Subtitle: killing the little b@#$%^&s
Attention: the FAQ below was written before the invention of a tool which many readers will find useful. The Packtite allows people to easily use heat to remove bed bugs from items which can’t go in a washer or dryer on hot, such as unwashable clothing, books, papers, shoes, etc. You can read more in the Packtite FAQ.
Laundry
This FAQ started out with the title: “Heat and bed bugs: 5 minutes in a dryer– really? Say it’s so!” The first part outlines my reaction to a brief article, and the second answers many of my questions with a more detailed article. I realize this is kind of roundabout, but I did not want to delete the original post entirely.
I started out by considering a fascinating brief article in PCT Online (Dec 2006) that rounds up information provided by bed bug researchers in a panel at the 2006 National Pest Management Association Conference. What’s interesting is that the researchers cover a wide variety of topics (from the efficacy of various pesticides to the usefulness (or not) of vacuuming, steaming, and hot dryers.
Personally, I was intrigued by University of Kentucky entomologist Michael Potter’s assertion that a normal machine wash would kill bed bugs (“normal” as in, not hot ?), and five minutes in a hot dryer would kill bed bugs and eggs. I said I’d like to see more data on this–I did not doubt it at all, but is it really so? Since a wash won’t kill eggs, this must be why the hot wash / hot dry combo are always recommended in university fact sheets. We’re told the dryer is what kills the eggs. But I think I’ve only seen Dr. Potter being quoted as saying five minutes drying was enough.
A hot dryer apparently runs at about 180 F. I doubt this temperature is achieved after five minutes, though. Can five minutes on a temperature somewhere below 194 F be enough, when companies providing thermal treatments do so at a core temperature of 140 F for four hours? (Winston clarifies this in the comments.)
But this is the only source I’ve seen on “five minutes being enough” (though it has been quoted in newspaper articles). Personally, habit and skepticism have had me recommending drying for over an hour. I always say, “dry on hot till it’s bone dry, then add 20 minutes.”
But then, dear Reader, I confess, I dotted my bed with lavender oil for months, hoping its reputed repellent properties would keep bed bugs away. I figured it probably wouldn’t, and it didn’t. But it was hard to give up this habit, since I believed it might be helping. That is kind of irrational, but I guess that’s what sleeping 4 hours a night does for you.
Since washing and drying and storing clothing properly can make such a difference to bed bug treatment, I emphasized that we want to be sure we’re doing it right. It would be such a blessing for people to only have to dry things on hot for five minutes. It would save not only time, but lots of clothing items that simply can’t handle washing on hot and drying for an hour on hot. For those reasons, I hoped we could get more information on the research that was done.
So then, I remembered one motto here at Bedbugger Ask, and ye shall receive. (Information, people, only ask for information. If you need $500, it ain’t gonna happen.)
And lo and behold, Hopelessnomo pointed me to more information that is available from Michael Potter (and colleagues) in another PCT article, this one from January 2007. SO I have re-titled and re-written this post, since it now is a whole lot more useful and contains a whole lot more tidbits.
I’ll quote the section on laundry in full:
Bed bugs often infest bedding, clothing and other personal belongings which cannot be treated with insecticides. An oft-mentioned way to de-bug such items is laundering — yet to our knowledge, no testing has been done to verify effectiveness. A simple experiment was conducted to study this question. Three groups of live bed bug adults, nymphs and eggs were placed in small nylon mesh pouches which were then placed inside cotton socks. The bed bug-provisioned socks (along with a full load of clothing) were then run through a standard wash cycle using hot water. A second trial was run with similarly infested socks placed only in a clothes dryer. The bed bug-laden socks were accompanied by a load of unwashed clothing and subjected to high heat (greater than 175° F) for five minutes. No bed bugs or eggs survived the washing or drying cycles, suggesting that either regimen, alone or in combination, is effective.
Clothing, footwear, area rugs, toys, stuffed animals, backpacks and other non-launderable items can conveniently be de-infested by heating them for a period of time in a dryer at most settings. For reference, a typical clothes dryer run for five minutes at low, medium or high heat produced temperatures of about 140, 150 and 180°F, respectively, amongst a bundle of dry clothing– plenty hot to kill bed bugs. While certain items may require professional dry-cleaning, utilizing conventional washers and dryers may help limit the spread of bed bugs to these establishments.
