yahoo Voices - voices.yahoo.com

Visit the article, the sources for the article are pulled from several places.

Spot freezing will kill the bugs an their eggs, but offer not lasting protection. Read more here - Bed Bugs | University of Kentucky Entomology

Edit to add : No dropping your ac to 32 or below isn't going to do it, you need extreme cold, aka Spot Freezing or the stuff the bug companies use. Yet another link from the University of Minnesota..Using Freezing Conditions to Kill Bed Bugs - Let's Beat the Bed Bug! The US Military also agree's with the temps stated int he U of M article.

An yes heat is preferred if trying to kill them in normal places aka not electronics. My wife is a AGM of a hotel down here on my sandbar an deals with it often enough.

Come visit but leave your bugs at home people! ;)

The second link from the University of Kentucky, will give you more info then you ever wanted about bed bugs.

Enjoy!

Sirscrapalot - Bugging out

Thanks. Yeah, the core temperature of the object must be cold enough for 3-5 days. I put my microwave that I bought at a habitat for humanity shop outside when it was in the -30's for 2 weeks before I brought it inside. lol I am that paranoid about bed bugs. I saw many of them come off a box spring once a few months ago. Those little guys move fast.