I wanted to get your reaction to this plan.

I don't have bedbugs.

It's only an academic question for me, but someone sent this to me,
and I'm interested in your reaction!



We had a small infestation but was getting worse, I was starting to
get a lot of bites. First we thought fleas (even dematologist thought
this) but then we found a BB. Then we started looking carefully w/ a
flashlight along baseboards, inside nightstands, boxspring seam etc.
and found more.

People w/ apartments can't do this but I have a single family home and
we heated the house up like a sauna as follows:

1) Waited for a hot (95 degree) summer day
2) Bypassed our thermostat and cranked the heat. We have a gas
furnace. I opened the thermostat and I joined the red, white and green
wires going into the thermostat. Red gives power to green (blower) and
white (furnace). Do not try this without looking up your specific
thermostat. The wires are different for many (very different if you
have a heat pump). Also this probably voids your warranty on your HVAC
equipment.
3) Lit our gas fireplace and closed the flue. Our gas FP is ventless
(i.e., 100% clean burning, no carbon monoxide).
4) Put our electric clothes dryer on a 90-minute high-heat cycle,
disconnected the exhaust hose, and turned around the dryer to blow
into the room. We have upstairs laundry BTW.
5) Cranked up the electric baseboard heaters in our 4-season sunroom.
6) Moved the kitchen oven/range into the middle of the room and put it
on the cleaning cycle.
7) Put two thermostat-less electric radiators on either side of our
bed near the nighstands and dressers. Put on high heat. Had to use a
high-amp extension cord for #2 to run on a different circuit. Also put
a space heater in our master bath on high.
[8)] Turn on all lights in house. Every lightbulb adds a bit more
heat. Also left a few fans running in various places for convection
effect.
9) We removed all computers, pictures, candles, aerosol cans, and
meltable food (chocolate, etc.) from the house. Took a chance leaving
up our 42" flat panel tv. It survived. We missed a few items that
liquefied (solid deodorant, gummy vitamins, etc.)
10) Separated all mattresses from box springs to get maxium heat
exposure to both. Also tried to de-pile all clothes etc.
10) Left oven thermometers on each level for temp verification.
11) Let everything run all day. Came back once or twice to check on
things, reset the oven cleaning cycle and dryer. Wow, everything was
hot to the touch, doorknobs, cabinet knobs. etc.

The house got up to 130 upstairs, 125 on ground level and 120 in the
basement. Stayed out of the house.

It took a LONG time for our house to cool down. We bought a lot of $12
fans from walmart/target and put one in each window. House was back
down to 72 degrees sometime the next morning.

Haven't seen a living bedbug since. Nevertheless, I have some food
grade DE on order and will treat the house to prevent any survivors
from breeding.


http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/i-h...to-130-degrees

"mm" wrote in message
...

I wanted to get your reaction to this plan.

That's nuts! Treat for bedbugs just as you would for fleas. Just vacuum
your entire house (every nook and cranny of every surface and furnishing)
every day using a new bag or freshly rinsed canister. Wipe down all hard
surfaces with either furniture polish, appropriate floor cleaner, or a
bleach solution. If you have a steam mop, so much the better. Wash all
linens in very hot water every day. Problem solved in a week. The only
difference is that for fleas you have to first treat your pets or the cycle
will never stop. Yes, it's a pain, but it gets rid of fleas (or bedbugs)
without toxic chemicals.

On Dec 27, 7:08*am, mm wrote:
I wanted to get your reaction to this plan. *

I don't have bedbugs.

It's only an academic question for me, but someone sent this to me,
and I'm interested in your reaction!

We had a small infestation but was getting worse, I was starting to
get a lot of bites. First we thought fleas (even dematologist thought
this) but then we found a BB. Then we started looking carefully w/ a
flashlight along baseboards, inside nightstands, boxspring seam etc.
and found more.

People w/ apartments can't do this but I have a single family home and
we heated the house up like a sauna as follows:

