Can Bedbugs Survive a Washing Machine in Hounslow?

Washing bedding and clothes is part of every bedbug treatment we do, so it is a fair question whether the machine actually kills them. It can. How well depends on the setting, on the dryer, and on what happens to the laundry between the bed and the drum.

What the Wash Does

It is heat that kills bedbugs and eggs in the laundry, not the detergent and not the water. A wash on the hottest setting the care label allows, run for its full cycle, reaches a temperature they cannot survive. Bedding, towels and most cotton clothing can take that.

A cool or eco wash is a different matter. It gets the fabric clean, and some bugs will be drowned or rinsed away, but eggs are glued firmly to fibres and seams and can come through. So for anything from an affected room, use the hotter setting, and do not overload the drum, because a tight pack of washing warms up unevenly.

Why the Dryer Matters More

A tumble dryer on a hot setting keeps the whole load hot and dry for a long stretch, and it reaches into thick seams and folds that a wash can leave cooler. It also kills things that survived a gentler wash. Run it for a full cycle on the hottest setting the fabric can take, and make sure the load comes out properly dry rather than damp.

Some things that cannot be washed at all can still go through the dryer: trainers in a bag, soft toys, some cushion covers and pillows. Check the label first. A laundrette dryer works just as well if you do not have one at home.

Getting Laundry to the Machine

This is where most of the risk sits. A pile of bedding carried down the stairs in open arms drops whatever is in it along the way.

1. Strip the bed in the affected room and put everything straight into a bin bag or a sealed laundry bag.
2. Tie the bag before it leaves the room.
3. Empty it directly into the machine, then put the empty bag in an outside bin.
4. Do not sort or shake out the laundry on the floor or on another bed.
5. Put the clean load into a fresh bag or straight back onto the bed, not into the old basket.

Fabrics That Need a Cool Wash

Wool, silk, some uniforms and anything marked for a cool wash need another route. Options, depending on the item:

• A hot tumble dry on its own, if the label allows it even when the wash is cool.
• Professional dry cleaning, telling the cleaner why it is bagged.
• Keeping it sealed in a bag, away from the bedroom, until the room has been treated.
• For heat treatment, leaving suitable items in the room to be treated with it, if we say so.

What Washing Does Not Do

Washing deals with what is in the laundry. It does nothing for the mattress, the bed frame, the skirting or the furniture, which is where most of the bedbugs live. Clean bedding going back onto an untreated bed will pick them up again. Treat the washing as part of the preparation, and follow the list we give you for the chemical visits or for the heat treatment day. Treatments start from £220, and the Hounslow page explains the choice between them.

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