Dr. Michael Potter covers that, in the article from January’s PCTOnline:

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.

Your own home freezer is not going to be cold enough, and even if it was, it would have to remain closed for the duration.

Relying on Mother Nature has failed for some. We’ve had some reports that “leaving things out in the snow for a month” did not work, and this is probably why. Add the fact that what you packed may insulate the bed bugs to a degree (just as a comforter can insulate them in a dryer) and you may be very disappointed.

If you have access to a below O Fahrenheit freezer (check the temperatures), book it for two weeks. It will probably work as per Dr. Potter’s words. Be sure and let us know.

Warning: I would not freeze electronic items. You can ruin the item, and you might even electrocute yourself later.

If you can offer below zero degree F freezing space, feel free to leave a link to your site in the comments below.

Updated 10/2007:

(The following was a forum response by nobugsonme, in this thread, to a poster whose PCO suggested sticking things in the freezer for a day to kill bed bugs.)

How cold does your freezer get? Do you intend to open it during the time you are freezing this stuff? How thick is the stuff?

No one can tell you what will work for sure with your freezer. How long freezing bed bugs takes depends on these kinds of factors.

Here’s something else to consider: entomologist Lou Sorkin froze bed bugs. He has a seriously cold freezer. This is what he said:

“I had them in a freezer at -29dF for 4 hours and some 1st instars lived. But [in] 5 days they also died.”

(Taken from the Yahoo Bedbugger Group, click here and join to read message 3739).

Your home freezer is bound to be much warmer than Lou’s professional one.

Also, Lou said in another message that I can’t locate right now, that when he removed some bed bugs from the freezer after shorter period (which I think was within a day, maybe shorter), they appeared dead, and then defrosted and were still alive.

Lou’s data suggests 5 days works if your freezer reaches -29 degrees F. But we have suggested freezing for weeks to be safer, if it does not get that cold.

And freezing does not mean placing it in a freezer you use all the time. If the door is opening and shutting, the temperature will rise each time the door is opened.

Some people have bought $200 box freezers to freeze important stuff. Pricey, but so is tossing shoes and important things out. Putting the stuff in and leaving it undisturbed for two weeks seems promising.

• Bed bugs in Patagonia, can’t use dryer, with backpack: what to do?
• FAQ: I stayed somewhere that had bed bugs. What do I do to keep from taking them home?
• extreme temperatures: steaming, laundry, vacuuming, & “leaving stuff out”
• Lavender oil won’t do it: do any “natural remedies” work for bed bugs?

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Also see the classic (2004) by Doggett: “The resurgence of bed bugs in Australia with notes on their ecology and control.”

And you were excited about the new Harry Potter installment coming out tomorrow at midnight?
Looks like we have something to keep us busy until then. Thanks, Stephen Doggett!

And for those who keep claiming bed bugs are not in any way a health concern, please note that Dr. Doggett is a medical entomologist.

• bed bug life cycle photo
• Bed bug infestations on the increase in Australia, says The Age
• New NYC DOHMH factsheets on bed bugs
• FAQ: What are bed bugs? Do I have them? What else could be causing this?

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Don’t think that booking into a five-star hotel will offer you protection. Earlier this year, a US lawyer sued a luxury hotel in London after he and his wife had been badly bitten.

And then this bit of misinformation:

A better - and cheaper - alternative is never to go anywhere without a lavender oil spray: apparently, it’s the one thing the little bastards can’t stand.

I can vouch for the fact that lavender oil sprayed on people and bedding will not keep bed bugs away. They may not like it (that’s possible), but hungry bed bugs will persist.

Better advice for travelers: watch the CBC video about bed bugs, which includes a demonstration of how to inspect a hotel room for bed bugs. It is about 10-15 minutes long and you will be glad you watched it. Read our FAQ on travel. Inspect your bed, keep your clothing sealed in XL ziplocs inside your suitcase, and inspect it after you come home too. While there may be bed bugs in the room that you miss on inspection, it’s unlikely to be one of those nightmare stories with 50 bites in a night. That kind of infestation, I have a hunch you’d see signs of, if you look.

