How Do Bed Bug Heaters Work?

Sleep Tight. Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite.

This saying comes from the days when bed frames used a rope to hold up the mattress made, usually of straw. Every once in a while, you would tighten the ropes, so you weren’t sagging in the bed and living conditions were such that bed bugs were common. The truth of the matter is that there is no way to stop bed bugs from biting. If they are hungry and there is a human hanging about, be it day or night, they will come out and suck your blood. The male bed bugs spurred on by this new burst of energy inseminate the females and the females then go off to lay eggs. And, thus, the cycle continues, and the problem grows exponentially.

Killing bed bugs is a serious business, and heat treatment is one of the many ways homeowners start to tackle the burgeoning bed bug population. But does bed bug heat treatment work?

Bed Bug Basics

Like cockroaches and sewer rats, bed bugs seem impossibly well adapted to survival among human populations How can something as small as an apple seed create panic and fear in the hearts of the ordinary people. No sci-fi writer would every use a bed bug as the lurking enemy. They just don’t have the scare factor for books or movies. But, if you have ever seen a bed bug crawl across your pillow, terror will strike and panic immediately sets in.

Bed bugs are notoriously hard to kill and here are some of the reasons:

• They are hard to find as they live in the cracks, crevices and dark corners of your home.
• Mature females lay up to 5 eggs at a time to increase their ranks.
• When you go to sleep, they go to work, sucking your blood and swelling up — much like mosquitoes.
• Bed bugs are seasoned travelers. They will hop into suitcases and onto clothing, hitching rides among homes, hotels and all sorts of public spaces. Once inside your home, they disperse and can get into everything … electronics, books, stuffed animals, clothes, woodwork, shelving and, of course, beds. They love beds because they are close to their breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
• You may never see a bed bug. You may only have circumstantial evidence of their existence, such as bed bug bites in the classic formation of three or so welts in a row or black smeers (poo trails) or red blood smears on the sheets.

Defeating the Enemy

Bed bugs are becoming increasingly resistant to insecticides, whether you use over-the-counter sprays or a professional treatment. Chemical treatment commonly involves removing and/or bagging many household items, as well as throwing some away. This inconvenience, combined with the presence of toxic chemicals in the home.

Science has proven the bed bugs can be killed using heat. Not only are the nymphs and adults killed, but also the eggs by heating them to temperatures in excess of 45C.

Bed Bug Heat Treatment

You have two options when it comes to heat treatment. You can hire a professional who will come to your home with either, electric heaters, propane heaters of a large truck that uses glycol ethaline to heat your enter home for approximately six hours, often achieving temperatures in excess of 60C.

Your second option is to rent a bed bug heater from Bed Bugs Dead Bugs and do it yourself and same yourself a lot of money.

Bed bug heat treatment works by drying out the bed bugs’ bodies. As the temperature rises, the bed bugs will often crawl out of their hiding spots or even fall off the curtains or mattress as the try and figure out where to go to get cool. This happens at around 41C. As they get hotter and hotter, the start to slow down more and more and eventually shrivel up and blow away like a speck of dust.

Usually, it takes about 2 hours to achieve the minimum Thermal Death Temperature of 45C. Although bed bugs die at this temperature in a test tube situation, it is important to make sure the entire room is at 45C or above, including the baseboard, cupboards, bedframe, etc. At Bed Bugs Dead Bugs, we recommend you maintain at least 50C for a minimum of 8 hours to thoroughly penetrate everywhere the bed bugs are hiding and have laid their eggs. Our equipment is designed to go as high as 60C. It’s like going into a sauna.

We provide you with a temperature sensor gun that allows you to monitor the temperature. You can enter the room any time. It is hot, but it is not even hot enough to melt a plastic bag. You will need to prepare the room by removing things that will melt, including make‑up, medication, candles, deodorant and anything of great value or sentimental value.

Effectiveness and Cost

Bed Bug heat treatment absolutely does work and is the best option available for complete eradication of bed bugs. Now of course, the question is, “How much does it cost?”

Should you choose to hire a professional to heat your entire home, the cost generally starts at $1 per square foot with a minimum of $1,500. Depending on the size of your home, you could be looking at in excess of $3,000. You will also need to prepare your entire home for the heat treatment including removing things that melt, plants, pets, valuable and sentimental items. The treatment also requires to you exit the home for the entire day during the treatment process. Many professionals will also recommend that you have a chemical treatment and often will not start the work until you have purchased and encased all the mattresses in your home. This can run you several hundreds of dollars as it is important to purchase good quality mattress protectors so that they don’t rip and become useless.

Should you decide you are ready to save your sanity and your money by choosing to rent from Bed Bugs Dead Bugs, the cost of the rental depends on how many rooms you wish to treat. Often bed bugs are only located in the bedrooms. If that is the case, you can treat two bedrooms in a single-family house or townhouse for as little as $200 for a 24-hour rental. If you need to treat more bedrooms, you can rent for an additional day or two for $150 per day.

If you live in an apartment building or condominium, we have equipment specially designed to deal with the lower power availability by getting half the power from your 220v stove outlet and the rest from regular wall outlets. Once again, you can treat two rooms in 24 hours and the cost for the first day is $225 and $150 for each day after that.

Now with all this information at hand, you can rest easy in the knowledge that heat treatment is your best option and Bed Bugs Dead Bugs is your most affordable way to turn your bed bugs into dead bugs.