View Full Version : Motorola Quasar


tvcollector
06-29-2012, 06:18 PM
After a few years of having this set, I noticed it's termite ridden... I just put it in storage and went out and bought raid fog and painters plastic to wrap the set in. I set off the fogger and kept it wrapped.. Does anyone think this will cure the termite problem?

zenithfan1
06-29-2012, 07:37 PM
It should, how much damage have they done? Have they spread to other sets/items/walls nearby???

Outland
06-29-2012, 08:00 PM
Jesus, what are termites doing in there?!

You might want to consult an exterminator, termites are serious.

Also, what zenithfan said.

tvcollector
06-29-2012, 08:43 PM
I bought the set about two years ago, it's in a thread on this forum dating about that time.. It was in the spare bedroom for that long and when I lifted the set up and moved it out I noticed alot of dead termites and wings.. I have wood floors in the house and I noticed they got into a few inches of the floor where the set was sitting.. Other than that I didn't notice them anywhere else. I should spray some chemicals in that area of the floor.. The TV set obviously had termites already in it when I got it.. I noticed droppings here and there when it was sitting in the room.. They are in there pretty bad, there isn't anything noticeable damaged other then the very bottom which could be replaced with another piece of wood..

sanjarali
06-29-2012, 09:14 PM
Who is termite? :scratch2: Word book is not showing this :smoke:

DaveWM
06-29-2012, 09:15 PM
I had one like that, thought I got them all by wrapping and bug spraying, it did not work. My advice would be to save the hardware and scrap the wood pronto.

tvcollector
06-29-2012, 09:32 PM
I would think setting off a fog bomb like i did and wrapping in plastic to airtight as much as possible and leave it in the plastic for a week or so, maybe even setting off a couple of bombs every few days to keep the chemicals strong.. Another solution I found would be, to take the set over to a company that has a chamber that will lock it up and bomb it with chemicals, (Most big named pest control companies do offer this service for pieces of furniture) I'm pretty much doing the same thing.. Just curious if anyone else had success in doing it there self.. They also have eggs in the nests so maybe even longer would be a better idea, Even if you kill all of them, the left over eggs will hatch and they will return.. The set needs a picture tube and it will be a while before I make a project to restore the set, so I may leave it in the plastic for months..

DaveWM
06-29-2012, 10:58 PM
again, I had termites in a set, sprayed it, bombed it, all wrapped in plastic, thought I was good to go, left it for about 1 year, saw the nice mounds of wood so maybe it was carpenter ants, but anyway I did not like the idea of bringing anything that destructive into the house. good luck...

oh and the damage as severe the hardwood veneer was intact but all the ply was gone underneath as well as the softer woods in the trim, they even tunneled around the pegs that held the trim in place. They were ACTIVE as I pulled it apart and saw them inside, I thought they were temites as they had the thick bodies, (not waisted) but I am not a bug expert so who knows, I just got it out of the garage pronto.

DaveWM
06-29-2012, 11:26 PM
saw the other post by Dan at ARF, freezer, had not thought of that.

tvcollector
06-30-2012, 01:36 AM
Ya I've saw that online doing a google search, or the opposite way, heat it above 115 degrees, I may be able to get away with that in Florida using black plastic bags.. I don't know anyone with a freezer..

Electronic M
06-30-2012, 09:35 PM
I wonder if those vacuum chambers they use for taxidermy(the vacuum removes ALL moisture from the critter and thus preserves it) and antique book preservation(the acid in the paper leaves with the moisture thus slowing disintegration) might be the fastest and surest way to kill the termites and eggs.

Who is termite? :scratch2: Word book is not showing this :smoke:

A termite is a small insect (or bug) that eats wood. They cause tons of damage to homes that are infested with them each year. Most folks think of them as gislans(or what ever that strange word you use for them devil serpent things is) because if they enter your home and you fail to poison them fast enough they will eat your house.

