Dubai: If you’re wary of using chemicals and pesticides to deal with pests in your home, there’s a radically different form of treatment available.
UAE | General
Killing them softly: Pests bugging you? Try dry heat
UK company turns up the heat on pesky roaches and bed bugs, claims their innovative, chemical-free treatment does the trick in just two hours
- By Sharmila Dhal, Senior Reporter
- Published: 22:05 January 9, 2013
- Image Credit: Abdel-Krim Kallouche/XPRESS
- Heat and run: The new technology uses heaters to raise temperatures in the house close to 60 degrees celsius to reach the deepest crevices and kill the most stubborn of pests
The alternate method entails the application of dry heat to eliminate pests, no matter how heavy their infestation, claimed James Nicholson, General Manager of Rentokil, the UK-based pest control company promoting the innovative treatment. It can be used to eliminate any crawling insect, from bed bugs and cockroaches to mould and pathogens.
Nicholson said: “We use a technology called entotherm. It works by heating up an area to 50 degrees Celsius for two hours. All life stages of insects, from eggs to larvae to adults die at this temperature. The heat kills the insects by dehydrating them.”
He said the process begins by demobilising a room after a survey of the infested areas. “We then isolate the sprinklers and carry out the treatment. We use three-faced heaters which raise the temperature of the room and large fans to circulate the heat. We raise the temperature to over 50 degrees Celsius but keep it below 60 degrees Celsius by monitoring the temperature through a probe.”
The “kill temperature” is held for two hours by which time even the most deeply entrenched insect dies, said Nicholson. “The bigger the insect, the longer you need to hold the kill temperature. The whole process from surveying the room and demobilising it to applying the technology and reassembling the place takes five to six hours.”
Nicholson said entotherm is especially popular for treating bed bugs. “Since it is pesticide-free and efficient and can reach the deepest crevices, we have seen an uptake in its use in homes. Our technology helps save time because we can treat multiple infested areas at the same time,” he said.
With no residual side-effects, rooms treated with the dry heat can also be readily used once the dead insects are cleared and the furniture put back in place.
The cost of a the dry heat treatment for a two-bedroom home is Dh1,800.
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