1) Waited for a hot (95 degree) summer day
2) Bypassed our thermostat and cranked the heat. We have a gas
furnace. I opened the thermostat and I joined the red, white and green
wires going into the thermostat. Red gives power to green (blower) and
white (furnace). Do not try this without looking up your specific
thermostat. The wires are different for many (very different if you
have a heat pump). Also this probably voids your warranty on your HVAC
equipment.
3) Lit our gas fireplace and closed the flue. Our gas FP is ventless
(i.e., 100% clean burning, no carbon monoxide).
4) Put our electric clothes dryer on a 90-minute high-heat cycle,
disconnected the exhaust hose, and turned around the dryer to blow
into the room. We have upstairs laundry BTW.
5) Cranked up the electric baseboard heaters in our 4-season sunroom.
6) Moved the kitchen oven/range into the middle of the room and put it
on the cleaning cycle.
7) Put two thermostat-less electric radiators on either side of our
bed near the nighstands and dressers. Put on high heat. Had to use a
high-amp extension cord for #2 to run on a different circuit. Also put
a space heater in our master bath on high.
[8)] Turn on all lights in house. Every lightbulb adds a bit more
heat. Also left a few fans running in various places for convection
effect.
9) We removed all computers, pictures, candles, aerosol cans, and
meltable food (chocolate, etc.) from the house. Took a chance leaving
up our 42" flat panel tv. It survived. We missed a few items that
liquefied (solid deodorant, gummy vitamins, etc.)
10) Separated all mattresses from box springs to get maxium heat
exposure to both. Also tried to de-pile all clothes etc.
10) Left oven thermometers on each level for temp verification.
11) Let everything run all day. Came back once or twice to check on
things, reset the oven cleaning cycle and dryer. Wow, everything was
hot to the touch, doorknobs, cabinet knobs. etc.

The house got up to 130 upstairs, 125 on ground level and 120 in the
basement. Stayed out of the house.

It took a LONG time for our house to cool down. We bought a lot of $12
fans from walmart/target and put one in each window. House was back
down to 72 degrees sometime the next morning.

Haven't seen a living bedbug since. Nevertheless, I have some food
grade DE on order and will treat the house to prevent any survivors
from breeding.

http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/i-h...to-130-degrees

Them things are a real problem to get rid of. Takes heroic methods to
do so. Your solution should work but I wonder about damage to the
building.

Our infestation way back when finally required tenting the house and
fumigating.

Harry K

On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 08:16:08 -0800 (PST), Harry K
wrote:



http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/i-h...to-130-degrees

Them things are a real problem to get rid of. Takes heroic methods to
do so. Your solution should work but I wonder about damage to the

For latecomers to the thread: It's not really MY solution, just one I
read about.

building.

Our infestation way back when finally required tenting the house and
fumigating.

Wow. I"m glad that worked. I read about someone who tried fudiating.

Harry K

On Dec 27, 3:18*pm, "h" wrote:
"mm" wrote in message

...





I wanted to get your reaction to this plan.

That's nuts! Treat for bedbugs just as you would for fleas. Just vacuum
your entire house (every nook and cranny of every surface and furnishing)
every day using a new bag or freshly rinsed canister. Wipe down all hard
surfaces with either furniture polish, appropriate floor cleaner, or a
bleach solution. If you have a steam mop, so much the better. Wash all
linens in very hot water every day. Problem solved in a week. The only
difference is that for fleas you have to first treat your pets or the cycle
will never stop. Yes, it's a pain, but it gets rid of fleas (or bedbugs)
without toxic chemicals.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The only effective way is chemicals. (That's what they use on your
pets BTW). Organo-phosphates derived from nerve gas are the basis of
most of them. How much they f***you up they're not saying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organo-phosphates

Seems like a big waste of time and money along with the potential of hidden
damage from the heat.

I have no idea what the cost of fumigating is but I'm willing to bet his
time and cost was more.

On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:46:41 -0500, "SBH" wrote:

Seems like a big waste of time and money along with the potential of hidden
damage from the heat.

Seems like heat is one of the preferred solutions to bedbug infestation. I
don't see how that temperature can damage anything seriously (unplug
electrical devices).

http://www.thermapure.com/bedbugs.php

Search for "bedbugs + heat" (without the quotes) to see many others using
heat.

I have no idea what the cost of fumigating is but I'm willing to bet his
time and cost was more.

I doubt it. Bedbugs can be a real PITA to get rid of. They hide from most
threats. They can't hide from heat.

On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:46:41 -0500, "SBH" wrote:

Seems like a big waste of time and money along with the potential of hidden
damage from the heat.

I have no idea what the cost of fumigating is but I'm willing to bet his
time and cost was more.

I don't think the pros fumigate for bedbugs. From what I understand,
the effective cure is to heat the house. They bring in big heaters and
charge a lotttt of money. Even counting electricity, he saved a
thousand or two.

Not that you said it but I don't see how anyone can imagine it will
set fire to anything if the temperature rises to 130. If I recall
correctly, the ignition temp of paper is 451 and I don' think it's
that much lower for other things.

"9) We removed all computers, pictures, candles, aerosol cans, and
meltable food (chocolate, etc.) from the house. Took a chance leaving
up our 42" flat panel tv. It survived. We missed a few items that
liquefied (solid deodorant, gummy vitamins, etc.)"

On 12/27/2010 1:59 PM, harry wrote:
On Dec 27, 3:18 pm, wrote:
wrote in message

...


