Highest safe temperature?

A stay at a hotel has left me with the unenviable job of eliminating bedbugs (!) from my home. Part of this task involves laundering all of one's clothes - the heat from the dryer, or more relevant to this case, the dry-cleaning process, kills them as well as their eggs, etc.

The problem I have is that I can't quite drop the $300-400 or however much to have ALL my suits, jackets, trousers, ties etc. dry cleaned at once. Currently, everything I'd be caught dead wearing is in a couple of big Rubbermaid containers waiting to be dealt with.

Here is my question: 113* farenheit for 15 minutes kills the buggers. I've been putting sneakers, drapes, etc. in the oven, with good results. I am, however, reluctant to toss my vintage sport coats and suits that cost more than my computer into the oven without some expert reassurance. Since you guys seem to have a little more experience with the nuts and bolts of clothing, may I ask you: does this seem like a good idea to you? If so, is there anything you'd still recommend avoiding, such as rayon, silk, etc?

What about leather shoes? I don't have anything pr0n-worthy, but I'd still cry if they got completely barbecued.

Thanks,
Alexander

Get a clothes steamer, that'd be much safer than cooking your clothes.

Originally Posted by Krawczak

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A stay at a hotel has left me with the unenviable job of eliminating bedbugs (!) from my home. Part of this task involves laundering all of one's clothes - the heat from the dryer, or more relevant to this case, the dry-cleaning process, kills them as well as their eggs, etc.

The problem I have is that I can't quite drop the $300-400 or however much to have ALL my suits, jackets, trousers, ties etc. dry cleaned at once. Currently, everything I'd be caught dead wearing is in a couple of big Rubbermaid containers waiting to be dealt with.

Here is my question: 113* farenheit for 15 minutes kills the buggers. I've been putting sneakers, drapes, etc. in the oven, with good results. I am, however, reluctant to toss my vintage sport coats and suits that cost more than my computer into the oven without some expert reassurance. Since you guys seem to have a little more experience with the nuts and bolts of clothing, may I ask you: does this seem like a good idea to you? If so, is there anything you'd still recommend avoiding, such as rayon, silk, etc?

What about leather shoes? I don't have anything pr0n-worthy, but I'd still cry if they got completely barbecued.

Thanks,
Alexander

yes, a steamer will do the job

I had a tough time with those F***ers. We started getting bitten in our new place. We washed and dryed or dry cleaned everything we owned and bagged them. Some things I couldn't wash or dry clean so I put them in the walk in freezer at work. Exterminator sprayed and that night we got bit like crazy. A week later we did the whole process again and it finally cleared out the bugs. From now on, anytime we come back from staying in a hotel, we'll be bagging our luggage and clothing outside. Then clothing goes straight from the bag to the hot wash or dry cleaner. Luggage stays outside for a few weeks so winter cold or summer heat can kill them. Anything I don't need stays bagged until needed again (adult bugs can go up to 18 months without feeding) Drastic but I'm not going through bed bugs again. So I don't suppose you have access to a freezer for a week? A lab grade -80 celsius freezer wouldn't take that long even but a -20 celsius, I'd do a week to be safe. You're in SD so putting it outside probably won't cut it.

I would ask them to reimburse you for the dry cleaning associated with the infestation. I do not see why you could not take them to small claims court if they refuse.

I would say that the infestation is a breach of the contractual duty of the hotel to provide a clean safe accommodation. Their failure to properly spray, and or contain the infestation in the hotel could be considered negligence on their part if it is reasonably foreseeable that their lack of precaution might cause the incident.

The fact being the threat of a lawsuit, and subsequent exposure of the hotel in connection with this infestation should be incentative enough for them to settle with you.


But I am not a lawyer, so please do not rely on my advice without consulting one first.

Only 113 degrees? Close up the room and put a big space heater in there, it will get hotter than that pretty fast. I have a hard time imagining that that low a temperature would really kill them though, but I thankfully don't know anything about them.

Originally Posted by j

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Only 113 degrees? Close up the room and put a big space heater in there, it will get hotter than that pretty fast. I have a hard time imagining that that low a temperature would really kill them though, but I thankfully don't know anything about them.
That's really smart. Put all your clothes on racks in one room. Crank the heat. Cook for a few hours. And leave them there. Have the rest of the house sprayed. My exterminators recommended washing and drying at high heat but I'm seeing online that 115 degree dry heat is supposed to kill them. Hmm.

Too bad you don't live in the deep south. With 90+ temps, a closed up vehicle would easily serve the purpose.