What Temperature Kills Bed Bugs and Their Eggs?

The short answer

Bed bugs start to die at about 45°C, but it takes time: around an hour and a half for adults and about seven hours for eggs at that temperature. The British Pest Control Association gives 50°C held for two hours, or 52°C for one hour, as the level for full control, measured inside the places the bugs hide rather than in the room air.

Heat treatment works because bed bugs cannot survive high temperatures for long. But “hot” is not specific enough to be useful. The temperature, how long it is held, and where it is measured all matter, and the eggs need more than the adults.

Here is what the research and the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) say.

The figures from the laboratory

The most widely cited study is by Stephen Kells and Jeffrey Goblirsch at the University of Minnesota, published in 2011. They heated bed bugs at different stages of life and measured how long each took to die.

Temperature	Adults	Eggs
45°C, held steady	About 95 minutes for 99% to die	About 7 hours
48°C, held steady	Faster than the eggs	About 72 minutes
Rising steadily	99% dead by about 48.3°C	99% dead by about 54.8°C

Two things stand out. First, eggs need either a higher temperature or much longer than adults. Second, a few degrees make a big difference to the time needed. Dropping from 48°C to 45°C turns a treatment of about an hour into one of many hours.

What the BPCA recommends

For a real heat treatment, the BPCA gives two working targets:

50°C held for two hours, or
52°C held for one hour.

It also notes that damage to the insects’ cells starts at around 45°C, and that heat kills by drying them out. These targets build in a margin over the laboratory figures, because a real room is never evenly heated.

Why the room air is not the point

The air in the middle of a room heats up quickly. The inside of a mattress, a pile of clothes, a wooden bed joint or the gap behind a skirting board does not. These are exactly the places bed bugs hide, and some are well insulated.

That is why the BPCA stresses that the temperature must reach the insects, not just the air. A proper treatment uses several sensors placed inside furniture, mattresses and wall gaps, and keeps heating until every sensor has reached the target and held it. Ask the firm for the temperature log afterwards. It is the only real evidence that the job was done.

Fans and moving things around

Heat collects near the ceiling and pools in open spaces. Specialists use fans to move the hot air around, and during the treatment they may turn cushions, open drawers and move items away from walls so the heat can get in. This is also why plug-in fan heaters are not enough: the BPCA says they are not adequate for heating a room to a lethal temperature.

How hot does a heat treatment get?

Most professional treatments heat rooms to somewhere around 49°C to 54°C, according to the University of Kentucky’s entomology department. Some firms run hotter to shorten the time. A whole treatment, including setting up and cooling down, usually takes most of a day, and Kentucky notes it can often clear an infestation in one visit.

What about hot washes and dryers?

You can use the same principle on bedding and clothes. The NHS advises washing at 60°C and then tumble drying on a hot setting for at least 30 minutes. A tumble dryer on high heat for that long gets fabric well past the temperatures above.

Does cold kill bed bugs?

It does, but much more slowly. Bed bugs can survive from roughly freezing up to the high forties in Celsius, according to the BPCA. The NHS suggests bagging items that cannot be washed and leaving them in a freezer for two to three weeks. Cold is a tool for small items, not for a room.

Can bed bugs survive heat treatment?

Bugs survive when the heat does not reach them: inside a sealed box, deep in a wall void, in a neighbouring room that was not treated, or because the room was not held at temperature long enough. The BPCA is clear that no one can guarantee 100% elimination, and that most infestations are best handled with more than one method. That is why many firms book a follow-up visit or add a residual insecticide.

What this means when you book

When you compare firms, ask:

What temperature they aim for, and for how long they hold it.
How many sensors they use, and where they put them.
Whether you get the temperature log afterwards.
What happens if bugs are seen again.

Our page on heat treatment for bed bugs has a fuller checklist, and the cost calculator gives typical prices by home size. If you would like a specialist to survey the property, use the form below.

What temperature kills bed bugs?