The only effective way is chemicals. (That's what they use on your
pets BTW). Organo-phosphates derived from nerve gas are the basis of
most of them. How much they f***you up they're not saying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organo-phosphates

I think you've been exposed to too many organo-phosphates. You might
try rereading OP's first post.

Seems like quite a reasonable experiment.

They've been using heat as a cockroach treatment for decades.
Sufficient heat for a sufficient length of time kills all stages from
eggs through larva to adults. That gives you a long time before the
population starts growing again.

I have a heat pump, no way to get that kind of temperature in my
house.

I worked at a hospital once that had bugs in the OR. The heat was
computer controlled and it was easy to command it full on with no
outside air and cook them all.

The trouble is getting the heat to all the spaces, including under
cupboards, inside hollow walls, etc.

In article ,
mm wrote:
On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:46:41 -0500, "SBH" wrote:

Seems like a big waste of time and money along with the potential of hidden
damage from the heat.

I have no idea what the cost of fumigating is but I'm willing to bet his
time and cost was more.

I don't think the pros fumigate for bedbugs. From what I understand,
the effective cure is to heat the house. They bring in big heaters and
charge a lotttt of money. Even counting electricity, he saved a
thousand or two.

Not that you said it but I don't see how anyone can imagine it will
set fire to anything if the temperature rises to 130. If I recall
correctly, the ignition temp of paper is 451 and I don' think it's
that much lower for other things.

"9) We removed all computers, pictures, candles, aerosol cans, and
meltable food (chocolate, etc.) from the house. Took a chance leaving
up our 42" flat panel tv. It survived. We missed a few items that
liquefied (solid deodorant, gummy vitamins, etc.)"

130 isn't too bad. Basically in the range for domestic hot water.
And would have killed more bugs than just bed.

I wonder how the canned goods handled it. I have enough trouble with
room temp cans springing leaks.

And where were the fridge and/or freezer?

m

?
"Fake ID" wrote

I wonder how the canned goods handled it. I have enough trouble with
room temp cans springing leaks.

And where were the fridge and/or freezer?

m

Really? Never had a can spring a leak in all my years. Inside a trailer in
shipment they would see those temperatures in the summer and should not be
bothered.

Fridge was working hard.

On Dec 27, 10:08*am, mm wrote:

Haven't seen a living bedbug since. Nevertheless, I have some food
grade DE on order and will treat the house to prevent any survivors
from breeding.

http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/i-h...to-130-degrees

Sounds practical, but the missing factor is how the bugs got there in
the first place. What is their origin? Were they transported in the
family car?

This is some of the benefit one -may- get from a Integrated Pest
Management (IPM) strategy from a licensed and experienced Pest Control
Operator (PCO).

I'll go 100 bucks on a re-infestation.
-----

- gpsman

On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:56:13 -0500, "Ed Pawlowski"
wrote:

?
"Fake ID" wrote

I wonder how the canned goods handled it. I have enough trouble with
room temp cans springing leaks.

And where were the fridge and/or freezer?

m

Really? Never had a can spring a leak in all my years. Inside a trailer in
shipment they would see those temperatures in the summer and should not be
bothered.

Fridge was working hard.

And putting out heat of its own.

?
"Steve Barker" wrote

heat pump, maybe not. but gas furnace no problem.


My boiler can keep the house at 70 even if it drops to -20 outside, a 90
degree differential. At 70 or 80 outside, I'd probably get the 120 inside.
Faster tough, would be to add in a couple of propane powered garage heaters.

On 12/28/2010 7:39 PM, Steve Barker wrote:
On 12/28/2010 7:31 PM, Evan wrote:
On Dec 27, 8:25 pm, wrote:
Seems like quite a reasonable experiment.

They've been using heat as a cockroach treatment for decades.
Sufficient heat for a sufficient length of time kills all stages from
eggs through larva to adults. That gives you a long time before the
population starts growing again.

I have a heat pump, no way to get that kind of temperature in my
house.

I worked at a hospital once that had bugs in the OR. The heat was
computer controlled and it was easy to command it full on with no
outside air and cook them all.

The trouble is getting the heat to all the spaces, including under
cupboards, inside hollow walls, etc.


Yeah, a hospital also has an industrial grade power plant for its
heating, cooling and emergency power production called a Trigen
system where the steam produced by its boilers is used all three
ways at the same time...

Super-heating a few rooms doesn't take all that much effort, the
stationary engineer in charge of the power plant on-duty when the
order comes in to do something like that overrides the DDC
building automation controls and commands the proper valves,
fans and dampers to remain on/closed past their alarm cut-off
points...

You would NOT be able to do that with your home heat pump
it is not capable of producing that much of a temperature
difference and it has safety devices in place to prevent it from
running too hot... You would definitely need to bring in
alternative sources of heat and utilize other heat producing
appliances to get your home up to a maintained 120 degrees...

