Bed Bug Heat Treatments

Heat is heat! Right?
Our customers will have often called other companies to try to get the best price for a bed bug heat treatment, and here at Trust K9, we always take the time to explain the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of heat treatment that are available.
Firstly, it is important to understand the principle behind heat treatment for bed bugs.

It is quite a simple idea really; unlike mammals insects are incapable of regulating their body temperature, so if you can take the temperature to either the extremes of hot or cold this will have a fatal effect of the insect. It would be impractical if not impossible to lower the temperature of a property sufficiently to kill all the bugs and eggs without causing significant damage to the building. So that leaves heat!

So how hot is too hot?
All insects have their own thermal death point dependent on their size and density of their carapace. The thermal death point of the temperate bed bug (Cimex lectularius) is around 46 degrees Celsius. At this temperature all stages of bed bug life including eggs start to die.

What are the different types of heat treatment?
There are two main types of heat treatment, structural heat and pod/tented heat. These types of heat treatment can then be split down according to the method used to deliver the heat.

Pod/Tented heat.

Heat pods/tents are used to heat up the contents of the room whilst the remainder of the

Example of a Heat Tent

room is unaffected by the heat, meaning that an effective bed bug treatment will still require the use of chemicals to eliminate the bed bugs that are in the fabric of the room which can take up to 5 weeks and in some cases repeated chemical applications. Whilst this type of heat treatment is not as effective for use in the home or hotel it can be excellent for treating suitcases when returning from travel or treating your belongings if you are moving from a shared house or fully furnished flat.

Structural Bed Bug Heat Treatment

Structural Heat Treatment

As the name suggests structural heat treatments will heat up the whole room including skirting boards and light fittings (areas that are very popular with bed bugs). This enables the effective treatment of the property with the option of having a chemical free treatment. This is the option used by Trust K9.

Next week I will be covering ‘Methods of delivering heat treatments’

Till next time
Sleep tight
Pete