Many years ago, on my first trip to Thailand, I discovered that for some reason I was unbearably attractive to mosquitoes. I’m not sure if it’s something in my blood, or my diet – or if it’s just my magnetic personality – but whenever I head outdoors I’m attacked by thousands of the little buggers. This is how I was first introduced to mosquito misting systems…
I was staying in the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok, and next door to my hotel was an enormous open air bar that looked like a hell of a lot of fun. The bar area was basically just a roof supported by columns, completely open to the outside world. I would have loved to drink there but I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving myself open to the dozens of mosquito bites I’d no doubt receive.
I’d been in the city for two weeks before I finally relented. If you’ve ever visited Bangkok you’ll know that bar girls will often call you towards their bar, and my very English sense of politeness demands that I always decline with an apology. After two weeks of walking by the bar with my head down I finally offered an explanation…
‘Thank you, but I don’t want to be bitten by mosquitoes. I need to go inside.’
‘No mosquito!’ my enthusiastic bar girl screeched back at me. ‘Mist. Look!’
Along the edge of the roof of the bar a fine spray of mist emerged like dry ice. I’d always assumed this was some sort of cooling mechanism, but the bar girl explained to me that this was a mosquito misting system. The nozzles running along the roof emitted a mist of pesticides that deterred (or killed, I’m not sure) any mosquitoes that came sniffing for blood. The mosquito misting system created a barrier between the bar and the outside world.
Sure enough, when I sat down for a beer I noticed that the bar was completely free of mosquitoes, despite the swarms just outside. I was impressed. I grew up in a country free of mosquitoes so, while these mosquito misting systems may have spread across the world decades ago for all I know, to me this was an incredible use of technology.
Nothing in a mosquito misting system is complex – they’re based on exactly the same technology we use every day to spray perfume, but with pesticides. Mosquito misting systems can be scaled to suit any premises from a private home and garden to – I don’t know – a castle.
Anyway… I forgot about mosquito misting systems for years. These days they’re everywhere in Thailand, land of the bloody annoying mosquito, and these days I barely notice them. However, when the time came when I actually moved to Thailand and bought a house, the thought popped into my head that I should set up a misting system of my very own.
My house, like many in Thailand, is designed to be somewhat open to the elements (I’ve talked about the problems associated with this already), so I decided I needed a mosquito misting system designed for home use. I learned that the type of systems used in bars can run into the thousands of dollars and require regular maintenance (not my style or budget), but I found a great value solution eventually that ran to just a couple of hundred dollars.
First I needed to take care of the house itself. I like to leave the windows and sliding door open during the day to get a little breeze going (and save on the air conditioning bill) so I bought a small portable Burgess mosquito fogger to spray around the place every so often. These things are really designed for the garden, so every time I use it I step out onto the terrace for a few minutes until the haze disperses (the ingredients of the fogging solution are all natural, but I take the view that you can’t be too careful).
In the still air of my home it’s easy to get rid of pesky mosquitoes, but the garden was a different story. Despite my garden being quite sheltered there’s still the occasional breeze to deal with. The small portable fogger wouldn’t do the trick, so I found a larger ALL CLEAR cordless misting system. This thing clears 2,000 square feet of mosquitoes, and it keeps them away for up to 8 hours. It operates with a remote, so every morning as I make the first of many coffees I give it a whack. By the time I’ve finished my drink and I’m ready to head out into the garden it’s completely clear of mosquitoes.
I can’t tell you how impressed I am with the ALL CLEAR mister. The concentrated refill bottles last an absolute age, which is very useful for me as I have the devil of a time getting refills delivered out here to my Thai backwater.
I’d always assumed that, when I decided to live in Thailand, I’d just have to accept regular mosquito bites as an annoying fact of life; the price I pay to live in a tropical paradise. That I can get rid of the problem entirely with a cheap little mosquito misting system sitting in the corner of my garden makes my life here immeasurably more enjoyable.