And if you do have bed bugs at home, already, don’t waste your time spraying lavender, thyme, tea tree, or eucalyptus in the sheets, or sprinkling sweet rice or boric acid around your bedroom.

The only home remedy I think is safe and works is food grade diatomaceous earth, which is a mechanical killer, not a repellent. But that is unlikely to quickly clear up the entire problem. And it is not wise to start self-treating, since some PCOs won’t even treat you if there’s evidence you have.

I always send people to find a good PCO who knows bed bugs.

Believe me, if there was evidence supporting a quick, easy, natural cure, we’d be all about it here. Bed bugs are so resilient, they can withstand 100 degree temperatures (for a while), survive a stint in your freezer, and even live through multiple pest control treatments, before finally succumbing. They can live, apparently, for a year without eating. They want to live, breed, and suck your blood. A little essential oil is not going to ward them off.

There is one thing lavender is good for, when you have bed bugs: it’s known to make you a bit sleepy. Dab some on your pillow, ask your doctor if it’s okay for you to pop a melatonin (natural sleep enhancer found where you buy vitamins), and it just might help with the bed bug-related insomnia.

Update 7/19/2007:

Non-chemical methods of treating bed bugs that can work (if done properly) are steam, thermal, and freezing. There is information on the “dealing with clothing and other stuff” pages, including a link to Stephen Doggett’s Bed Bug Code of Practice, which covers these briefly, and to Dr. Michael Potter’s research on heat, steam, etc. Keep in mind it is probably not possible for you to kill your own bed bugs by freezing or heating your home. You may live in an area where professionals know how to and can employ this technology. The temperatures must be changed quickly, and this is why, for example, setting up space heaters in your home is not going to cut it (though you may spread bed bugs around the building, and you may start a fire!)

• FAQ: I stayed somewhere that had bed bugs. What do I do to keep from taking them home?
• Bed bug travel pracautions getting around
• Disney guests paid off to keep quiet about bed bugs
• Burned by bed bugs? A cool vacation idea…

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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

Steaming: it works, but commercial steamers only. Must be deadly hot and applied carefully (read the article!)

Collette, a reader, shared her success story here: she used steam to get bed bugs out of her home.

Readers and PCOs have recommended the following dry steamers for home use:

This is the White Wing steamer that S mentioned in this thread.

This is the Reliable T730a that reader pleasehelp had seen recommended by a PCO:

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!

• FAQ: dry cleaners and bed bugs
• FAQ: Leaving stuff out to freeze, walk-in freezers, etc: how cold and how long?
• Tales of bed bug woe: Allergicgirl’s questions
• FAQ: I stayed somewhere that had bed bugs. What do I do to keep from taking them home?

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A non-toxic pesticide marketer claims it has a new product (Cryonite) which can freeze out bed bugs. Lifestyle Extra Fincance News says:

Venteco PLC, the non-toxic pest control investment compant, said it has deployed bed bug eradication technology to its first hotel, potentially opening a major new market.

With cryonite technology, which freezes pests using a patented carbon dioxide snow, Venteco said it stands to corner a receptive market since the incidence of bed bugs - which conventional insecticides find difficult to tackle - is reputedly on the rise. To hotel operators, cryonite is an attractive alternative to traditional pesticides since they are able to re-let the room immediately after use and avoid lost revenue.

Hotel schmotel: bring on the residential version!

Trials of the cryonite technology were carried out by Insect Investigations Ltd, an independent pest control research firm. They achieved a 100 pct kill rate of bed bug adults, nymphs and eggs.

If this is true, and reasonably priced, and safe, bring it on.

From the Swedish Cryonite website: Cryonite in the news, and about the Cryonite System.

Well, Bedbuggers, this technology has been developed since 1996, and the NYTimes talked about it in 2003. But given the bed bug pandemic, it looks set to be developed for this purpose. Let’s hope they market it here in the US, and soon. There’s a Cryonite machine handbook here. (Warning: clicking the link will download a PDF.) Thanks to Ken for the manual link.

• The Wall Street Journal on “new” bed bug-fighting tactics
• Bed bugs in Detroit and Troy, Michigan
• Bed bugs in Time Out New York’s Apartment issue
• And another ray of hope from Vancouver’s VANDU

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