~~ Evan

heat pump, maybe not. but gas furnace no problem.


With a gas furnace you may have to bypass the high limit safety
in the airstream passed the combustion chamber to keep the furnace
from shutting down. Of course the safety is there to shut the unit
down if too many registers are closed but the high air temperature
may do it too. Some brands are more sensitive to it than others.

TDD

In article ,
Ed Pawlowski wrote:
?
"Fake ID" wrote

I wonder how the canned goods handled it. I have enough trouble with
room temp cans springing leaks.

And where were the fridge and/or freezer?

m

Really? Never had a can spring a leak in all my years. Inside a trailer in
shipment they would see those temperatures in the summer and should not be
bothered.

Mandarin oranges must be particularly hard on the can lining. Once it
breaks down the can puffs up. Other cans have leaked, slowly, through
the seam. Beets, I think, and something else. The best were a couple
cans of apple juice--put them outside and with the daily temp cycle they
emptied without ever being opened.

Fridge was working hard.

As long as it could keep up.

m

On 29 Dec 2010 06:44:52 GMT, (Fake ID) wrote:


Mandarin oranges must be particularly hard on the can lining. Once it
breaks down the can puffs up. Other cans have leaked, slowly, through
the seam. Beets, I think, and something else. The best were a couple
cans of apple juice--put them outside and with the daily temp cycle they
emptied without ever being opened.

That's interesting. I think I keep a lot of canned food four years or
more, and I've never had a leak iirc. I don't have any canned oranges
though. Corn, spinach, peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, soup,
beans, peaches, pears, fruit cocktail, pineapple. spaghetti sauce.
mushrooms,

On Dec 28, 11:43*pm, The Daring Dufas
wrote:
On 12/28/2010 7:39 PM, Steve Barker wrote:





On 12/28/2010 7:31 PM, Evan wrote:
On Dec 27, 8:25 pm, wrote:
Seems like quite a reasonable experiment.

They've been using heat as a cockroach treatment for decades.
Sufficient heat for a sufficient length of time kills all stages from
eggs through larva to adults. That gives you a long time before the
population starts growing again.

I have a heat pump, no way to get that kind of temperature in my
house.

I worked at a hospital once that had bugs in the OR. The heat was
computer controlled and it was easy to command it full on with no
outside air and cook them all.

The trouble is getting the heat to all the spaces, including under
cupboards, inside hollow walls, etc.

Yeah, a hospital also has an industrial grade power plant for its
heating, cooling and emergency power production called a Trigen
system where the steam produced by its boilers is used all three
ways at the same time...

Super-heating a few rooms doesn't take all that much effort, the
stationary engineer in charge of the power plant on-duty when the
order comes in to do something like that overrides the DDC
building automation controls and commands the proper valves,
fans and dampers to remain on/closed past their alarm cut-off
points...

You would NOT be able to do that with your home heat pump
it is not capable of producing that much of a temperature
difference and it has safety devices in place to prevent it from
running too hot... You would definitely need to bring in
alternative sources of heat and utilize other heat producing
appliances to get your home up to a maintained 120 degrees...

~~ Evan

heat pump, maybe not. but gas furnace no problem.

With a gas furnace you may have to bypass the high limit safety
in the airstream passed the combustion chamber to keep the furnace
from shutting down. Of course the safety is there to shut the unit
down if too many registers are closed but the high air temperature
may do it too. Some brands are more sensitive to it than others.

TDD- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You might have to bypass a safety on a gas or oil furnace, but
it would not do the job without resorting to screwing around with
dryer vents, moving
stoves to the center of the house, turning on electric lights, etc.
A furnace can
maintain 70 when it's 10 outside. So it would have no problem
supplying all the heat
one needs to reach 130 when it's 95 outside.

This whole story sounds like a crock to me. The above, plus they
bought "a bunch
of $12 fans" to put in windows to cool the house back down... Geez,
just open all the
windows, doors with screens, etc. With that big of a heat
differential, air is going to move
and cool it down before too long.

Evan wrote:
You would NOT be able to do that with your home heat pump
it is not capable of producing that much of a temperature
difference and it has safety devices in place to prevent it from
running too hot... You would definitely need to bring in
alternative sources of heat and utilize other heat producing
appliances to get your home up to a maintained 120 degrees...

~~ Evan

i would just have to open the window on a summer day.

regards,
charlie
phx, az

On 12/29/2010 11:04 AM, wrote:
On Dec 28, 11:43 pm, The Daring
wrote:
On 12/28/2010 7:39 PM, Steve Barker wrote:





On 12/28/2010 7:31 PM, Evan wrote:
On Dec 27, 8:25 pm, wrote:
Seems like quite a reasonable experiment.

