Wednesday, September 10, 2008

True Diaper Pail Confessions: A New Champ Enters the Arena

I guess we should confess; our friend recently spied this box in our entryway.Well, good readers, lest we deceive you any longer, while our DIY diaper pail succeeded in capturing the stink, it was summarily defeated by the squadrons of drain flies zooming through our house.

The metal lid was too flexible to maintain a perfect seal, so the drain flies had a heyday.

We broke down and bought the "New and Improved" Diaper Champ. It's wider throat and the absence of neoprene seals are more promising than the last version, but we remain rather suspect about its ability to resist odors in the long run.


We'll keep you posted.

5 comments:

slacy said...

I've never heard of a "Drain Fly" before, but maybe thats where your prolbem lies? Googling around for a bit led me to several sites talking about Drain Flies, how & where they breed (in your drains), and how to get rid of them (clean the drains with a wire brush, use an organic dissolver, etc.)

At our house, we just use a cheapo Cosco Diaper Pail (like this one from KMart and haven't had any issues with bugs. It has to be emptied about once a week.

That said, we're in California, and inserts are nearly non-existant here. :)

Christy said...

Ok. I'm going to be in the minority here, but I really like our diaper genie 2nd Gen.

Yes, you have to buy special bags, but you don't have to twist anymore. It seems to work well for us.

AJ said...

I'm with Stacy. I didn't know drain flies existed. Can you plug the sink, go on vacation for a week and eliminate the infestation?

We use a metal trash can with a foot pedal bought at Costco. It will stink about halfway through the week if you go a whole week without changing the bag, but only for a brief moment after the lid is open. And a smaller can is used for cat poop.

adrienne said...

slacy & AJ:

You crazy Californians, with your gorgeous blue skies and general freedom from pesky insects... It's enviable.

We're in the upper edge of the Southern humidity belt, so insects tend to thrive here in the summer months. For the past few months, it's been suffocatingly swamp-like around here (80% humidity is common).

Needless to say, such a spectacular breeding climate inspires thorough cleaning habits. We're definitely fighting a multi-front battle around here and hope to find a low toxin solution to use next summer.

slacy: the Cosco pail has been recommended to us by a few people now. We don't have a K-mart here, but I'm planning to pick one up (for comparison purposes) next time we're near a K-Mart. Those pails seem to have a dedicated following.

Christy: we looked at the new Diaper Genie, but just couldn't figure out how the bag gets a good seal without the twist.

Christy said...

Have you seen this article over at GoodyBlog? They reviewed the new Diaper Genie II Elite. Thought you might be interested. GoodyBlog Article.