How to Kill Bedbugs by Heating the Home

A clothes dryer is a great bedbug killing tool.

The common bedbug or Cimex lectularius is notoriously difficult to treat. With their nearly-flat bodies, bedbugs wedge themselves into cracks and crevices, well out of sight and out of the reach of insecticide sprays. Bedbugs have also become resistant to pyrethroid insecticides. But heat, including steam heat, kills bedbug adults, larvae or nymphs and eggs, according to Dr. Dini M. Miller, Virginia Tech entomologist.

Things You'll Need

• Clothes dryer
• Resealable plastic bags
• Steam cleaner
• Professional exterminator
• Portable heating device

Instructions

1. Launder all clothes, bedding, small pillows or soft toys that are safe to be laundered. Place items like pillows, stuffed animals or drapes in a dryer set at the highest possible heat setting for 10 minutes. Clothes that are already clean can skip the washing machine and go into a dryer on high heat for 10 minutes, according to “The Bed Bug Book.”

2. Place all newly cleaned or dried items in resealable plastic bags to prevent bedbugs from getting into the items.

3. Steam-clean furniture, mattresses and carpets at a moving pace of only 12 inches per 30 seconds. That means slowly. Use a large steamer head. Also clean baseboards and tacking strips on carpeting. This exposes the bugs to heat high enough and long enough for them to die. You can leave this up to professional exterminators, or you can rent a cleaner yourself. Whichever way you go, the cleaning work needs to be done slowly. All wet items need to be allowed to dry thoroughly before you inhabit the room again.

4. Buy or rent a portable heating device, or contact a licensed exterminator that uses an industrial version of portable heat-extraction or steam-cleaning devices -- larger equipment -- that blow hot air, raising temperatures to 120 degrees F. These devices must be on for four or more hours to kill bedbugs at all stages of life. A second treatment may be necessary abut two weeks later to kill any bugs that managed to survive the first treatment.

Tips & Warnings

• Whole-room heating systems are very large; they have multiple parts and cost thousands of dollars. It’s best to hire an exterminator that uses a whole-room heating system rather than try to do it yourself. Always ask the exterminator what items in the room could be damaged from the heat and should be removed.

• Exterminators will need the homeowner to do extensive preparation work before they can treat the home, such as cleaning up all clutter, removing pictures from walls and removing all hanging clothes. This prep work is essential.

• Never just turn the home heating up as far as possible. This is will not get the home hot enough to kill bedbugs.

• Never place objects in black plastic bags and leave them in direct sunlight. This, too, will fail to become hot enough to kill bedbugs and may damage the items inside the bag.

References

• Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: Bed Bug Treatment Using Pesticides
• Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: Using Heat to Kill Bed Bugs
• Cornell University New York State Integrated Pest Management:FAQ List for Bed Bugs
• "The Bed Bug Book"; Ralph H. Maestre

Resources

• Mayo Clinic: Bedbugs
• University of Kentucky Entomology: Bed Bugs