This information suggests that either a hot machine wash, or a hot dryer running for five minutes with already dry clothing, will kill bed bugs and eggs. As Nomo suggests in the comments below (written before I added this update) “five minutes with dry items” is not so different from what we’ve been recommending at Bedbugger all along: “bone dry plus 20 minutes.” Well, make that “bone dry plus five.” I don’t blame if you if, like me, you’re a bit skeptical and want to stick to “twenty minutes past dry”– we won’t call you neurotic.
As John sang, “Whatever gets you through the night, it’s alright, it’s alright.” For Bedbuggers, that’s another motto around here. The promise of a good night’s sleep is the grail.
The rest of the information from the January article is also more detailed and informative than the summary from December. Let me give you the highlights from what Dr. Potter et. al. recommend:
Discarding infested stuff: yes, but only if necessary. Seek a qualified PCO’s advice (qualified = knows the enemy well). If you are tossing it, wrap it well (and mark it!) and realize that if your neighbors or surrounding community pick up the item, they may come back via a crack in your shared wall, a visit to a dry cleaner’s, or the local diner. That should make anyone think twice and thrice.
Encasement: use high quality encasings that won’t tear.
Vacuums: harder to pick up bed bugs and eggs than you think; doesn’t really help unless you hit their harborage areas in a targeted way. Discard bags carefully (bed bugs can survive the trip down the hose), and do not use vacuum brushes, since they can lodge in the bristles. The dirty little so-and-so’s.
Steam
The steam portion of this FAQ has now been incorporated into the new FAQ on steam:
How to kill bed bugs with steam. It’s relevant both to treating your home and furniture and steamable “stuff” too.
Seasonal temperatures (“putting stuff outside”)
Regarding seasonal temperatures, backpackers take note: We get a lot of questions at Bedbugger about whether “leaving stuff outside” works–and occasionally hear from people who tried it and failed. I think it comes down to the temperature, the length of time, and what you provided the bed bugs to nestle in. (The last complaint I heard was someone whose down comforter had bed bugs surviving the cold — well, perhaps it was a very warm down comforter, and maybe it just was not cold enough outside to freeze them within it.) The article says:
Lethal outdoor temperatures have long been employed in the battle against bed bugs. In the tropics, infested bedding is often left out in the sun and such methods can also be used during warm seasons in this country. It’s risky, however, to rely on ambient heating to achieve lethal temperatures in all harborage locations. Wrapping items in plastic before placing them outdoors in a sunny location (preferably on pavement), produces higher internal temperatures. It also pays not to over pack — more trash bags with fewer items make it harder for bed bugs to find cooler places to hide. Monitoring with a thermometer is also prudent, with a target internal temperature of at least 120° F.
In colder climates, freezing might be a way to de-infest furniture and other belongings. Bed bugs and their eggs can be killed by very low temperatures, but it is difficult to achieve them without using a deep freezer. Temperatures below 0°F for one to two weeks are generally believed to be needed to reliably kill all life stages. Fluctuating winter temperatures which often extend above this level are probably less effective and are currently being studied by Dr. Steven Kells at the University of Minnesota. Overall and throughout much of the country, heating tends to be a faster, more reliable option than chilling.
Well, that’s all for now. I greatly appreciated reading this research. Thanks to Dr. Potter and his team.
And special thanks to Hopelessnomo, who mentioned the article in the forums, and directed me to further sources.
Update (7/19/2007):
Additional information on thermal, cold, steam, etc. is included in Stephen L. Doggett’s Bed Bug Code of practice. See the table of contents.
Frank, at the War on Bed Bugs, also did an interesting post on hot and cold treatments. Check it out.
Update (10/4/2007):
Some people have recommended something like this for drying shoes in the dryer:
Update 12/07:
If you are thinking of using a dry cleaner for some or all of your clothing, read this FAQ first!
Update 1/08:
NotSoSnug points us to a library protocol for getting bugs out of books:
I should add that there is a librarian protocol to heat paperwork at 130degF for 3hrs to kill insects (remember to include a pan of water to keep some humidity). Any longer will melt binding glue (I know I forgot one night and it did). Also, till tape receipts are heat sensitive so they will turn dark. Annoying if you need the receipts for business!
