Heat Treatment For Bed Bugs – Is It Worth Trying?

Companies that specialize in heat treatment for bed bugs will blow hot air in to your home with a target range of about 140 degrees F. This temperature is achieved slowly in a gradual build-up to avoid causing damage to household items.

The gradual build-up is also to prevent the pests from being alerted too soon to the imminent threat of annihilation.

Circulating fans, placed in specific spots, are used to ensure circulation of the air. The entire treatment time is usually between 4-6 hours; about one hour at high temperature, and then a gradual decrease back to normal temperature again.

If the question is how to kill bed bugs with heat, then one must also think about the advantages and disadvantages of this method.

What are the advantages?

– You avoid the use of chemicals: chemical sprays, traps, the toxic effects of a fogger or insecticide bomb and many other bug killing products.

Disadvantages?

– It is expensive

There is no guarantee that complete eradication will occur. The bugs, due to the gradual increase in temperature, may have time to find hiding spots where they will survive. They are very good at detecting a threat.

Many items such as electronics, plastic material, wood furniture, vinyl windows, may be damaged. And some items may have to be removed prior to treatment.

In preparing for a heat treatment for bed bugs, it is advisable to caulk all cracks as the bugs will be heading for any exit during the heat build-up.

Hiring any exterminator:

Just like hiring any exterminator, it is advisable to research the company you are interested in. Internet references and customer recommendations should be thoroughly checked out.

Given the amazing ability of bed bugs to survive, I would be very suspicious if a heat treatment for bed bugs company were to give a warranty of total bed bug extermination.

The reason: These bugs are clever and can hide deep within the walls and furniture.

A plastic-bag-in-the-sun heat treatment for bed bugs:

This applies if you live in a warm climate, and if you have been infested during a very hot summer. You can take advantage of the heat by placing many of your clothing items into clear plastic bags and then leave them out on the deck – cooking under the boiling sun for at least a week.

If will enhance its effectiveness if you take the bags into the house, after a few days, for 24 hours to cool down the bugs, and then shock them by placing the bags outside again.

The cost of this bug killer is the price of one transparent garbage bag.

You can also do the same treatment for a couch if you suspect it has been infested. Whether this is possible will, of course, depend on your living arrangement and whether you live in a very hot climate or not.

Heat exposure will always kill the bugs, however, and this is the catch, bed bug heat treatment effectiveness depends on how high the temperature is at contact point with the bugs.