Reece
07-01-2012, 05:55 AM
If they ate into the floor in your house, you had better get an exterminator in to check your house. There can be signs of them in one place and you can spray them but they have tunneled in from another location hidden to you. They need moisture to survive and that comes from the ground so the exterminator may determine that you need to have the perimeter of the house treated.

tvcollector
07-01-2012, 12:41 PM
Not all termites need moisture to live, unless the humidity in the air is enough.. Here in Florida Drywood termites are the biggest problem and they can live independently well above ground level in all types of furniture and picture frames etc.. This wood is far from moist.. We rent here, and I highly doubt the land lord is going to put any money into an exterminator unless that problem gets obviously series which hasn't and hopefully doesn't.. I went over to home depot and bought Spectracide Termite killing foam, specially for Drywood and Dampwood termites, went over to my storage and sprayed the hell out of the set, spraying in cracks and everywhere and then covered the set over with the tarp.. Hopefully this treatment will kill them.. I'll find out in the long run after I let it set for a period of a few weeks or even months.. The storage unit is 100% concrete and metal..

DavGoodlin
07-02-2012, 03:16 PM
I hope your spray-down does it for you. I vote for the bake method if this was my set. Heat lamps may be an alternative to finding a larger environmental chamber.

Over 100 YO houses with dry-laid (rubble-dirt) stone foundations like mine are especially afflicted because of near-constant moisture migration up to wooden floor joists, which bear on said foundation. I've earned my stripes in this department IMAO.

Forget the consumer-grade poisons. Since they took Chlordane away, nothing chemical really kills these bastards except borates, except it works slowly but stays in the wood.

Best link without the usual PCO (pest control operator) BS
http://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/entomo/Structural_Entomology/drywood/drywood.htm

dieseljeep
07-02-2012, 06:40 PM
I don't think Wisconsin has termites, per se, just carpenter ants. 50+ years ago, I lived in a home that was built in the mid-1800's and there was no evidence of termites. The home was built on wooden beams, set on the earth.

DavGoodlin
07-05-2012, 03:29 PM
:scratch2:Just had an idea:pistols: if this was my set, i would find a black van, put it inside and park it in the sun for a week. That would bake those bastards out of it for sure.

gellis
07-11-2012, 01:21 PM
Instead of wrapping the TV in plastic and setting off a chemical bomb, which sounds like a really great idea, I have one that should be considered. I had termites in one of my TV's a few years ago. The solution was simple. I asked my neighbor if I could submerge my TV in his swimming pool for about a week. After getting all sorts of looks of confusion and telling him that I was serious, he reluctantly agreed. We not only submerged the TV in water in which to drown the termites, but also put in alot of extra chlorine to help kill the termites on top of it, so in essence, we really took all measures to make sure the termite problem was resolved. One thing we forgot to consider is that subjecting the cabinet to water destroyed it more than what the termites did :thumbsdn:

But on the upside, it gave me the opportunity to build a brand new cabinet for it out of particle board which was a great way to spend some of my time and working on my carpentry skills:D. But... if I was thinking, I could have saved myself the effort of submerging it by just shit canning that original cabinet first... But the problem wasn't over yet.:no: I discovered that the termites started to eat into some of the passive components, the IF coils in particular :rant:

I replaced the coils from a parts chassis that I kept stored in my bedroom from a TV I saved from a rat infested house a few years prior. I hated having to part with that set, but on the upside, the chassis were the same and I was able to at least make one good TV from two :banana:

Sadly, however, my repairs proved to be unreliable... :wtf: I did not leave enough time for the wet chassis to fully evaporate and when I plugged it in.....smoke came out the high voltage cage.... :sigh:

So I quickly unplugged the TV but it was too late...:eek: The flyback melted and there was nothing left of it and my parts chassis was of no help because it also had a bad flyback thanks to the rats that chewed on it :gigglemad

But in the grand scheme of things, it was a fun project and it was a great way to spend my time :tongue:

But I was told that if I ever encounter a TV with major insect problems again, to simply call 1-800-SHIT-CAN and get it the hell out of my house before it impacts my health or the integrity of my home...:blah:

But that might be kinda hard for me to do considering I'm a "TV guy" :screwy: