Are your bed bugs alive and well but respectably clean after going through your washing machine? Many people don’t wash their bedding at a high enough temperature to kill bed bugs and bacteria.
Cotton bed sheets, duvet covers and pillowcases need washing once a week at 60 degrees centigrade in order to get rid of bed bugs and eggs. However, make sure you check the wash labels first to ensure it is OK to wash them at 60 degrees – especially if your sheets aren’t made of cotton.
More on bed bugs
If you have nerves of steel and a strong stomach you can read about their reproductive habits and how bed bugs have, a peak attack period about an hour before dawn here – Bedbugs (Wikipedia)
Related:
- Another side effect of washing at low temperatures can be a causes of build up of of grease, slime and black mould inside a washing machine (Also includes tip about maintenance washes for your washing machine)
- Whites coming out grey
- The downsides of Washing at 30 degree temperatures
jamesmcnicol says
A good way to treat and prevent against bed bugs is to use a product called bedsafe. I bought on ebay and after having tried several different products i was glad to find one that finaly worked. It can also bought direct at http://www.crownsupplies.co.uk for a bout £10
Julia says
The thing is to wash at above 60 degrees, not at 60. The cost & bother of losing a few garments is as nothing to the misery of living with a long-term bed bug infestation. Transfer washed garments directly to a drier & dry on “hot” for an hour – longer for duvets, coats, blankets, etc. You need to shrivel all the eggs & crisp up the bugs completely.
I really wouldn’t rely on Bedsafe to do anything excpet give a scent of lavender to the room. This quote is from the Crown Supplies site mentioned above; “Bed Safe BedBug Protection.
Bedsafe unique formulation is designed to eradicate dust mites (Bed Bugs) from your bed and significantly decreases the chances of Astma and Eczma.”
Oh my wordy, where do we start? Bed bugs (Cimex lectularis and Cimex hemipterus) ARE NOT DUST MITES (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus). Dust are microscopic (around 420 micrometers) in size and feed on on shed skin & other tiny debris; their faeces are irritant to many asthma sufferers & can provoke allergic reactions. Bed bugs are 1 to 4 milimeters in size & are cryptic haematopahageous insects (hard-to-track-down bloodsuckers).
The spray does not appear to contain any of the few specific insecticides effective against bedbugs & in any case, to be at all effective, those chemicals would have to be applied in formulations only available to qualified pest controllers.
Bed bugs have no aversion whatever to lavender, as the marketing materials for Bed Safe seem to suggest.
Anyone who happens across this post looking for help & info on bedbugs, try; Bedbuggers.com or bedbugbeware.com for detailed help and some scare stories to convince you to act quickly; as soon as ever you suspect you may have a bug problem.
jonah says
agree with julia only HOT water above 60C or 135F will be effective, but dryer on high is the best, it desiccates the bugs so they die, they will not survive hot water and hot air. i always wash my bedding that way as well i use an allersac when i travel, it can also be washed in hot water and hot air
katie says
we have bed bugs !!help,we can’t afford expensive sprays and creams!!! help!!
Whisky Kid says
If I drink more whisky will they get drunk when they suck my blood?
Is there a test one can do to see if we suffer from an infestation?
I blame it on the goverments banning certain incectisides, maybe bring back things like DDT.
John says
Just put your duvet in a chest freezer for a couple of hours, kills the little buggers, then wash as normal, or just buy a new duvet every year or so.
Bed Bug Killer says
HI Katie! you could try using Diatomaceous Earth, other than it is inexpensive it is non-toxic and is safe to use on your home. Hope this helps! – Sharon