How Heat Treatment Works
Exposure of pests to temperatures above their tolerance range makes them die. This is true for eggs as well as adults. Heat treatment uses a variety of heating methods, including steam and hot water, heat lamps, and heat mats to expose pests to lethal levels of heat.
Types of Pests
Professionals do heat treatments on a wide range of pests. Any insect that spends part of its life cycle in the soil or inside plant tissue can die with heat treatment. Examples include subterranean termites (Rhinotermitidae), carpenter ants (Camponotus spp.), chinch bugs (Blissus leucopterus), and mole crickets (Gryllotalp).
How Heat Treatment Affects The Environment
Heat treatment that affects termite species the most are soil-dwelling ones. These insects have larvae that must develop in the top few inches of soil. These treatments do not harm insects or other animals, but it does kill non-targeted pests.
Equipment for Thermal Pest Control
When you use heat treatment, you need to use special types of equipment. A typical system for soil fumigation includes fans that force the fumes into the soil. These come into play as well because they help raise interior temperatures quickly enough! There is also a blower that reduces pressure in the setup’s piping when it is time to ventilate. Fumes from these systems must exhaust from the building to ensure safety and protect indoor air quality.
Pests can become a serious issue for your home, but not to worry! Tools exist for you to know how to use them. Pest control professionals can also go to those hard-to-reach areas.
Heaters
Depending on the size of the location, utilize industrial grade electric heaters or special heating rigs with built-in generators. These distribute evenly throughout all possible spaces. Inclusive is where pests may hide within an area.
Knowing these devices will keep crawling creatures away from any vulnerable spots around doors, knob handles, light fixtures, and so on. This is while keeping ambient humidity under control. Once high inside, these devices lower the dew point to do away with potential infestations.
How Does Thermal Treatment Compare to Traditional Pest Control Methods
Heat treatment has advantages over traditional pest control methods for three reasons. These include effectiveness, time, and safety when compared with other methods of pest control.
Efficiency
Pest infestations are not only annoying but can get costly to deal with when they go out of hand. Pests damage property, endanger the health and cause a loss in productivity. Heat treatment is one of the most efficient ways to get rid of pests because it kills both adults and eggs. This means you do not need repeated treatments.
This is unlike chemicals or other types of pest control processes that wipe out adults. Likewise, they leave larvae or eggs behind to re-infest your home or workplace weeks after the initial treatment.
One major advantage of thermal treatment is that it only requires one visit. Other than this, pesticides and cryos also have their own set of advantages and disadvantages when treating bed bugs. However, most treatments tend to need two rounds. The second is for killing any emerging bugs fourteen days later after they hatch from eggs or newly hatched nymphs or molts.
Time
Heat treatment is fast in comparison with other methods of pest control! It kills both adults and eggs. You do not have to wait for larvae or eggs to develop into adults before they die. The process also kills many types of pests at their source. This saves you the time it takes to locate and treat infestations manually.
Before you start heating your home, it is important to take precautions. Make sure to unplug all electronics and clear out any clutter from the floor or closets. This is before beginning treatment in those areas of concern.
There is room for expansion during operation time frames without the risk of electric shocks. These are from wires coming loose on a plugged-in device with too hard pulling from an animal trying to get away from flames!
Make certain not to leave candles and crayons. These items will only melt under high temperatures. It might cause fires when not dealt with immediately afterward. Always remember to check house plants. Some gardeners may forget their watering routine.
Safe and Eco-friendly
Handling chemical pesticides is a challenge especially around children and pets. They can harm your loved ones when you fail to follow safety guidelines in handling them. Heat treatment is safer because they do not contain any chemicals or toxins that cause poisoning.
When compared with pesticides and chemical fumigants used for pest control, heat treatment has advantages due to its safety profile. It does not require the use of any chemicals or drugs that can endanger human health or pose risks when there is exposure via inhalation or ingestion. This is also for livestock and wildlife.
Advantages
Get ready to familiarize yourself with five advantages that heat treatment for pest control can give:
Non-Chemical
Heat treatment does not use any chemicals that can harm your family, pets, livestock, or wildlife. This means you do not have to worry about them coming in contact with any poisonous gases or vapors when using heat for pest control.
Many chemicals used are dangerous for you and the environment. They cause damage such as lung problems, cancer, and neurological diseases like Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s.
Heat treatment is more eco-friendly than chemical pesticides. It does not produce any toxic wastes that may contaminate soil, water, or air quality.
Since there are no chemicals used during heat treatment, the long-term health effects for exposed individuals are minimal. These treatments do not involve volatile organic compounds (VOC). Its presence can cause adverse side-effects over time like those from pesticides or other hazardous materials. Special handling precautions before reoccurrence exist.
Killing pests with harsh chemicals may lead to ozone layer depletion. They emit an abundance of greenhouse gas emissions when burned up in flames!
Reach Challenging Areas
Single Treatment
Heat treatment is capable of penetrating hard-to-reach spaces in your home. This means you can kill all pests! Roaches and rodents deep inside walls and cracks in the flooring are inclusive.
With this treatment, it is possible to reach severe infestations inside walls or other hidden areas. Fumigation alone may find it hard to treat them. No longer will you worry about opening up a wall just to get rid of bed bugs inhabiting the area.
It is also possible for heat treatment to penetrate gaps where pests tend to hide. Examples are under floors, behind ovens, beneath cabinets, and between furniture legs that are close together. You do not have to move heavy appliances like stoves and washer machines.
No Evacuation Needed
Heat treatment is perfect for those who reside within high-risk areas! It does not require you to leave your house and vacate the premises temporarily. There are no toxic fumes involved. This is beneficial to you in more ways than one! Family or loved ones need constant care because of age, health, or disability complications.
This treatment does not release any gaseous byproducts that can harm children and seniors. This means it is safe for homes where there are newborns and toddlers, nursing mothers, elderly citizens with respiratory problems, and individuals who have compromised immune systems due to chronic illnesses like diabetes or cancer treatments.
Damage-Free
Heat treatment does not damage the structure of your house. This means you can seal up cracks or openings to prevent pests from entering it again.
You do not need any DIY skills during treatment since it takes advantage of high temperatures alone. Your home goes back to its normal condition once pest control is complete.
This method uses high temperatures up to 135 degrees Celsius. It is about the same as outside during summertime. You do not have to worry about:
- melted or flaking paint
- warping wallpaper seams
- shrinking floorboards
- warped coffee table edges
- smoky ceiling stains
- heat damage on carpets and rugs
- any other kind of damage to your home from these pests
Heat treatment through competent professionals will not damage the contents in your interior space. It is often considered safe to leave potentially infected material and electronics unplugged while undergoing this process. Nonetheless, you can count on a list of items for removal before the start. These are furniture or anything else that may have risk from corrosion.
Real-Time Monitoring
Heat treatment allows professional pest exterminators to closely monitor the process. This means it is effective in terms of time and money spent. It can tell exactly the necessary fluid or gas dispersion.
During this process, technicians use state-of-the-art monitoring tools like thermal imaging cameras. They can detect any problems quickly before wasting more resources on unnecessary processes.
Experts are also responsible for checking materials, appliances, tools, and equipment used during treatment. They make sure these are functioning properly to prevent malfunctions or damage.
Pest control is all about safety and effectiveness. Exterminators use heat treatment to get rid of pests for good! They can rest assured that their work has been done safely in this emerging field. Consult with an exterminator before undergoing any treatments yourself when you want a guaranteed cleanup.