Want to use existing home hydronic system to heat house to ~ 125 deg, bed bugs.

Leonard

Jamie.....Thank you for the insight on musical instruments, paintings , decorations and chairs. That is exactly the experience info I was hoping to get.

That makes me have second thoughts about using heat in the whole house. Bit wastefull but maybe I can crack the windows and stuff the baseboards in all but the bedrooms. 60 year old balancing valves are stuck.

Makes me start thinking about just renting more CO2 tanks.


Chris.......I'm in cool NH. Tall trees , some shade on roof. Would not be a good location for solar even thought it faces dead south. Dormer 2nd floor , so most of roof faces north. Do have those triangluar vents ~ 2 feet tall and ~ 3-4 ft wide at both ends of unfinished attic. And we're on a hill , so always some breeze

MilanD

As someone who dealt with this through having rentals, it's no fun. Trick in getting rid of the buggers is systematic approach from several sides. Extermnators will ask you to also do all of the following:

First, launder and separate into bags or bins all your clothes. Clean clothes stays in clean bag. Dirty clothes in a separate bag, never out and always in bags... Throw away bags as you empty dirty clothes to wash.

Any contact killer, like rubbing alcohol, or Sterifab will be your first line of attack on beds, furniture, etc - any mattresses, folds on cauches, drawers, furniture, baseboards... Anything little buggers can hide in. Then encase your mattres and boxspring in special bedbug resistant covers. This eliminates their hiding place where you sleep.

Then, dryer dry anything that is there, pillows, throws, anything not needing washing.

Declutter. Any clothing that lives in drawers needs to be in plastic bags.

Then, vacuum everyrhing like a madman: baseboards, corners, behind furniture... Then immediately throw away the filter bag or empty if bagless, and keep the vacuum in plastic bag.

Key is eliminating the ability to crosscontaminate and to keep them from being able to feed. It takes 7 feedings for a hatchling to grow to reproducing adult stage, and you want to kill anything before it's allowed to grow up to an adult.

DE is only for spreading where it won't be airborn. It's not good thing the breathe. So, behind electric plug cover plates, behind the baseboards (remove toe kicks and shove behind).

Residual chemicals are not that good for you. You can get whatever is sold at Ace or similar hardware stores. Key will be, keeping up with the cleaning and vacuuming and decluttering over a period of time, and keeping the clothes separated and in bags and bins immediately after taking them off or after laundering.

Heat alone will be required on all surfaces if you are to heat. So 125*F will have to be surface temp of your furniture, not just air around it.

One other way to try is steamers for clothes, but this too is only instead of alcohol or Sterifab. There is no easy way.

Look at www.doyourownpestcontroll.com. Many products and suggestions.

Leonard

News of CO poisoning gave me an idea. .......I just looked up human lethal levels of CO, only ~ 0.16 to 1.25%

Makes me wonder if it would kill bedbugs, while using less gas ($$). Using co2 I'ld need to achieve 30 -70 % concentration to kill bedbugs.
Co2 is human lethal at ~ 15 %

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide_poisoning

Obviously house would not be occupied and would be ventilated for a few hours with box fans afterwards. My house has a couple residential CO detectors , one with ppm display ( home depot)

Gordy

I don't think there is any diffinetive information on how much carbon monoxide it takes to kill bedbugs. Insects are pretty resilient when it comes to such things. It's still a matter of getting the co to go in all the nooks, and crannies where they can hide.

Gordy

Above all I would not recommend that idea for obvious dangers.

Jamie Hall

Carbon monoxide is not only toxic, it's combustible. The LEL (lower explosive limit) is 12.5% in air and the UEL is 74%. You may be within that range if you try this. Do you really want to do this? The bugs will survive the explosion, but the house might not...

Jamie Hall

I might add, though, that it will kill you long before it blows up...

ChrisJ

Please call an exterminator.

I'm begging you.

jumper

Used to buy smoke bombs. Set them off and lock up the house for a few days. They were for fleas. Are bed bugs tougher?

Jamie Hall

jumper said:

Used to buy smoke bombs. Set them off and lock up the house for a few days. They were for fleas. Are bed bugs tougher?

Not really -- but if they were the same sort of smoke bombs which I've used for the same purpose, they contained a pretty powerful insecticide, and it would appear that the OP doesn't want to do that.

Leonard

Little update ....
I tried using co2 to kill the bugs. I got 8 tall 50# tanks of CO2 , put 4 in each room and released the gas using hoses to direct it to floor and clothes as a diffuser. Dammed up door with styrofoam except for top inch, so air floating on top of denser co2 would spill out of room ( like oil and water). That way could try to get 100% co2 on floor. I used 4 tanks/room even though only required ~ 2.6 tanks to fill room, figured might be some air/co2 mixing intially.

Used a fresh air hose mask for breathing air, I made it a few years ago to paint my car with the standard lung sealing isocynate paints.

Only surprize was the tanks got so cold they condensed water out of the air and puddled. Luckily I had put partical board under tanks to protect floor from dents ( full tanks were ~ 170#)

Wasn't sure if co2 got into foam matress toppers, so I bagged them up, sat on them to get air out, and backfilled them with co2 , I'll let them sit a week , then repeat.