See the ‘Bookworm’ section, Paragraph #7:
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r8820e/r8820e07.htm
Thanks, NotSoSnug!
Update 6/2009:
For clothing which will be washed, you have the option of packing laundry in GreenClean bags. They allow you to seal in dirty laundry, and wash the items directly in the bag, which will dissolve in the laundry process. They provide an alternative to using and throwing away garbage bags.
You can read about or purchase them by clicking this banner:
Similar Posts:
- eliminating bed bugs from clothes, shoes, furniture, and other stuff
- FAQ: dry cleaners and bed bugs
- FAQ: Leaving stuff out to freeze, walk-in freezers, etc: how cold and how long?
- FAQ: how do I deal with clothing during treatment for bed bugs (and for a while later)?
- Waterbury, Connecticut: let’s try less shame, and better information about bed bugs
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Will the normal home washer and dryer will be efficient in killing of the bug?
so, i came across this site because i have managed to decrease my daily intake of bedbug bites.
i threw out all mattresses and i got a spray called: JT EATON bedbugs killer.
Anyway, my infestation was not bad at all. However, the day I threw my mattresses out, I turned them over to see what my “problem” looked like. I noticed there was only one bedbug, on each bed, that was near the head of the bed(this is so gross). I knew there were more bedbugs inside the mattress, but wasn’t trying to disturb them. I immediatelly thew out the mattresses and bagged up everything in the one bedroom that had them and the living room. My second bedroom didn’t have them because the person sleeping in there rarely got bit. I or the people living with me, did not want to sleep on a mattress filled with dead bedbugs, fecal amtter and dried blood.
So, I sprayed in all the areas of possible infestation(cracks and crevices in the walls,along the baseboards.
I even started vaccuming twice a day, now that I am on vacation.
Since then, I have been bitten 4 nites in a row.
I am still looking for the one thing or several things that will help me eliminate these creatures.
When I go back to work, I don’t want to have to worry about getting bit everynight and coming to work scratching up a storm.
I have tried some other things like using a BLOW DRYER directly on them. The only thing with that is you could blow them away and not find them…
I was told directy pouring alcohol on them dries their nasty little bodies up quickly.
I must say that I have used the lavendar oil and the oil seems to cut down on the irritaion I guess because the bugs slide off of you(thats if you put the oil right before you go to bed).
I am on a diligent search, so right now, I am going to start my process of vaccuuming before I go into the bedrooms and clean in there!
bugy’s shame,
The reason I recommend you use a professional pest control operator (PCO) with experience killing bed bugs is because they’re actually hard to get rid of.
Very hard.
I am not sure which Eaton spray you’re using (they have more than one bed bug product), but a google of the full name and the term “MSDS” will get you information on what you’re actually using. Knowing this would help others advise you.
Most PCOs use a variety of methods including sprays and dusts, strategically applied. And they generally have to repeat treatment (though a PCO who finds the bed bugs’ harborages will probably get away with fewer follow-ups).
Dry vapor steam, again used strategically (see the Steam FAQ linked from the post above), can be useful. But you need to do your research.
Lavender oil may make you feel better but it will not get rid of bed bugs or stop them feeding.
You need to recognize also that if any neighbors with homes attached to yours (above, below, sides) have bed bugs, they also need professional inspections. They may have no idea, they may not react to the bites.
If you want to discuss your methods further, please come to the forums:
http://bedbugger.com/forum/
It looks like the options are:
- Any heat above x F will kill within 5 minutes
- For lower heat, anything above 7 will kill, but will take at least 3 hours.
Can any of the entomologists here weigh in on what x and y are, and what are some useful midpoints (i.e. allow you to bake some shoes without burning them and without taking 4 hours)
Thank you
Hi there
Happy New Year, and I do hope it will be bedbug free for you all
This site was really helpful, however I am confused with all the different suggestions and ideas, and I don’t know what to do next, especially since I don’t have mush time to the next PCO visit, and I have to do something!
I read here that you should combine washing and drying on hot just to be safe enough. I understand now, which is comforting, that washing on hot might be enough. I don’t have a dryer – it’s really not a standard in my country – and in summer we dry our clothes outside, while in winter we dry it inside the house where it’s pretty warm thanks to the central heating. Is this enough? Please tell me it is cause this is the only thing I can do! I have lots of clothes, and shoes and purses, and I have no clue what to do. I was happy to read freezing might help, but it doesn’t seem safe enough. Now we have temperatures around -10 Celsius at night and lower, and during the day around -5. But I read here it’s not enough!
