How to Kill Bed Bugs With Propane Heaters

Bed bugs can be a nuisance to humans, resulting in uncomfortable bites and difficultly sleeping at night. They are also extremely difficult to kill, but because the bugs are sensitive to high and low temperatures, it is possible to use propane heat to reach temperatures of 113 to 120 degrees F as an effective way of killing both the bugs and any unhatched eggs. As propane is a natural and non-toxic hydrocarbon gas, if used correctly it is a safe and convenient way to kill troublesome beg bugs.

Things You'll Need

• Mobile propane heater
• Alarm clock

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Instructions

Using Propane Heat

• 1

  Caulk will block any cracks into which the bugs might escape.

  Once you have chosen a suitable propane heater, before you start using it you need to prepare the infected rooms. Bed bugs can crawl through wall and wood cracks, so they need to be fixed using caulk bought at a hardware store. You can also use a propane radiant heater to heat the walls to ensure that no bugs can run and hide during the heat treatment. Turn off all electrical equipment, such as televisions

• 2

  Set up the propane heater, carefully following the manufacturer's instructions, and arrange the propane heat ducts in the rooms that are affected. Make sure there is nobody in the house, due to the high temperatures required to kill the bugs. You can also set up mobile temperature gadgets so you can monitor the exact temperature of each room treated.

• 3

  Turn on the propane heater and set it to the required temperature. According to Dini Miller of the Department of Entomology at Virgina Tech, bed bugs exposed to a temperature of 113 degrees will die within around 90 minutes, but in order to kill their eggs, temperatures of 118 degrees must be reached for 90 minutes. However, it can take time to reach these temperatures, so you should be prepared to use the heaters for around four to eight hours, from setup to the cooling-down process.