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Packtite?

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Desparate

newbite
Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 19

Posted 4 months ago
Fri Jul 10 2009 23:41:55
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I would like to hear from those who are using Packtite. Does it work?

When we travel - always by car - we take four suitcases. From what I have read the only way to use this without bringing all into the house and then into the unit one at a time while the others re-invest the house, is to bring each suitcase in, bake it for four hours - while the others remain in the vehicle. Is this what you do?

What about the car? I am sure in route if there are bb they can get into the car. While this has nothing to do with Packtite (though indirectly as the cases waiting for baking are in the car) what is done to insure the car is de-bugged.
MuchoInsano

junior member
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 54

Posted 2 months ago
Sun Sep 13 2009 3:19:29
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I got my Pactite a couple of days ago and just tried it out today. The first thing I did was to bake my suitcase:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41842264@N06/sets/72157622353733516/

The suitcase only had a laptop bag and an army backpack inside, so it only took 45 minutes to get up to 120 F inside the laptop bag. I shut it off one hour later (at 143F). I am sure it will take longer when clothing is packed inside the suitcase (and it is less than 82F in the room!). There is no doubt that it works. It gets hot enough and stays there long enough to kill all stages of bedbugs.

My plan is simple. I will keep contractor bags in the car. In addition to this, I will keep some clothing in the suitcase that is sealed in a bag. When I get back from my trip, I will go to the rest room, change into the sealed clothes and put the old ones in the suitcase.

When I get to my car, I will put the entire suitcase into a contractor bag and tie it up for the ride home. When I get home the suitcase will go from the bag directly into the Packtite. After it has shown that the interior contents have heated up to over 120F and stayed there for over an hour, I will start removing items.

This seems like the safest way to travel. Let me know what you think.
buggyinsocal

oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130

Posted 2 months ago
Sun Sep 13 2009 10:34:14
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My rollaboard suitcase (you know, the kind that will fit in the overhead bin of most planes that aren't regional commuter jets and /or MD-80s) will fit inside an XXL ziplock.

So when I get home from a trip, if it's late and I don't have time to unpack and inspect that night (I don't yet have a Packtite), I just drop the whole bag, still packed, right into the ziplock bag and seal the whole thing up tight.

I would be wary about leaving them in the trunk of the car since then if there are any bugs, the bugs might move into the car, and cars are a lot harder to treat than homes because there aren't a lot of options for them.

Contractor bags (made of heavier duty plastic than regular bags so harder to rip) and XXL ziplocks fold up nice and small. I usually pack a few extras in the suitcase when I travel.

I also make darned sure that I thoroughly inspect every hotel room I stay in. a number of my frequent travel buddies have also learned how to inspect from me. They taught their frequent travel buddies.

Last month, one friend from the Bay Area told me that one of her coworkers stopped at a motel on a long drive back from a job at a convention, and upon inspection of her room, found enough signs that she checked out and got a room somewhere else.

There is, at present, no one magic bullet to treat bed bugs. Given how the bugs work, there probably never will be. It takes a coordinated effort including inspection, prevention, and devices like the Packtite to keep yourself protected against bed bugs and radically decrease the chances of taking an infestation home.