get the house extra hot

jumper

I read that you can kill insects including bed bugs by heating home over 120°.
So close windows on a hot summer day and short the thermostat. I suspect that is a bad idea with hot air heating but how about otherwise?

SWEI

Sustained high temps are one of several nontoxic methods I have seen used to eliminate termites. Takes a day or so for the heat to work its way into the wood, but once it does they are toast (pun intended.) I'm not sure what kind of target temps they were shooting for, but they had big flex hoses on a giant truck-mounted gas burner and an insulated tent over the whole house.

A deep, hard freeze also works.

ratio

I've heard something similar too. Apparently a neighbor had that done to his place for cheap (I hear that it's "green", which means expensive?), SWMBO said you could feel the heat coming off of the place. This was during the summer. It kinda gives me the willies. I'm not sure that residential construction, even older stuff, is up to that kind of thing.

Not sure I'd use the furnace for that though. In fact, I'd be nervous using the house service, the terminations are probably only rated for 60*C, 140F.

hot_rod

we had someone contact use recently with an idea for a hydronic system, no need for the big flex duct. he didn't share many details of his idea, maybe just a few large Modine unit heaters with a trailer mounted boiler outside. plenty of rental, portable boilers out there.

I'm think more solar thermal driven "bug killers"

Mark Eatherton

Funny, I had a guy contact me recently on the same topic, and wanted to know if radiant was the way to go. I steered him towards convection like HR suggested, and he said that all the other "experts" out there were saying that radiant was definitely the way to go... Trailer for putting mattresses, rugs, and couches into for treatment.

If it were my idea, I'd go with electric fan coil units, plug into the customers 220, and let them pay the energy bills. Only fair.

ME

Gordy

I would think subjecting an envelope to 140 degrees could have some adverse side effects.

bob_46

I don't know about bugs but I can tell you about fish. I had a customer with baseboard, Triad boiler etc. . They went away for Easter, the boiler ran away cycling on 220º limit. On return a large wax Easter egg on the dining room table had turned into a table cloth, the fish jumped out of the aquarium and pictures hung with adhesive fell down.