Todd, Freezing temperatures may cause lubricants to thicken, but they’ll (usually) become less viscous when rewarmed to room temperatures. Most plastics should not suffer from the chilling, though some can become brittle while cold. So, don’t drop a vacuum while it is cold.
Rather than freezing these beasts, why not just entomb them in a thick plastic bag when not in use? Even better, where allowable and practical, the bag could contain dichlorvos or an IGR. I know many will find that unacceptable, but it could be a workable solution for others. I’d strongly dissuade anyone from treating a vacuum directly with a pesticide. I’ve too often seen bags full of insecticidal powders as well as the expelled contents of aerosol cans. Such practices tend to convert the vacuum from a useful implement to a costly cause of a hazardous material disposal effort. -Rich Richard J. Pollack, PhD HARVARD UNIVERSITY Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Senior Environmental Public Health Officer 46 Blackstone St. Cambridge, MA 02139 Office: 617-495-2995 Cell: 617-447-0763 www.ehs.harvard.edu [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> From: <[email protected]> on behalf of Todd Holmberg <[email protected]> Reply-To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, August 10, 2020 at 10:09 AM To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Subject: [PestList] Vacuum Freezing?... Hello Everyone, I just wanted to check with people in this group to see if anyone can confirm/deny if freezing a vacuum cleaner at IPM levels (-30/-20 F) would be damaging to the vacuum. I wanted to see if anyone out there has destroyed a vacuum by freezing it before I officially suggest it as a possible treatment. We are having an issue in a room where vacuums are stored. The vacuum bags have been emptied (and the cloth elements of the bag washed), but the problem still seems to be going on to a certain degree. There are some other possible causes that may be contributing to the problem in this space that we are currently investigating (HVAC vents/ possible dead mouse). The theory is that even though the vacuum bags are emptied, there may still be enough hair and debris stuck in the vacuum that larvae could survive. Has anyone been able to trace moth problems to vacuums? Any thoughts are always appreciated- Thanks! -Todd -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAMxAh%2Bjx65yOTqhBnSZQg3%3DvicLUkrUxWOe5_8zLh3ueQd%3DVwA%40mail.gmail.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__groups.google.com_d_msgid_pestlist_CAMxAh-252Bjx65yOTqhBnSZQg3-253DvicLUkrUxWOe5-5F8zLh3ueQd-253DVwA-2540mail.gmail.com-3Futm-5Fmedium-3Demail-26utm-5Fsource-3Dfooter&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=GO7C3XN3WgFy2IP-bFBbnUs_CYntqj57Dprtl40-_KE&m=Jiuzm2aeEr_tY3P9SbB8Ak9-EwOw2a2tX3emkXaM86s&s=aNuXAA2oElak_t4O6loy2Q9puXJQyU4UfT5kq4I9f1Q&e=>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/F4C044E8-E050-4AEF-89C0-672D339C4F22%40harvard.edu.
