Bedbugs

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I have a client that owns a building that is essentially short term rentals- the kind of place you would go if you needed to be in town for a few weeks or so. Apparently someone brought in bedbugs and now they need to get rid of them. The equipment he is going try to use needs some fairly hefty electrical.

My question isn't about the electrical aspect of this but I was wondering if anyone had any guidance on how to leave the critters where they are and not have any hitchhike home with me when I hook up this equipment. From what I understand once you get these things you might as well just burn down your house and everything in it (maybe a slight exaggeration) because they are stubborn.

This guy has been a good client for years and I don't want to turn him down but I also don't want to bring home the wife and kids any unintended presents.
 

mcclary's electrical

Senior Member
Location
VA
I have a client that owns a building that is essentially short term rentals- the kind of place you would go if you needed to be in town for a few weeks or so. Apparently someone brought in bedbugs and now they need to get rid of them. The equipment he is going try to use needs some fairly hefty electrical.

My question isn't about the electrical aspect of this but I was wondering if anyone had any guidance on how to leave the critters where they are and not have any hitchhike home with me when I hook up this equipment. From what I understand once you get these things you might as well just burn down your house and everything in it (maybe a slight exaggeration) because they are stubborn.

This guy has been a good client for years and I don't want to turn him down but I also don't want to bring home the wife and kids any unintended presents.



I think if I was in your situation, I would call the person that is professionally removing these things and talk to him about how to handle it.
 

ceb58

Senior Member
Location
Raeford, NC
I have a client that owns a building that is essentially short term rentals- the kind of place you would go if you needed to be in town for a few weeks or so. Apparently someone brought in bedbugs and now they need to get rid of them. The equipment he is going try to use needs some fairly hefty electrical.

My question isn't about the electrical aspect of this but I was wondering if anyone had any guidance on how to leave the critters where they are and not have any hitchhike home with me when I hook up this equipment. From what I understand once you get these things you might as well just burn down your house and everything in it (maybe a slight exaggeration) because they are stubborn.

This guy has been a good client for years and I don't want to turn him down but I also don't want to bring home the wife and kids any unintended presents.

What kind of critters are you calling bedbugs? If what you are calling bedbugs is really dust mites then you and every one else has them in your home. Unless you have an allergic reaction to them you never really know they are there. The reason I know this is when my son was about 2 he started breaking out in a rash. The Dr. said he was having a reaction to them. He said that every one sheds thousands of skin cells every day and they are there to eat them. So with some lotion that had bug killer in it and ripping out all the carpet he got over it. My wallet took longer but....
If you are talking other unwanted bugs, crab lice,fleas then tyvek suit with flea collars around your ankles.
 

zog

Senior Member
Location
Charlotte, NC
I have a client that owns a building that is essentially short term rentals- the kind of place you would go if you needed to be in town for a few weeks or so. Apparently someone brought in bedbugs and now they need to get rid of them. The equipment he is going try to use needs some fairly hefty electrical.


OK, what sort of equipment are we talking about here??? Super bug zapper?
 
iwire- dems da beasts.

zog- after getting the fax from this guy (he still uses faxes and not emails), I did a little research online. Apparently they are real tough to get rid of (which I had heard before) and there are multiple different things to try. The angle he is using is going to be to try to heat them to death. Apparently if you can raise the temperature of the room to 120F for several hours it will kill both the live ones and their eggs. To that end he is looking to get a 3 phase, 15kW heater in there. This place has some dodgy electrical to begin with- this might be quite the task to get the proper power there.

I've certainly worked in place that had roach problems before but those didn't worry me quite as much. As long as you did leave your tool bag lying around and made you shook out your pants etc you can be pretty confident that you will be going home alone. And if you did bring them home they are a lot easier to see and kill (luckily I've never had to deal with that but I've known people who have). These things have a reputation for being much more insidious and much more difficult to rid yourself of them once they dig in. It really makes you not want to ever sleep in a hotel again.
 

zog

Senior Member
Location
Charlotte, NC
zog- after getting the fax from this guy (he still uses faxes and not emails), I did a little research online. Apparently they are real tough to get rid of (which I had heard before) and there are multiple different things to try. The angle he is using is going to be to try to heat them to death. Apparently if you can raise the temperature of the room to 120F for several hours it will kill both the live ones and their eggs. To that end he is looking to get a 3 phase, 15kW heater in there. This place has some dodgy electrical to begin with- this might be quite the task to get the proper power there.

Perhaps a propane heater would work better? You know those big blowers they use on the sidelines at football games?
 

SpiderMT

Member
Can you rent a generator to supply power? Then you can stay outside and leave a cord for the guy with the equipment to go inside and get critters all over him.
 

Cow

Senior Member
Location
Eastern Oregon
Occupation
Electrician
I'd push for the generator too. Just let them run a cord into the building.

Maybe the other thing to do would be to put on some cheap clothing and simply toss it out as soon as your done. Bring a change of clothes with you to the jobsite.
 
Propane heater in doors, around furniture, and without proper ventilation: doesn't sound like a good solution. Don't think the fire department would think much of it either.

I too vote for the generator.

BTW, I'm not a bedbug expert, nor do I play one on TV, but I believe bedbugs are primarily nocturnal. They come and get you when you're asleep. So whatever you do, don't go to sleep on the bed!:grin:
 
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I too see some big issues with ventalation w/ a propane heater. The deal is the bugs and eggs have to be at 120F for a few hours, not just the ambient air temp. So bugs hiding behind headboards or in mattress would be shielded for awhile. I'm not sure how long it would have to be on but my guess would be 6-8 hours.

I am liking the generator idea also. As I mentioned earlier the distribution in this place is shaky. So bypassing that and not having to work in there seems like a double bonus. It also is not all that expensive compared to what I would have to do to get this back to a "clean" source.
 

wawireguy

Senior Member
You might have to have to set up some kind of decontamination area. I'd look up online what the risk of getting them is. Maybe get some guidlines for decontamination for some govt source?
 
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