I’ve discovered this site a week ago and all I’ve been doing is reading and reading and reading, trying to learn what my next step should be. I got bbs in late July 2008, I brought them from a boat in Italy, which later discovered the infestation but didn’t let me know.
I had problems and was severely bitten at the beginning. I moved from bed to sofa which was a mistake of course. And then two and a half months later I discovered that bbs were to blame. I immediately called PCO – there aren’t many in my town, and I couldn’t find “the best one for bbs”. A guy came and said it wasn’t bad (I disagree now). My biggest mistake – I wasn’t home when he came, my parents were, and they didn’t ask many questions or at least not as many as I would. He sprayed a little and left, as if we will never see him again. I thought that was it (if only I found this site earlier!). Two weeks later I found live ones and called the guy again. He came and used some sort of bombs (great to read here that made the things worse…the treatment was three times more expensive than the regular one….). Again they say that should do the trick. After that bomb treatment I felt free to wash all my clothes and I rearranged all my stuff and cleaned everything up as if the bbs were dealt with completely. A mistake again, since I saw them walking around the room 3 weeks later and I freaked out completely. I call PCO again. Cause now I see them walking around in my living room, on the floor or on the wall, and I can imagine they can be absolutely everywhere, in the parquet floor, huge wooden closet… I was hoping they would be only in the bed or sofa, but I didn’t find any there anymore.
Since late October I’ve had 5 treatments, and in a few days I’m about to have the sixth one. I’ve had no advice from my PCO on how to treat my clothes, books and other stuff. Actually I’v had no advice from them whatsoever, and the first time all we got was an impression that they didn’t need to come again.
All the stuff from my closet (which was sprayed last time) was put on the pre-treated sofa, and is now on a huge pile. I am planning to start washing the stuff and bagging it and storing to another place. That is why I need advice on washing only, and not drying the clothes. Some of the stuff I will need to wash by hands, is that ok too? I have some delicate clothes that cannot be washed on more that 40 degrees Celsius and this worries me, so I’d rather wash them by hands.
My original plan was to bag the stuff which is now all around the place (for example handbags and shoes) and put them on the balcony to freeze on this cold. I have to make order somehow, but I don’t know where to start anymore, since I was a bit discouraged with this info I read here.
I live with my parents in a three-floor apartment. I’m on the third floor, I have a small bedroom and a living room and a bathroom. I found live bbs in bedroom and living room, and one dead one in the bathroom (this was before the 4th treatment). I get the feeling they could be anywhere. So far my parents haven’t had problems on the floors below. The trouble is, I’ve been sleeping on the second floor after every treatment cause my rooms smelled really bad on chemicals. So I wasn’t there most of the time to act as a bait to bbs. Furthermore, I’m planning to move in to my bfriend’s house, and I’m scared to death of taking little buggers with me. I’ve been careful as much as possible so far (instinctively and without reading any advice) and it seems I haven’t spread any, by pure luck I guess. I am worried that when I leave and go to live with my bfriend in a month or two, bbs will start looking for new victims and spread to other floors. I don’t feel comfortable leaving this place until this is resolved, but it’s a long fight and I have to go on with my life which hasn’t been normal since August.
I desperately want to do the right thing, but feel kinda lost, cause cooperating with the PCO is not something I can count on really, and finding a new one isn’t gonna help either. And you say that it’s really important to follow their advice. The only thing I can count on is that they use a lot of chemicals. Last two times they really soaked the place. Since then I haven’t seen a live one, and I found one or two dead ones. I’m scared that some might have chosen to escape from the sofa to the pile of clothes and other stuff which is now on the sofa, though I hope they will die then cause the sofa itself was saked before tossing the stuff on it, and I haven’t found any live ones before the treatment (though they might have been in the material itself).
Sorry to write all this just like that, but I’m running out of time, and reading through all this just makes me more confused. I cannot use any of the self treatment chemicals you write about here (nowhere to buy them), my mattress is not protected the way you describe it. I plan to wrap it in nylon after the next treatment, and isolate bed and sofa with vaseline, duck tapes and put the legs in bowls. I will wash my clothes and bag it and place somewhere else, but I need to know is it enough to do it in a way I described above, since I have lots of delicate clothes, and some of it cannot be washed on a temperature higher that 40 C.
I plan to bag most of the stuff in transparent garbage bags and make them airtight somehow. And then leave some sealed, the ones I probably won’t need for 18 months. Others I will maybe open after the next treatment. Though I’m afraid that bbs won’t get out when everything around is sprayed with chemicals, and they how do I know these bags are really safe?
endless flight,
The article hopelessnomo linked to in a comment above says,
175 F is 79.44 Celsius. If your washing machine will sustain a temperature of 80 C for 5 minutes, Potter’s study suggests this will suffice. If temps do not go that high, then read the comments of Fedupandparanoid at the start of the comments above. She shares data from a UK researcher about other temps used in a washer, and bed bugs.
Remember the items can become infested while being air dried or while being stored. I would not necessarily bag them once dry (as we suggest people should do with clean, dried clothing) since you may possibly be bagging bed bugs in. Still, some PCOS do not recommend bagging anyway. Bed bugs can be treated without bagging anything. It really depends on the PCO’s protocol.
The good news is that in many countries, pest control workers can use materials that are more effective than those found in the US and Canada. This may work in your favor. If you do not get actual treatment, washing and bagging stuff is not going to help much. I strongly suggest you try to find someone else (another PCO). If you tell us where you are, it may be so that someone from your country has been here before.
If you want to discuss this further, please come to the forums where you will get many more responses: http://bedbugger.com/forum/
Here are some metric conversions for you. Please add them to the main text.
0 F = -17.8 C
120 F = 48.9 C
130 F = 54.4 C
140 F = 60 C
150 F = 65.6 C
175 F = 79.4 C
180 F = 82.2 C
194 F = 90 C
(The formula for F to C is subtract 32, divide by 9, multiply by 5.)
How can I deal with clothes that cannot be washed in hot water? I can’t find anything about that anywhere. 90% of my clothing needs to be washed in cold water. What if the garments shrink and won’t fit anymore? HELP!
Suzanne,
It is not necessary to wash on hot and then dry on hot.
If you are going to dry on hot, washing on cold is fine.
If the item is not supposed to be dried in the dryer, things are more complicated. As the post above explains, you do not have to put a wet item in the dryer for however long it takes.
You can, alternatively, dry the item, then put it in a hot dryer for a much shorter period, which won’t hurt many items. The Potter study referenced in the post talked about a dry sock: bed bugs and eggs in the dry sock were killed after five minutes in a hot dryer. (If the item was wet, it would probably have taken much longer.) Keep in mind, we don’t know exactly how much longer it will take to kill bed bugs in a thicker item than a sock, so you might want to dry those a while longer.
Hope that helps.
I am currently living off of my balcony waiting to move in January to a brand new apartment still being built that will be nasty parasite free. I keep all my clothing and bedding in plastic bags after washing and drying daily in hot water. Our shoes are kept outside and any backpacks or purses are as well. This is one of the most disgusting and mentally stressful things to ever happen to me and I hope that everyone out there who is infested can get rid of them. I’m moving because the building is infested and although I am getting treated for a THIRD time tomorrow, I can’t live with the paranoia and insomnia anymore. KILL ALL THE DIRTY B*#@%$!S!!!!!!
Okay, so what about books? What about knick knacks? Do I seal those in bags also? Can I heat them to kill bugs? What do I do about the things that really CANNOT go in a dryer??
Hi kate,
Some Bedbuggers have used a Packtite to kill bed bugs in books and other items which cannot go in the dryer (or which are more easily treated in a Packtite). It does cost (approx. $295) but you don’t have a lot of easy options for this. More on Packtites here.
Please, please, do I not have any options besides buying this thing? I really really cannot afford it – will just bagging them for 18 months and making sure they are air tight do NOTHING?
Sorry, kate, I thought you were looking for other heating options besides the dryer — and I don’t think there are other good ones.
Re: bagging: no one knows exactly how long bed bugs will live in a sealed bag, but I understand that if it is sealed in an airtight fashion, for 18 months, that should definitely kill any bed bugs inside.
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