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Liz Pendens
2010 Nov 5, 4:12am
Huh. Yeah the recent bed bug scene is totally disgusting, and definitely has a stigma. So folks understandable get desperate.
What about a high capacity electric heater, like what they put in warehouses:
NewAir G73 5000 BTU Electric Garage Heater With Built-In Thermostat
Have no idea if that would raise the temp enough but as you say, if the house thermostat is raised high as possible, then a high BTU unit this should be able to kick in the extra.
But what I'm also thinking: it's not enough to raise the AMBIENT (air temperature) temperature to 130 degrees, which is what the thermostat reads. You have to get the temperature of all the infested items, where the bugs are hiding, up to 130 also. So the mattress, floor boards, couch, etc. must reach 130 degrees, all the way through, for 15 minutes to ensure thay are killed. Obviously more difficult; the place really has to bake for a while. I guess you could stick a meat thermometer in the middle of the couch cushions to get a read.
I wonder if people who have memory foam mattresses are screwed, that will never get hot. Do bed bugs infest dense memory foam?
sam1
2010 Nov 5, 4:38am
How about cold temperature treatment instead? That has got to be a cheap option at least in the northeast. The only problem would be water pipes, but if they're properly insulated and water is flowing in them, that could work too...
Vicente
2010 Nov 5, 4:51am
The high temperature is to make it go faster, and has to be that high to permeate to likely hiding places quickly. If you can wait longer, you can do it with less extreme temps.
Raising the temperature to 97o F. - 99o F. will kill most bed bugs in several days; lowering the temperature to 32o F. to 48o F. will take up to 50 days to kill all of the eggs. A hot dryer (140o F.) will kill all stages of bed bugs in 20 minutes. Use a dryer or place infested items into a black bag in the sun on 70+ F.-degree days to kill them on clothing, toys, etc. Use a sauna for larger items. Carefully treat the mattress seams and buttons with a hair dryer or, better yet, a heat gun and then vacuum. Cover the mattress with an impervious cover. Bed bugs retain moisture and survive like desert arthropods, so dry out the infested area.
From page 848 here:
Liz Pendens
2010 Nov 5, 5:06am
Bed bugs retain moisture and survive like desert arthropods, so dry out the infested area.
Insidious little bastards.
TechGromit
2010 Nov 5, 6:46am
But what I’m also thinking: it’s not enough to raise the AMBIENT (air temperature) temperature to 130 degrees, which is what the thermostat reads. You have to get the temperature of all the infested items, where the bugs are hiding, up to 130 also. So the mattress, floor boards, couch, etc. must reach 130 degrees, all the way through, for 15 minutes to ensure they are killed. Obviously more difficult; the place really has to bake for a while. I guess you could stick a meat thermometer in the middle of the couch cushions to get a read.
Excellent point. You would have to have a thermometer ceiling height, window height and one on the floor you would would know exact what the temperature is for each level. I'm assuming if the temperature is 135F+ at the floor level, the couches would be at least that. Remove the cushions to get max heat penetration. The reason for the thermometer at ceiling height is to make sure it not dangerously hot near the ceiling, but i wouldn't expect more than a 20 degree difference between the floor and ceiling. As for memory foam, it's not like there it's threaded together where they could squeeze there way inside the memory foam. It more bubble cells, you should be able to take the entire thing outside and manual clear it off with a vacuum, high pressure air hose and careful examination. I think it more to do with them getting inside the furniture, blankets and clothing that's the real issue with any kind of surface treatments.
How about cold temperature treatment instead? That has got to be a cheap option at least in the northeast.
A. Bed bugs also will succumb to cold temperatures below 32°F, but the freezing temperatures must be maintained for several days. It's going to have to get pretty cold to get the middle of a couch down to freezing temperatures.
B. Cheap how? If it's the middle of summer your going to live with bed bugs until it gets cold? It's doubtful you could get a house cold enough in Summer, it's not like a house is as well insulated as a freezer.
TechG, having bed bug problem?
There's new article come out to CNN today.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/11/05/news/economy/bed_bug_cure/index.htm
Ok, let me first start out with saying I do not have Bed bugs and do not want bed bugs. There has been a lot of reports in the media about the bed bug epidemic in this country. One of the newer methods of exterminating bed bugs is by using heat. If you apply heat to a room or building that is at least 135 degree for at least 15 minutes, it drys out the bed bugs, there eggs and they die. Generally this is done for about an hour to make sure it more than enough to kill them. What I can't understand is the prices these guys are charging for this. "Thermal remediation will run anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000..." 6K?! For what? When I used to work construction we used to set up propane heaters inside incomplete buildings in the winter so the sheet-rockers could plaster the walls and get them to dry. it would easily push the temperatures in the house to 80 or 90 degrees. Usually what the sheet-rockers would do is open most of the windows to get some cool air while working inside and it still be pretty hot inside. Anyway I'm trying to figure out how they can get away with those kind of prices. For a couple hundred bucks you could buy 2 or 3 propane heaters and connect them to propane tanks, and fire them up. I'm sure you could rent them for less.
My only concerns are:
A. How to control the inside temperatures.
I guess you run the propane lines inside the house through a crack in a few partly open windows and have a thermometer inside on a window. When the temperature gets up to 140 or so you could turn the propane supply down or off.
B. Would the propane heaters use up all the oxygen in the house before they could get the temperature up to 140 or so degrees.
If the house HVAC heat was turned up first to 85 or so, I imagine the heaters would have enough air to raise the temperature up the additional 60 degrees or so. The air could be pretty dangerous after an hour, (lots of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide) but after hour shut off the propane from the outside, open the windows you had cracked for the propane hoses from the outside, and turn on a fan, blowing fresh air from outside through the house to another window you open on the other side. After awhile you could hold your breath run in and open other windows from inside the house and rush out. After a trip or two all the windows would be open, you give the house a few hours to air out before going back inside.
C. FIRE!
Well obviously having open flame inside the house is of some concern. I recall once the heater was placed on a rug and it melted the rug where it was sitting. We started using plywood to place the heaters on. So each heater would be placed on a full sheet of plywood and placed in the center of the room with nothing near it. Any kind of loose paper would have to be removed from the house, paper doesn't burst into flames until it reaches 451 F, but all the heat blowing around the house could change the way the air moves. A few loose pieces of paper or a tissues coming into contact with the heat and blowing around could ignite fires pretty quickly. Also anything that is soft plastic, remove it as well. I guess I could watch the heaters closely from the outside with a Fire extinguisher at the ready, but entering a hot house with carbon monoxide in the air would be dangerous.
Any thoughts? Did I overlook anything?