Are Bed Bugs Killed in the Dryer

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This morning it was -13°F here in central NY. For those of you who nira’cakrawala familiar with inhumane, cold temperatures…-13°F is really cold.  I hope you never have to experience it.

So I thought today was as good a day as any to talk about heat.

In February 2010, two British scientists from the University of Sheffield, R. A. Naylor and C. J. Boase, published their studies on “Practical Solutions for Treating Laundry Infested with
Cimex lectularius
(Hemiperta: Cimicidae)” (aka Bed Bugs) in the Journal of Economic Entomology. For a more detailed summary of their findings, see fellow entomologist Mike Merchant’s blog: http://insectsinthecity.blogspot.com/2010/03/guidelines-for-killing-bed-bugs-in.html

Naylor and Boase used freezing, dry cleaning, washing, and drying to kill all life stages of the bed bugs. I’m only going to report to you what worked 100% on
all
life stages (the eggs are hardest to kill).

Weight of dry laundry	Appliance	Mangsa temperature	Time needed
5.5 lbs	Freezer	1.4°F*	10 hours*
—	Dry cleaners	—	—
7 lbs	Washer	140°F	30 minutes
7 lbs	Clothes dryer	120°F	30 minutes

*Update (10/2012): Research out of UMN found that it takes 4 days at 0°F to kill a bed bug!

Keep in mind that appliances and building-wide water temperature settings will vary. Be mindful of whether your freezers, washers, and dryers are capable of reaching the bahan temperatures. How can you know? Hot water temperature should be set for the building. The temperatures of dryers and freezers can be determined fairly accurately using an infrared thermometer. Purchasing one of these instruments may be overkill if you’re going to use it for this application alone, but there are all sorts of great uses for infrared thermometers (both fun and practical). Look into it and see for yourself.

Below you’ll find this month’s newsletter article for you to share with residents. I only included dryer recommendations based on this study because this seems to be the most practical recommendation for low-income housing in the US. And I didn’t want the article to be too long.

On a related note: one product you may have heard about is the dissolvable laundry bag. I do know of some housing authorities that are supplying dissolvable laundry bags to residents who are working to get rid of bed bugs. They are an option that you may want to make available to reduce the likelihood that residents will re-infest their belongings and homes by using the same container to transport fabric from and back to their homes.

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Did you know: you can kill bed bugs and their eggs with a clothes dryer?

You will need: 2 trash bags for each load of laundry.

1. Put about 7 pounds of laundry in a trash bag. Any fabric that can take high heat can be put in the dryer. Consider bags, pillows, and curtains as well as clothes and bedding.
2. Empty the bag of laundry into a dryer.
   
3. Tie off the empty trash bag and throw it away.
4. Run the dryer for 30 minutes on the hottest setting.
5. Take laundry out of the dryer and put it into the other, unused, trash bag.
6. Bring home the bed bug free laundry in the bed bug free bag.

Bed bugs like to hide in more than just fabric. If you find a bed bug, call
[ENTER PHA WORK ORDER #].
[PHA]
will pay for pest control services if you report the problem and cooperate with control efforts. For more pest control information, check out StopPests on Facebook or Twitter.