They've been using heat as a cockroach treatment for decades.
Sufficient heat for a sufficient length of time kills all stages from
eggs through larva to adults. That gives you a long time before the
population starts growing again.

I have a heat pump, no way to get that kind of temperature in my
house.

I worked at a hospital once that had bugs in the OR. The heat was
computer controlled and it was easy to command it full on with no
outside air and cook them all.

The trouble is getting the heat to all the spaces, including under
cupboards, inside hollow walls, etc.

Yeah, a hospital also has an industrial grade power plant for its
heating, cooling and emergency power production called a Trigen
system where the steam produced by its boilers is used all three
ways at the same time...

Super-heating a few rooms doesn't take all that much effort, the
stationary engineer in charge of the power plant on-duty when the
order comes in to do something like that overrides the DDC
building automation controls and commands the proper valves,
fans and dampers to remain on/closed past their alarm cut-off
points...

You would NOT be able to do that with your home heat pump
it is not capable of producing that much of a temperature
difference and it has safety devices in place to prevent it from
running too hot... You would definitely need to bring in
alternative sources of heat and utilize other heat producing
appliances to get your home up to a maintained 120 degrees...

~~ Evan

heat pump, maybe not. but gas furnace no problem.

With a gas furnace you may have to bypass the high limit safety
in the airstream passed the combustion chamber to keep the furnace
from shutting down. Of course the safety is there to shut the unit
down if too many registers are closed but the high air temperature
may do it too. Some brands are more sensitive to it than others.

TDD- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You might have to bypass a safety on a gas or oil furnace, but
it would not do the job without resorting to screwing around with
dryer vents, moving
stoves to the center of the house, turning on electric lights, etc.
A furnace can
maintain 70 when it's 10 outside. So it would have no problem
supplying all the heat
one needs to reach 130 when it's 95 outside.

This whole story sounds like a crock to me. The above, plus they
bought "a bunch
of $12 fans" to put in windows to cool the house back down... Geez,
just open all the
windows, doors with screens, etc. With that big of a heat
differential, air is going to move
and cool it down before too long.

The mother of a late friend of mine had medical problems and was very
frail so she kept her thermostat set to 85°F or higher because she was
cold. Her Carrier package gas unit kept tripping the high limit when
the outside temperature was 50-60°F. She had shut the register in her
late son's room and that contributed to the problem. There are some
furnaces that may not heat a house up to a level that would be dangerous
to people because of built in safeties.

TDD

On Dec 29, 1:02*pm, The Daring Dufas
wrote:
On 12/29/2010 11:04 AM, wrote:





On Dec 28, 11:43 pm, The Daring
wrote:
On 12/28/2010 7:39 PM, Steve Barker wrote:

On 12/28/2010 7:31 PM, Evan wrote:
On Dec 27, 8:25 pm, *wrote:
Seems like quite a reasonable experiment.

They've been using heat as a cockroach treatment for decades.
Sufficient heat for a sufficient length of time kills all stages from
eggs through larva to adults. That gives you a long time before the
population starts growing again.

I have a heat pump, no way to get that kind of temperature in my
house.

I worked at a hospital once that had bugs in the OR. The heat was
computer controlled and it was easy to command it full on with no
outside air and cook them all.

The trouble is getting the heat to all the spaces, including under
cupboards, inside hollow walls, etc.

Yeah, a hospital also has an industrial grade power plant for its
heating, cooling and emergency power production called a Trigen
system where the steam produced by its boilers is used all three
ways at the same time...

Super-heating a few rooms doesn't take all that much effort, the
stationary engineer in charge of the power plant on-duty when the
order comes in to do something like that overrides the DDC
building automation controls and commands the proper valves,
fans and dampers to remain on/closed past their alarm cut-off
points...

You would NOT be able to do that with your home heat pump
it is not capable of producing that much of a temperature
difference and it has safety devices in place to prevent it from
running too hot... You would definitely need to bring in
alternative sources of heat and utilize other heat producing
appliances to get your home up to a maintained 120 degrees...

~~ Evan

heat pump, maybe not. but gas furnace no problem.

With a gas furnace you may have to bypass the high limit safety
in the airstream passed the combustion chamber to keep the furnace
from shutting down. Of course the safety is there to shut the unit
down if too many registers are closed but the high air temperature
may do it too. Some brands are more sensitive to it than others.

TDD- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You might have to bypass a safety on a gas or oil furnace, but
it would not do the job without resorting to screwing around with
dryer vents, moving
stoves to the center of the house, turning on electric lights, etc.
A furnace can
maintain 70 when it's 10 outside. * So it would have no problem
supplying all the heat
one needs to reach 130 when it's 95 outside.

