Drexel Chemical Company' Masterfume for Bed Bugs? Same as DOW's Vikane?

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Drexel Chemical Company' Masterfume for Bed Bugs? Same as DOW's Vikane?

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takecareofit

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Posted 11 months ago
Tue May 29 2012 23:17:03
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Hi everyone

The PCO I am considering using uses Masterfume, Sulfuryl Fluoride, by Drexel Chemical. Apparently, once DOW's patent expired for Vikane, Drexel Chemical made Masterfume.

The PCO assures me it is the same and works for bed bugs and this is what they use all the time for bed bug fumigations.

Does anyone here on these boards know if Masterfume will be equivalent?

Thank you
Nobugsonme

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Posted 11 months ago
Wed May 30 2012 0:06:04
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Sulfuryl fluoride is the ingredient of Vikane.
DougSummersMS

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Posted 11 months ago
Wed May 30 2012 8:55:25
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Same active ingredient with a different trade name produced by a competitor of Dow.

Here is the manual... 3x treatment for bed bugs is specified on page 4
http://www.drexchem.com/Portals/0/MasterFumeManualrev2.pdf
takecareofit

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Posted 11 months ago
Wed May 30 2012 19:54:56
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Thank you
debugrrr

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Posted 5 months ago
Thu Dec 13 2012 21:08:28
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Hi folks,
Something a bit confusing is going on with the "dosage" that Drexel is recommending for using Master Fume for bed bugs. The document that DougSummersMS refers to, above, indicates a 3X multiplier over the base level for termites.

But if you look at their page at http://www.drexchem.com/MasterFumeFumigant/tabid/100/Default.aspx you can see in the lower left that there are links to some specific labels for California, Nevada and Florida that each quote the multiplier, "1.3X-3X". Indeed, one of the PCOs we're talking to from is giving us a quote for a 1.3x dose of Master Fume. They say they use Master Fume for bed bugs because otherwise they would need a lot more Vikane. Another PCO, that uses Vikane, gave us two quotes, for 1.5x and 3x. Other docs linked to from the very same page have the simple "3X" multiplier.

Does anyone know the backstory for why there'd be different numbers for these 3 states? Is there any good guidance out there for how much of either gas we actually need? The first PCO assures me the 1.3x dose of Master Fume will be effective...

Thanks!
Beyond Bed Bugs

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Posted 5 months ago
Fri Dec 14 2012 10:23:17
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Masters fume manufactured by Driscoll, Vikane by Dow and Xythor by in Ensystix are all the same fumigation agent chemically called Sulfuryl Fluoride. The concentration levels required to eliminate confirmed target pests are listed on the labeling/dosing instructions from each individual manufacture and should be followed as such by a licensed operator to comply with the certifications that are required to administer each, And can be provided free of charge by contacting bed bugs and beyond free consulting services.

With that being said sulfuryl fluoride to eliminate bedbugs has been tested and confirmed to be effective by using 1X concentration but remember selling chemical agents is a business and therefore these findings have not yet been widely distributed as the manufacturers desire is to sell as much product as possible and legal hoops that must be achieved to change labeling concentration level instructions are time-consuming and costly.

Currently 3X is the concentration level that is documented on most manufacturers of any sufuryl fluoride product which brand names again are master fume, vikane and Xythor. [company advertisement deleted].
Koebner

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Posted 5 months ago
Fri Dec 14 2012 11:45:36
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Well done, wholly failed to answer the question and crowbarred your trading name in there along with an offer to provide a referral service of questionable relevance & utility - y'all get a ~~kickback~~ referral fee for that?

Are BB&B operating a social media strategy now? That post has the sulphrous whiff of SMS about it.
Nobugsonme

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Posted 5 months ago
Fri Dec 14 2012 12:01:25
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Sorry, Koebner, that's partly my fault.

I suggested to the owner of Bed Bugs and Beyond that someone there might be able to answer this legitimate question about dosage, which is appreciated. I did so because we don't have any active members who perform Vikane treatments (or in this case, arrange them).

However, the advertisement at the end violates the forum rules against advertising in forum posts and has been deleted.

I had not heard that 1x was now considered sufficient for bed bugs. That's interesting.
debugrrr

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Posted 5 months ago
Mon Dec 17 2012 15:21:10
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Thanks, Beyond Bed Bugs, for the answer - it's a helpful glimpse into what's going on here in the industry. You've probably got some rules around what you can say, since you need to adhere to what the labels say. Can you point to any info on the web about studies that are finding 1X to be effective on bedbugs?

We ended up going with the 3X concentration of Vikane, from the company that offered to do either 1.5X or 3X. The guy I talked to from their company said that there's been some published research by either the chemical companies or other scientists working for them that have found these lower concentrations to be effective. They've even been doing it themselves in some larger commercial jobs, where they're checking the results. But for residential situations like ours, he's still recommending 3X. It certainly seems to be the published number for Vikane everywhere as far as I can see (though Dow's web site makes it really hard to find any remotely technical information).

While we went with the 3X, it does seem like it would be pretty reasonable to go with these lower concentrations as well. We would have felt a little more comfortable with it if we'd had access to some primary source material on this research showing its effectiveness.