Thunder Flies in my damn monitor

Fibretip

It's summer here in the rainy old UK, and I keep getting thunder flies (thunder bugs, "Thrips") stuck in my lcd monitor. Actually walking around on the screen underneath the outer protective bit. It's incredibly annoying, and thank god i haven't had any actually die in the middle of the screen, but sooner or later it's bound to happen and all of a sudden i'll have a $400 monitor that has a permanent 1mm black spot in the middle.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this?

I assume they get in there through the air vents along the top of the monitor... would it be awful to cover these up? maybe if i taped tissue or something over them the air could still move but the bugs wouldn't get in?

help!

Mmmm... Cocks...

That does suck, LCD monitors don't really need to breath so I don't see the tissue and tape being a problem really.

blincoln

MateriaMaster wrote: »

That does suck, LCD monitors don't really need to breath so I don't see the tissue and tape being a problem really.

If the vents aren't necessary, why would the manufacturer waste money and time putting them there in the first place?

embrik

How big are these bugs (I'm not from the UK, so I'm not familiar with the particular bug you're describing)?
Could you go to a hardware store and buy some screen (the wire mesh-type used to repair window screens, etc) and use that to cover the vents? That way, you'd still have airflow, but I'd assume that the bugs wouldn't be able to fit through the tiny squares in the screen.

Fibretip

absolutely tiny. They're the kind of bugs taht appear on hot sticky days, tiny black ones. When you go and look at an old photo frame there's normally tons of them dead inside the glass, and they get inside peoples watch faces and stuff etc... they're a nightmare.

Argus

embrik wrote: »

How big are these bugs (I'm not from the UK, so I'm not familiar with the particular bug you're describing)?
Could you go to a hardware store and buy some screen (the wire mesh-type used to repair window screens, etc) and use that to cover the vents? That way, you'd still have airflow, but I'd assume that the bugs wouldn't be able to fit through the tiny squares in the screen.

Wikipedia Article

embrik

Wow, yeah, that kills my idea. Even the smallest "insect mesh" has holes that are slightly larger than 1mm squares, so they'd still be able to get in.

Deusfaux

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest you should be addressing why there are numerous bugs flying about in the same space as the computer???

Fibretip

well, my pc lives in the kitchen because i just had a new baby and the graphics card i have is crazy loud, so i've been banished from the bedroom, and the only plug in our living room is being used for the tv, so i'm in the kitchen. because it's that thunder storm phase of english summertime (insane humidity)... outside is FULL of these flies, you sit in the garden and you'll have easily over 10 of them sitting on you. as mentioned above they're tiny, so they come in around the sides of the windows, they're literally everwhere. I put a photo on the wall upstairs in a frame last friday and they're already inside the glass on it. to keep the pc away from them i'd actually have to sit in some kind of hermetically sealed box. but the monitor only has this one vent on the top, and is sealed all around the rest, so i figure that must be where they're entering.

Lodbrok

Just a thought, maybe you could use nylon or some other fabric if you could not find a mesh fine enough? Old nylon socks perhaps? This should provide some airflow and the insects won't get through that. LCDs do not put out that much heat, but be careful with the temperature all the same. I would not want to completely block the airflow.

On a related note, thrips can do some serious damage to houseplants. Have you checked your potted plants for an infestation?

Gihgehls

My friend has blankets and sheets covering his computer equipment when he isn't home, so that the cats don't get on it. When he goes to use his computer, he takes the blanket off and then turns the monitor on. When he is done, he turns it off and covers it back up. He let a friend of his use his stuff while he was away, and this friend didn't turn off the monitor before covering it back up. When my friend finally got back his monitor displayed everything with an awful green color. Do be careful about covering up vents.

AtomBomb

Could you maybe rig up some small fans to pull air out of the little holes? Like maybe retrofit one of those Xbox 360 cooling kits, something like that. It would work on the same principle as the air blowing on you when you go thru some grocery store doors. However, if they are really tiny, you might need a ridiculous amount of airflow to keep them out. You could maybe do a combination of mesh (creating more heat than stock) with fans (removing more heat than stock).

Fristle

Bugs that tiny would probably be dispersed with a fan breeze, right? Maybe you could set up a little desk fan pointed across the monitor area in a way that wasn't too annoying for the user. If it's hot, maybe you'll even appreciate it.

TM2 Rampage

Would fly traps work on thunder flies?

Mr_Grinch

Spary bug killer on to some material and then place said material over the vents at the back? Dunno if it'd do any damage mind!

My Girlfriend's monitor is suffering the same thing actually, we couldn't figure it out. I thought it was some kind of really cool virus at first, moving single pixels about!