We'll see if it worked.

Gordy

Well the cost of the WMD was cheap if it works.

Leonard

That's what I'm hoping for, a mass extinction

The gas company refused to deliver to residential neighborhoods, company policy. Had to make 2 trips with large car, removed back seat, lined with heavy cardboard and put 4 tanks ( ~700 # ) on floor each time. Cardboard protected car and make it easier to slide tanks in, bad back.

Cost for eight 50 # co2 tanks was ~ $400, $336 for gas + ~$40 hazmet fee ( supplemental profit). Plus ~ 80 cents per tank per day rental fee.

MilanD

What effect does CO have on the eggs?

Leonard

Read a study, co2 killed both live bugs and eggs in almost same amount of time. http://jdaniels.huntingdon.edu/372/Bedbug fumigation.pdf

I used CO2 not CO. ( CO is not good , it's lighter than air , so will float at ceiling, bugs are on floor. CO2 is 50% heavier than air so will try to be on floor with bugs).

MilanD

Sorry - meant co2. Interesting indeed. Do keep us know how it turns out.

ChrisJ

Please tell us how it worked in the long run.

I hope you got everything........

Leonard

Just looked up CO specific gravity, it's 0.9667 relative to air. Pretty close, lighter by only ~ 3.5%. But being flammable I ruled it out.

Been sleeping in dad's room for last week, no bites so far. But it's been empty for ~15 months, so no live bed bugs in there. Pest guy said they only live 12 months without feeding, so pretty certain none there. Not sure they were bed bugs, but in my room in past I went 1 month without bites,thought I had it licked , then bites.

I'll sleep in my room when I get done treating the pillows and mattress foam topping. Then we'll see if I was successful there.

HVACNUT

Are we really still doing this?

CKNJ

Take it from someone who has been there, call an exterminator who specializes in bed bugs. You are in over your head. Son came home from college and brought them with him. I thought they were just in his room because no one else was bothered. We tried the DIY approach of bug bombs, DE, mattress covers, etc. The critters kept coming back.

I called a pro and they came out, told me how to prep for their day long treatment. (Heat and spray). Found out afterwards, they weren't just present in 1 bedroom, but all 4. Yup, they had spread throughout the whole second floor of the house. After spending some serious money, I never saw another one again. It was worth every penny I spent. And they guaranteed their work for 1 year, even came out 6 months later to inspect at no charge.

Gordy

CKNJ said:

Take it from someone who has been there, call an exterminator who specializes in bed bugs. You are in over your head. Son came home from college and brought them with him. I thought they were just in his room because no one else was bothered. We tried the DIY approach of bug bombs, DE, mattress covers, etc. The critters kept coming back.

I called a pro and they came out, told me how to prep for their day long treatment. (Heat and spray). Found out afterwards, they weren't just present in 1 bedroom, but all 4. Yup, they had spread throughout the whole second floor of the house. After spending some serious money, I never saw another one again. It was worth every penny I spent. And they guaranteed their work for 1 year, even came out 6 months later to inspect at no charge.

The op did not want to use chemical means to eradicate.

Leonard

Been sleeping in dad's old room for about 2 weeks now , no bites. But that's not unexpected, it's been empty for 15 months so all bed bugs in it are dead now.

Few days ago for my room I regassed bags I had my pillows in with CO2. Today I washed foam matress topping in ~ 130 deg water ( will kill the bugs). I silicone rubber caulked about 150 rivot vent holes in mattress and injected co2 into it again. I'll try sleeping in my room again in a few days after I re-inject co2 into box spring and mattress,tomorrow.

HVACNUT

I think Roscoe would have been cheaper, better, and less time consuming. Not to mention the time wasted on an HVAC site.

Leonard

Update ......
No bug bites since we've moved into dad's old room ~ 1.5 years ago. CO2 and letting them starve for ~1.5 years worked.

Even though I also CO2'ed my old room , I've been so paranoid of feeding bugs in there and going back to square one that we haven't sleep there for ~ 1.5 years, pretty much just closed the door. It's a big house. Finally feel comfortable to try sleeping in there again.

CO2 likely killed them, but I went thru so much work preventing their spread, just had to be sure

By the way just walking stirred up the diamatious earth on floor ( used to kill them) and it settled EVERYWHERE on EVERYTHING as a thick dust, even on chandler on ceiling. Likely got into my lungs, coughing, blood O2 levels went from 98% to 94% ......Think it's OK now ....... I DO NOT recommend it.

I was pretty aggressive with the diatomaceous earth. Was living alone so I dusted whole floor of all the rooms, and laid down 12+ inch wide heavy lines of it across doorways , and even laid down grid of it in rooms to compartmentalize the room , so any bugs in it couldn't get to other sections of room or house. Worked , but dust got EVERYWHERE. Good thing I had a central vac to remove it all, and dump the air OUTSIDE.

In hindsight I should have used chemicals. Sprayed on old clothes and laid on cardboard on the floor. That way floor would not be contaminated with poisons afterwards.