Correction to the above. I meant to say "it (the furnace) would do
the job without resorting to
screwing around with dryer vents, moving stoves..... etc





This whole story sounds like a crock to me. * The above, plus they
bought "a bunch
of $12 fans" *to put in windows to cool the house back down... * Geez,
just open all the
windows, doors with screens, etc. *With that big of a heat
differential, air is going to move
and cool it down before too long.

The mother of a late friend of mine had medical problems and was very
frail so she kept her thermostat set to 85°F or higher because she was
cold. Her Carrier package gas unit kept tripping the high limit when
the outside temperature was 50-60°F. She had shut the register in her
late son's room and that contributed to the problem. There are some
furnaces that may not heat a house up to a level that would be dangerous
to people because of built in safeties.

That's why I said you may need to disable a safety on the furnace to
do it.

On Wed, 29 Dec 2010 10:10:07 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Dec 29, 1:02*pm, The Daring Dufas
wrote:
On 12/29/2010 11:04 AM, wrote:





On Dec 28, 11:43 pm, The Daring
wrote:
On 12/28/2010 7:39 PM, Steve Barker wrote:

On 12/28/2010 7:31 PM, Evan wrote:
On Dec 27, 8:25 pm, *wrote:
Seems like quite a reasonable experiment.

They've been using heat as a cockroach treatment for decades.
Sufficient heat for a sufficient length of time kills all stages from
eggs through larva to adults. That gives you a long time before the
population starts growing again.

I have a heat pump, no way to get that kind of temperature in my
house.

I worked at a hospital once that had bugs in the OR. The heat was
computer controlled and it was easy to command it full on with no
outside air and cook them all.

The trouble is getting the heat to all the spaces, including under
cupboards, inside hollow walls, etc.

Yeah, a hospital also has an industrial grade power plant for its
heating, cooling and emergency power production called a Trigen
system where the steam produced by its boilers is used all three
ways at the same time...

Super-heating a few rooms doesn't take all that much effort, the
stationary engineer in charge of the power plant on-duty when the
order comes in to do something like that overrides the DDC
building automation controls and commands the proper valves,
fans and dampers to remain on/closed past their alarm cut-off
points...

You would NOT be able to do that with your home heat pump
it is not capable of producing that much of a temperature
difference and it has safety devices in place to prevent it from
running too hot... You would definitely need to bring in
alternative sources of heat and utilize other heat producing
appliances to get your home up to a maintained 120 degrees...

~~ Evan

heat pump, maybe not. but gas furnace no problem.

With a gas furnace you may have to bypass the high limit safety
in the airstream passed the combustion chamber to keep the furnace
from shutting down. Of course the safety is there to shut the unit
down if too many registers are closed but the high air temperature
may do it too. Some brands are more sensitive to it than others.

TDD- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You might have to bypass a safety on a gas or oil furnace, but
it would not do the job without resorting to screwing around with
dryer vents, moving
stoves to the center of the house, turning on electric lights, etc.
A furnace can
maintain 70 when it's 10 outside. * So it would have no problem
supplying all the heat
one needs to reach 130 when it's 95 outside.

Correction to the above. I meant to say "it (the furnace) would do
the job without resorting to
screwing around with dryer vents, moving stoves..... etc

I notice that. I waited to see if anyone else did before posting, and
you yourself did!

This whole story sounds like a crock to me. * The above, plus they
bought "a bunch
of $12 fans" *to put in windows to cool the house back down... * Geez,
just open all the
windows, doors with screens, etc. *With that big of a heat
differential, air is going to move
and cool it down before too long.

I noticed that too, but I'm very gullible, so, with only that one
problem afaicould tell, I believed it.

How would he get it down to 69 when it was 95 out the previous day?
He would have to use AC. I wouldnt' do that. I'd turn off hte heat
but let it stay as hot as it did to finish killing whatever bugs
weren't totally dead yet. After all the trouble he describes, would
he really want to rely on 8 hours being enough? What if they are
living in the Thermos bottle or the portable beer cooler. (I know they
don't live in places like that, but maybe they flee to them like
people would to fallout shelter. I think even as cheap as I am, I'd
stay at a motel that night, or in a sleeping bag in the back yard.

The mother of a late friend of mine had medical problems and was very
frail so she kept her thermostat set to 85°F or higher because she was
cold. Her Carrier package gas unit kept tripping the high limit when
the outside temperature was 50-60°F. She had shut the register in her
late son's room and that contributed to the problem. There are some
furnaces that may not heat a house up to a level that would be dangerous
to people because of built in safeties.

That's why I said you may need to disable a safety on the furnace to
do it.

On Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:02:01 -0700, "chaniarts"
wrote:

Evan wrote:
You would NOT be able to do that with your home heat pump
it is not capable of producing that much of a temperature
difference and it has safety devices in place to prevent it from
running too hot... You would definitely need to bring in
alternative sources of heat and utilize other heat producing
appliances to get your home up to a maintained 120 degrees...

~~ Evan

i would just have to open the window on a summer day.

regards,
charlie
phx, az

Isn't there a sign at the Arizona border: "Warning! Bedbugs, too hot
to be happy here."

On Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:28:37 -0500, mm
wrote:

Isn't there a sign at the Arizona border: "Warning! Bedbugs, too hot
to be happy here."

No, not really. Them *******s even live in Nevada!

I guess it's possible. I have read reports that heat works for killing
bedbugs and that some companies use steam cleaners on beds, furniture, etc.

If the house has a sprinkler system I think most of them are set to go off
at 135 degrees. So getting the house up to 130 degrees would seem risky if
there is a sprinkler system in place.

Also, there is a health inspector "rule of thumb" trick for testing hot
water coming out of a faucet. It is to put your fingers under the faucet
and turn on the hot water. When the temperature of the water gets hot to
the point where you have to pull your fingers out due to the burning, the
temp of the water is about 110 degrees. So, if surfaces in the super heated
house are above 110 degrees -- especially metal surfaces that conduct heat
easily -- it would be pretty easy to get burned by touching them.

mm wrote:
I wanted to get your reaction to this plan.

I don't have bedbugs.

It's only an academic question for me, but someone sent this to me,
and I'm interested in your reaction!



We had a small infestation but was getting worse, I was starting to
get a lot of bites. First we thought fleas (even dematologist thought
this) but then we found a BB. Then we started looking carefully w/ a
flashlight along baseboards, inside nightstands, boxspring seam etc.
and found more.

People w/ apartments can't do this but I have a single family home and
we heated the house up like a sauna as follows:

1) Waited for a hot (95 degree) summer day
2) Bypassed our thermostat and cranked the heat. We have a gas
furnace. I opened the thermostat and I joined the red, white and green
wires going into the thermostat. Red gives power to green (blower) and
white (furnace). Do not try this without looking up your specific
thermostat. The wires are different for many (very different if you
have a heat pump). Also this probably voids your warranty on your HVAC
equipment.
3) Lit our gas fireplace and closed the flue. Our gas FP is ventless
(i.e., 100% clean burning, no carbon monoxide).
4) Put our electric clothes dryer on a 90-minute high-heat cycle,
disconnected the exhaust hose, and turned around the dryer to blow
into the room. We have upstairs laundry BTW.
5) Cranked up the electric baseboard heaters in our 4-season sunroom.
6) Moved the kitchen oven/range into the middle of the room and put it
on the cleaning cycle.
7) Put two thermostat-less electric radiators on either side of our
bed near the nighstands and dressers. Put on high heat. Had to use a
high-amp extension cord for #2 to run on a different circuit. Also put
a space heater in our master bath on high.
[8)] Turn on all lights in house. Every lightbulb adds a bit more
heat. Also left a few fans running in various places for convection
effect.
9) We removed all computers, pictures, candles, aerosol cans, and
meltable food (chocolate, etc.) from the house. Took a chance leaving
up our 42" flat panel tv. It survived. We missed a few items that
liquefied (solid deodorant, gummy vitamins, etc.)
10) Separated all mattresses from box springs to get maxium heat
exposure to both. Also tried to de-pile all clothes etc.
10) Left oven thermometers on each level for temp verification.
11) Let everything run all day. Came back once or twice to check on
things, reset the oven cleaning cycle and dryer. Wow, everything was
hot to the touch, doorknobs, cabinet knobs. etc.

The house got up to 130 upstairs, 125 on ground level and 120 in the
basement. Stayed out of the house.

It took a LONG time for our house to cool down. We bought a lot of $12
fans from walmart/target and put one in each window. House was back
down to 72 degrees sometime the next morning.

Haven't seen a living bedbug since. Nevertheless, I have some food
grade DE on order and will treat the house to prevent any survivors
from breeding.


http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/i-h...to-130-degrees

On Sat, 1 Jan 2011 11:12:57 -0500, "RogerT" wrote:

I guess it's possible. I have read reports that heat works for killing
bedbugs and that some companies use steam cleaners on beds, furniture, etc.

If the house has a sprinkler system I think most of them are set to go off
at 135 degrees. So getting the house up to 130 degrees would seem risky if
there is a sprinkler system in place.

How many houses have sprinkler systems. WIH, would you set the things to
135F?

