How to Kill Bedbugs on Clothes With Heat in the Dryer …

Put wet or dry clothes in the dryer to kill bedbugs.

Clearing your home of a bedbug infestation can be challenging. Bedbugs often live in furniture and other items that are hard to clean, and they tend to be resistant to insecticides. But heat-treating your home and belongings can kill bedbugs at every stage of their life cycle. While heat-treating your home might require special equipment or professional help, you can kill bedbugs in your clothes using a normal clothes dryer.

A creature's thermal death point is the temperature at which it cannot survive. Bedbugs die at 113 degrees Fahrenheit, but eggs can survive slightly higher temperatures. The eggs also survive heat for longer than bedbugs at other stages of development. According to Dr. Dini M. Miller of the Department of Entomology at Virginia Tech, 113-degree temperatures kill bedbugs within 90 minutes, but the bugs die at 118 degrees in only 20 minutes. At 118 degrees, bedbug eggs die within 90 minutes; at higher temperatures, the eggs die faster.

The heat of a clothes dryer is high enough to kill bedbugs in all stages of their life cycle. Some machines, however, take longer to heat up than others. If your dryer reaches 120 degrees, it can kill bedbugs and their eggs quickly -- but it might take the dryer 10 to 15 minutes to reach that temperature. Because of this delay, tumble-dry your clothes on high for 30 minutes to make sure the heat treatment is effective. You don't need to wash your clothes before drying them to kill bedbugs and their eggs.

If your clothes are labeled "dry-clean only," put them in the dryer at a moderate temperature, and tumble them for 90 minutes to make sure all the eggs reach the thermal death point. Alternatively, you can take them to a dry cleaner; if you do, transport them in sealed plastic bags and warn the cleaners that the garments are infested. Some dry cleaners might not be willing to take them, for fear of spreading the infestation to their establishments.

Even if you can't tumble-dry an item, you may still be able to heat-treat it without calling an exterminator. Take shoes, bags and heat-safe accessories to a commercial laundry and heat them in a dryer with a shelf, so they aren't subjected to tumbling. Transport them in sealed bags to avoid spreading the infestation, and heat them for 90 minutes to ensure the treatment is effective. Alternatively, seal items in plastic bags and put them in the sun on a hot day. Leave them on your car's dashboard or a sunny deck for at least a full day to kill the bugs and their eggs.

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How to Kill Bedbugs on Clothes With Heat in the Dryer ...