Should I buy an electric mosquito swatter/racket?

March 19, 2018 2:27 AM

Will I electrocute myself and how do you clean dead insect parts trapped in between the meshes?

I am considering buying an electric mosquito racket to swat at the mosquitoes in my apartment. It's one of those things that look like a tennis racket with three layers of mesh (the live one is in-between).
I am concerned I will somehow accidentally electrocute myself. The one I am looking at is 2200V. How painful will being zapped be? Will this be enough to injure an adult female human?
Also, how do you clean dead insect parts trapped in between the layers of meshes? Water will cause a short circuit if the racket is on.
Would like to hear from those with experience with one how well they work and how you deal with these two potential pitfalls? Any advice for usage? Slapping mosquitoes with my hands do not work so well because my hands are only so large and I suspect the displaced air caused by moving my hands close tips the mozzies off.

posted by whitelotus to Science & Nature (17 answers total)

Best answer: You can indeed zap yourself with these, but it's not dangerous. It's similar to the zaps you can get from rubbing your feet on a carpet and then touching a doorknob; a bit bigger than that, but not all that much bigger. Momentarily painful, but that's it. I guess YMMV if you have a pacemaker or something, ask your doctor if so.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:39 AM on March 19, 2018

Best answer: My brother-in-law gave them to my kids and I don't let them use them without supervision. I've shocked myself and it hurts enough not to do it again carelessly but that's it. As for what's left of the dead - it's not much and a gentle tap over a bin does the job.
posted by hawthorne at 3:16 AM on March 19, 2018

Best answer: They are not powerful enough to injure a person; I've done it to myself purely for experimental reasons and it is a WOAH HOLY COW amount of pain but just for an instant and then its over, no marks left at all. Note that electrocution usually happens due to electricity passing through the body to a ground and damaging important organs on the way; for these paddles the electricity is only passing from wire to wire through the skin, so it only passes through a small part of the skin touching both wires, and it's a capacitor discharge so it is a single spark and doesn't go on and on if touched (not that you could leave your finger there that long). It's more like shuffling your stocking feet on carpet and touching a doorknob to get a spark, but about 100x more powerful. Surprising, brief pain, but not seriously harmful.

(I will note that technically burns are possible in the right situation, such as something flammable on the skin, but it's unlikely to accidentally happen)
posted by AzraelBrown at 4:01 AM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The amount of "residue" also depends on the size of the insects you're zapping. There's not much left of a mosquito after contact, but big ol' houseflies are another story. I found it was good to use a disposable cleaning wipe occasionally.
posted by briank at 5:38 AM on March 19, 2018

Best answer: You won't accidentally electrocute yourself unless you stick your fingers in the thing, and you won't stick your fingers in the thing before switching it off first and letting it sit for a few minutes to let the charge bleed off the internal capacitors.

Even if you do accidentally electrocute yourself, you won't die and you probably won't even get a burn mark.

Any little insect corpses that won't fall out with a quick shake over the bin can be dislodged safely with something like this all-nylon pastry brush even if the device is still live. As long as you're using an all-plastic brush, rather than one with a wooden handle and brass ferrule, you'll be fine.

Or you could just leave their burned-out exoskeletons stuck there as a warning to others, like little heads on pikes. Once the tricity has killed them, they dry out pretty quick and they will eventually just collapse and fall off.
posted by flabdablet at 6:11 AM on March 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

By the way, the style of zapper that has a little light in the middle to attract customers will probably kill at least as many mozzies in your apartment as the tennis racket thing, with far less effort on your part.

Also, none of these devices will do you any good whatsoever if you don't have insect screens on your doors and windows.
posted by flabdablet at 6:13 AM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: flabdablet: What kind of zapper would you recommend because I understand the UV light types tend to kill harmless insects rather than mosquitoes?
posted by whitelotus at 6:23 AM on March 19, 2018

Best answer: My friends and I are idiots and have zapped each other with that thing purely for fun. We still walk the earth.

I've used cotton swabs to get any stubborn insect bits off.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 6:23 AM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Every kind of zapper kills both harmless insects and mosquitoes.

If you have insect screening on your home to keep both kinds mostly out, the total number of insects killed by the zapper remains very small and has no meaningful effect on your local ecology and you get a good night's sleep and no itchy lumps.

If you don't have insect screening on your home, no kind of zapper will keep you free from mosquito bites.
posted by flabdablet at 7:01 AM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh yeah, I have definitely played with those and gotten shocks on purpose and it's no big deal. Don't worry about that aspect of it. (And who knows, you might like it, lol.)
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:04 AM on March 19, 2018

For what it's worth, I don't have an electric zapper in my home; I rely on insect screens, two or three resident huntsmen and a small and reliably self-regulating population of window spiders.
posted by flabdablet at 7:06 AM on March 19, 2018

Best answer: Cheap paintbrush. (Also good for desk fans, vents, and grilles of any kind)
posted by sexyrobot at 7:58 AM on March 19, 2018

You won’t electrocute yourself and they are easy to clean and BOY are they fun!
posted by kerf at 8:53 AM on March 19, 2018 [3 favorites]

BOY are they fun!

Seconded. Fun and satisfying.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:46 AM on March 19, 2018

Response by poster: Thank you mefites on your feedback!
Ok, I will be ordering one online. If I survive electrocution, I'll report back on how well it works. I hope I get to fry mozzies soon. I will probably be using cotton buds to pry dead body parts off. I can't bring myself to sacrifice one of my old paintbrushes.
posted by whitelotus at 11:50 PM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Chip brushes (cheap, natural bristles, 1/2" to 4" width) can be found at any hardware store for a dollar or less...
posted by sexyrobot at 4:49 PM on March 22, 2018

Response by poster: Followup: Ok, my racket arrived and so far I have not shocked myself with it yet. I have managed to kill two mosquitoes with it. The biggest advantage of this thing is that slapping mosquitoes with your hands results in messy smears whereas frying them results in whole corpses on the floor and easy, clean disposal. The biggest disadvantage is that sometimes the mosquitoes are gone by the time you grab the racket.

The racket also came with a free nylon brush for cleaning purposes.
posted by whitelotus at 10:05 PM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]