Also, there is a health inspector "rule of thumb" trick for testing hot
water coming out of a faucet. It is to put your fingers under the faucet
and turn on the hot water. When the temperature of the water gets hot to
the point where you have to pull your fingers out due to the burning, the
temp of the water is about 110 degrees. So, if surfaces in the super heated
house are above 110 degrees -- especially metal surfaces that conduct heat
easily -- it would be pretty easy to get burned by touching them.

Utter nonsense. Irrelevant, but nonsense nonetheless.

snipped stuff that should have already been snipped

zzzzzzzzzz wrote:

If the house has a sprinkler system I think most of them are set to
go off at 135 degrees. So getting the house up to 130 degrees would
seem risky if there is a sprinkler system in place.

How many houses have sprinkler systems. WIH, would you set the
things to 135F?

In Pennsylvania, as of January 1, 2011, all newly constructed one-family and
two-family dwellings are now required to have sprinkler systems. If you
look up residential sprinkler systems online, you'll find that most are set
at 135F.

Also, there is a health inspector "rule of thumb" trick for testing
hot water coming out of a faucet. It is to put your fingers under
the faucet and turn on the hot water. When the temperature of the
water gets hot to the point where you have to pull your fingers out
due to the burning, the temp of the water is about 110 degrees. So,
if surfaces in the super heated house are above 110 degrees --
especially metal surfaces that conduct heat easily -- it would be
pretty easy to get burned by touching them.

Utter nonsense. Irrelevant, but nonsense nonetheless.

No, not nonsense, and not necessarily irrelevant. I see that you must have
missed a few days when they were teaching politeness at charm school.

On Sat, 1 Jan 2011 14:11:20 -0500, "RogerT" wrote:

wrote:

If the house has a sprinkler system I think most of them are set to
go off at 135 degrees. So getting the house up to 130 degrees would
seem risky if there is a sprinkler system in place.

How many houses have sprinkler systems. WIH, would you set the
things to 135F?

In Pennsylvania, as of January 1, 2011, all newly constructed one-family and
two-family dwellings are now required to have sprinkler systems. If you
look up residential sprinkler systems online, you'll find that most are set
at 135F.

More stupid laws from busybodies "helping" you.

Also, there is a health inspector "rule of thumb" trick for testing
hot water coming out of a faucet. It is to put your fingers under
the faucet and turn on the hot water. When the temperature of the
water gets hot to the point where you have to pull your fingers out
due to the burning, the temp of the water is about 110 degrees. So,
if surfaces in the super heated house are above 110 degrees --
especially metal surfaces that conduct heat easily -- it would be
pretty easy to get burned by touching them.

Utter nonsense. Irrelevant, but nonsense nonetheless.

No, not nonsense, and not necessarily irrelevant. I see that you must have
missed a few days when they were teaching politeness at charm school.

Pure bull****. If what you say were true, no one could live in Phoenix, AZ.
Calling it "nonsense" was being kind.

On Jan 1, 11:11*am, "RogerT" wrote:
wrote:
If the house has a sprinkler system I think most of them are set to
go off at 135 degrees. *So getting the house up to 130 degrees would
seem risky if there is a sprinkler system in place.
How many houses have sprinkler systems. *WIH, would you set the
things to 135F?

In Pennsylvania, as of January 1, 2011, all newly constructed one-family and
two-family dwellings are now required to have sprinkler systems. *If you
look up residential sprinkler systems online, you'll find that most are set
at 135F.


Have a cite for that claim? I find it more than a bit dubious.

Also, there is a health inspector "rule of thumb" trick for testing
hot water coming out of a faucet. *It is to put your fingers under
the faucet and turn on the hot water. *When the temperature of the
water gets hot to the point where you have to pull your fingers out
due to the burning, the temp of the water is about 110 degrees. *So,
if surfaces in the super heated house are above 110 degrees --
especially metal surfaces that conduct heat easily -- it would be
pretty easy to get burned by touching them.
Utter nonsense. *Irrelevant, but nonsense nonetheless.

No, not nonsense, and not necessarily irrelevant. *I see that you must have
missed a few days when they were teaching politeness at charm school.

There is a big difference between "uncomfortable" and "burn". You can
sit in a sauna that is heated way over that temp without being burned.

Harry K

Harry K wrote:
On Jan 1, 11:11 am, "RogerT" wrote:

In Pennsylvania, as of January 1, 2011, all newly constructed
one-family and two-family dwellings are now required to have
sprinkler systems. If you look up residential sprinkler systems
online, you'll find that most are set at 135F.


Have a cite for that claim? I find it more than a bit dubious.

Sure. Here are a few. Looks like California also now has the same
requirement as Pennsylvania as of January 1, 2011.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/busin...new_homes.html



http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/...-building.html



http://www.wfmz.com/news/26333793/detail.html



http://www.therecordherald.com/featu...u-need-to-know