Turning Up the Heat on Bed Bugs in Hotels and Apartment Units
For bed bugs, the numerous hiding spots in hotels, apartment buildings, and college dorms can be simply too inviting to pass up. All those nooks and crannies, combined with a healthy amount of residents there for “company”, make these multi-unit buildings a prime location for a bed bug infestation to dig in - meaning headaches for residents and an unwanted expenditure for the landlord.
This Effective Bed Bug Elimination Method is More than Just Hot Air
But while many conventional methods of bed bug eradication can be costly, time-consuming, and not always effective, heat treatment may actually be a faster, cleaner, and more surefire way of clearing out your bed bug problem once and for all.
Why You May Want To Meet the Heat
For anyone who’s been through it, bed bug elimination by pesticide may not always be the right solution in all cases. Although more immediately effective, pesticides, as well as freeze or steam treatments, require direct contact to the bed bug to induce death, can take several visits to truly eliminate all bugs, and often require homeowners to remove furniture and put their lives on hold while the chemicals do their work.
Bringing these personal items - like backpacks, purses, and linens - back into a treated area without taking proper precautions may provide bed bugs clinging on to your possessions an easy way to get right back to infesting your space. While your pest expert may be able to eliminate bed bugs within the building itself, this can require careful coordination with tenants that may simply be too difficult.
Those looking to eliminate every last bed bug may want to consider heat treatment. This method utilizes the bugs’ natural weakness to heat, fully eliminating the problem in just a few hours without using a drop of chemicals.
How Heat Treatment Does Its Job
Like all living things, bed bugs can only withstand a certain amount of heat before they die - around 125 degrees fahrenheit, give or take a few degrees. At this point, their waxy exoskeletons will begin to melt, exposing them to the heat and killing them after just 90 minutes. At 135 degrees, they will last just around 20 minutes - and within 90 minutes at this temperature, their eggs will start to be destroyed as well.
In most heat treatments, pest experts will use huge space heaters and fans to circulate hot air throughout the room, creating a current of hot air that brings the temperature throughout the room as high as 135 degrees. This is held for about 90 minutes, after which time 100 percent of all bed bugs and their eggs can safely be considered dead. This temperature is likely too low to have any effect on your appliances or electronics - a favorite hiding place for bed bugs, by the way - and so it can reduce the risk of re-introduction after the tenants move back in.
This method is an extremely efficient at eliminating a bed bug infestation completely, and can take as little as 8-12 hours to completely clean a standard two- to three-bedroom space.
Bed Bugs Just Can’t Stand The Heat
Although it may take a bit more planning ahead of time, heat treating bed bugs may actually be more efficient and effective at eliminating bed bugs than traditional pesticides.
If you’re in the hospitality industry or own or manage income properties and are in need of effective bed bug solutions, contact JP Pest Services for a free consultation.
