The Best Bed Bug Heater

Pest Strategies

After traveling around the country, you may unknowingly bring bed bugs back home with you. To avoid this rather unfortunate infestation, a quality bed bug heater will stop and kill migrating bed bugs right in their tracks. Pest Strategies researched several products on Amazon to help you find the best bed bug heater for your purposes — keep reading to learn more about our top picks.

1 Best for small treatments
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F6EV306

ZappBug Bed Bug Heater

Length: 43 inches | Width: 22.8 inches | Height: 24 inches

What We Like: Though smaller in size compared to other bed bug heaters on the market, this portable-friendly bed bug eliminator puts out powerful, reliable heating. It uses one central heater to control the temperature within the zippered pouch. The temperature will rise to roughly 130 degrees Fahrenheit, which is more than enough heat to kill adult bed bugs as well as nymphs and bed bug eggs.

2 Best vertically shaped
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NBVSRG8

ThermalStrike Bed Bug Heater

Length: 18 inches | Width: 14.5 inches | Height: 29 inches

What We Like: This professional-grade but consumer-friendly bed bug heater uses a six-sided heating system to knock out even the most stubborn bed bug infestations, doing so without the use of any harmful chemicals. The capacity is large enough to hold linens, clothing items, and most personal belongings for simple and straightforward bed bug treatments. The seven included thermostats are a nice feature, allowing you to achieve precision monitoring at any time during the heating process.

3 Best for professionals
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F67RHWG

ZappBug Bed Bug Heater for Beds and Couches

Length: 111 inches | Width: 57.5 inches | Height: 80 inches

What We Like: This complete heat chamber goes beyond the standard sizing of a traditional bed bug heater, and while it’s not exactly travel-friendly, it is ideal for home use when there’s a serious threat of a widespread bed bug infestation. Professional exterminators recommend larger bed bug chambers like this one to homeowners that want to preserve furniture and other large items, which is often more cost-effective in the long run. Plus, homeowners can retain the sentimental value of their belongings by saving them from bed bugs rather than throwing them out and buying new possessions.

4 Best flat-folding
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JU5G1PY

ZappBug The Oven 2 XL Bed Bug Heater

Length: 39 inches | Width: 39 inches | Height: 27 inches

What We Like: This portable bed bug heater excels at eliminating bed bugs from clothes and other possessions, designed to be folded flat for storage and quickly unfolded for instantaneous use. Its patented design and dual 1,500-watt heaters will retain heat nicely without heating the ambient air around the unit. Since this heater can be brought to different locations, we recommend this product for travelers. However, due to its power requirements, it will likely work best for people who can plug it into a power outlet at home.

5 Best for tiered items
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZOUCYDW

Dr Infrared Bed Bug Heater

Length: 38 inches | Width: 26 inches | Height: 38 inches

What We Like: This large-sized bed bug heater isn’t large enough to accommodate full-sized furniture, but it can easily handle just about anything else. Its powerful motor heats the unit in just minutes and will kill bed bugs at every life stage, including eggs and nymphs. We like the two-tier rack system that helps you pack in more items into the unit without overstuffing it. The included thermometer and alarming system are also a nice plus.

Buying Guide

Wondering what to look for in the best bed bug heater? While all bed bug heaters are similar in their functionality and design, there are a few notable differences to consider before you make your decision. Here’s what to keep in mind.

Heating temperature: To successfully kill the bugs, a good bed bug heater should be able to reach and maintain a temperature of at least 113 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 90 minutes at a time.

Size: Portable bed bug heaters come in many shapes and sizes; some can hold items up to three feet long and three feet wide, while others can only contain objects that are less than 10 inches in diameter. If you have couches and beds you wish to treat, you’ll need to opt for a larger bed bug heater. If you’re only treating clothing or regular-sized luggage bags, a smaller unit should be fine.

Power consumption: It’s important to find a bed bug heater that can fit your possessions and won’t tax the electrical system of your home. Consumer-friendly bed bug heaters should operate using a standard power outlet, and should only result in a temporary spike in energy consumption.

Flat-folding: Some bed bug heaters fold flat, making them easy to pack and saving space in your luggage when traveling abroad. They’re also usually easier to load your clothing and objects into the main compartment.

FAQs

How does a bed bug heater kill bed bugs?

Most living creatures have a minimum and a maximum temperature where their bodies begin to shut down, known as a “thermal death point.” For bed bugs, this temperature is roughly 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Bed bug heaters cause these pests to become lethargic, slowing down their bodies and eventually ceasing all nervous system function due to the extreme heat produced by bed bug heaters. Bed bugs need to be exposed to this thermal death point for roughly 30 to 90 minutes for the heater to fully affect their bodies.

When is a good time to use a bed bug heater?

There are a few key situations in which a bed bug heater would be ideal, even more so if you are the type of person who doesn’t like spraying pesticides or harmful chemicals all over your home. Chemical-free heat treatments from a bed bug heater are the most valuable in these situations:

Coming home from traveling: Increasing travel across the globe has led to a worldwide uptick in bed bug infestations. If you’re going to get bed bugs, it’s likely because you were traveling somewhere and brought them home. For most consumers, bed bug heaters are perfect to ensure that if bed bugs did make their way inside of your luggage or suitcase, they’d be dead.

Ensuring no bed bugs live inside your belongings: If bed bugs successfully invade your home, you can use a bed bug heater to purge these tiny insects from any of your belongings. Once you’ve passed your clothing, for example, through a bed bug heater, you’d seal your clothes inside of airtight plastic bags and store them somewhere safe.

For large home-wide infestations: For large infestations, professional exterminators will heat a portion, or even an entire house, to at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit in order to successfully neutralize every single bed bug.

How recently did bed bug heaters first come into use?

Using heat against bed bugs is a semi-recent development, taking shape since the early 2000s. Because bed bugs have grown increasingly resistant to common pesticides like DDT — and are intelligent enough to potentially avoid areas where chemicals have been sprayed — subjecting bed bugs to extreme heat has proven to be an effective extermination method.

Pest Strategies provides reviews of select products that are top-selling on Amazon and/or popular in consumer searches. Our team evaluates the products based on industry research, consumer reviews, pricing data, and other objective criteria. Unless otherwise noted, these product reviews are intended to help inform buying decisions for non-professionals. Because pest control products can be dangerous to your family if mishandled, we always recommend consulting with an exterminator, even if just to ask for advice on how to apply pest control products yourself.