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Does this heat treatment plan sound OK? (not sure I trust the PCO)
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ohhellno
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Joined: Feb '11
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Posted 1 year ago
Mon Aug 29 2011 19:08:55
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My landlord has finally agreed to do a heat treatment on my apartment, and I spoke to the PCO today to get info about prepping. I guess they'll be going the propane pipes through the windows route, and they said that the apartment will be heated to 140 degrees. The thing is, she told me that the whole thing will only take 2 hours, and that I can just sit in the hallway of my building with my non-heat-safe stuff while I wait.
I only have a one-bedroom apartment, but everything I've read suggests it usually takes a lot longer than that, not even including the time that it takes for the apartment to cool down afterwards. I've read accounts where even 24 hours later it was too hot to go inside.
I know that this company doesn't specialize in bed bugs, but I don't know much else about them since my landlord chose them. I'm nervous that I'll be sitting out in the hallway with my cats and plants and meltable valuables and will find out after 2 hours that I can't really get in for many more hours after that.
Thoughts? Do these guys sound like they know what they're doing?
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your host
Joined: Mar '07
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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Aug 30 2011 0:04:45
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Two hours for structural heat does sound wrong to me. I am not an expert, but this is based on reading about heat treatment.
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buggyinsocal
oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Aug 30 2011 0:09:09
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I'm not a professional, just a former sufferer who had heat treatment on my one bedroom apartment with heat being piped in in ducts run into the windows from propane heaters.
The crew (two thermal guys and one chemical guy who was the company's bed bug expert) arrived at 8 am to start setting up. The heating part took well over 2 hours. (I wasn't here for the end of it as I had a family trip I couldn't reschedule, but I kept in touch with neighbors who told me that the guys were still here around 4 pm.
My apartment has a lot of stuff packed into it, so it likely would take longer for my place than for someone living a very spartan life.
However, even so, two hours seems like not enough time to me.
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ohhellno
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Joined: Feb '11
Posts: 16offline
Posted 1 year ago
Tue Aug 30 2011 10:02:48
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Thanks! I talked to the worker himself today, who said that it will actually take closer to 4-6 hours. Not sure why the receptionist thought it would be 2, but that in itself makes me kind of nervous - they must not do these often. Or maybe I'm just a worrier. Anyway, thanks!
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your host
Joined: Mar '07
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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Aug 30 2011 10:21:01
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ohhellno - 16 minutes ago »
Thanks! I talked to the worker himself today, who said that it will actually take closer to 4-6 hours. Not sure why the receptionist thought it would be 2, but that in itself makes me kind of nervous - they must not do these often. Or maybe I'm just a worrier. Anyway, thanks!We've heard lots of clueless receptionist stories, and IMO it does not necessarily mean the firm does not know what they're doing on the ground.
If you know the name of the firm, PM me and I can try and help you find posts about them here, if you haven't yet.
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buggyinsocal
oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Aug 30 2011 11:38:11
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My otherwise great PCO had people answering the phone who were just horrible. Not only did they not know anything about bed bugs, but they were actively rude and snippy to me if they thought I was the person with bed bugs. When they assumed that I was my landlord, they were all sweetness and light.
Despite that, every tech who came out to my house was great.
I've since suggested them to friends who now own a home, and their experiences with the same office have been great too (albeit for pests other than bed bugs.)
It may not be an industry-wide issue, but based on that experience, I wouldn't dismiss a company just because of the people on the phone.
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ohhellno
newbite
Joined: Feb '11
Posts: 16offline
Posted 1 year ago
Tue Aug 30 2011 19:42:01
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The clueless receptionist thing is good to know. And as of today, you can add nasty, too. How dare I ask questions about what's involved with the treatment! Grrr.
Anyway, is it common for PCOs to guarantee their work after doing a heat treatment? I know a lot of them will come back and use chemicals again if their first chemical attempt didn't work and you see evidence within 30 days. But are heat treatments usually similarly guaranteed? The nasty woman I talked to today said no one guarantees heat treatments and if it doesn't work I'll need to throw out my couch or pay for another heat treatment or have them do a chemical treatment (not an option, I'm pregnant).
And finally, do most heat treatment PCOs make any guarantee that your stuff won't be ruined? This one won't, and I feel like they've given me minimal guidance on what's OK to leave and what I should remove.
For anyone that's familiar with NYC PCOs, the company is called JB Pest Control. A quick search didn't bring up any hits on these forums for them.
THANKS!
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junior member
Joined: Jan '08
Posts: 63offline
Posted 1 year ago
Tue Aug 30 2011 22:56:26
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Heating for two hours is not sufficient if they are doing it at 140 degrees. Remember heat has to penetrate all items as well as all cracks and crevices to be effective. Heat is the pesticide. We heat once we hit temperature for four to six hours-sometimes longer if there has been an ongoing issue, there is a lot of clutter, there is a lot of stuffed furniture, there is paneling over sheet rock or plaster etc etc. We have a prep sheet for heating that will give you some guidelines. PM me and i will send it to you. Also we do offer a reheat warranty. Thirty days for apartments and sixty days for private residences. We also offer programs without a warranty but include a followup canine inspection at a lower rate. Remember that there are a lot of companies just getting into the heating process. When we started five years ago there were few in the heating business, now there are many. There also seems to be much more reports of failures. This is not due to heat but due to the techniques being used. One issue I find is with the smaller portable units that take 12-14 hours to bring an area up to temperature. You want to bring the temperature up fast enough to kill everything while not damaging anything. Heating too slowly will let the bed bugs escape. Heat is the most effective and efficient method I have used. It is not without its risks of damage. But damage can be mitigated through proper preparation, treating heat sensitive items by other methods and in some cases as with pianos and antiques reducing the heat and increasing the cook time. Hope this helps. Good luck.
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sleeplessinhonolulu
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Joined: Oct '12
Posts: 14offline
Posted 6 months ago
Tue Oct 30 2012 3:03:54
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I had no idea other companies also had clueless people answering the phones! We almost decided against our treatment because a receptionist told me flat-out that there was no guarantee on the company's treatments. When I talked to an actual PCO, I learned that, in fact, there was a guarantee, and they would do a free follow-up k9.
I can't imagine why they'd let someone with a complete lack of knowledge answer questions from potential customers.
Regarding the length of the treatment, our 1-bedroom took only 3 hours of heat (4 hours until we were back in). It was only 6 days ago, so I can't guarantee that it was effective (although it all looks good so far), but the PCO said they do heat treatments for bedbugs every day and seemed extremely knowledgeable, so I'm feeling relatively trusting. But consider: our apartment is under 500 square feet, we have very little clutter, and our climate is already hovering around 90F on an average October day. So those factors may have altered the time needed on ours. We also thought it wasn't that warm when we got back in--but again, our heat tolerance is high because of the climate.
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