WEST CHICAGO, ILL.—Tornado Industries, a leading manufacturer of professional cleaning equipment, has prepared a special bed bug newsletter and white paper to be distributed this month. The newsletter and white paper are designed to help clarify why the bed bug problem has resurfaced in the United States after being dormant for so many years.
More important, the white paper addresses ways cleaning professionals can help eradicate bed bugs, employing ways that have less impact on the environment. It was written by Michael Schaffer, a senior executive with Tacony’s commercial floor care division and president of Tornado Industries.
“This is an issue that has been in the news a lot lately,” says Schaffer, “and we have been asked what the cleaning industry can do to assist in addressing the problem.”
Schaffer believes the cleaning industry can help eradicate bed bugs by using professional steam cleaners. These systems do not require chemicals and are one of the most effective and environmentally responsible tools available to tackle the job.
Bed Bugs Don’t Like Heat
“Heat is the Achilles heel of bed bugs,” Schaffer says. “Some professional-grade steam cleaners provide high enough temperature (around 250 degrees Fahrenheit), adequate [steam] flow, and the precise delivery necessary to kill not only active adult bedbugs but also their eggs.”
Schaffer suggests that when using a professional steam cleaner to kill bed bugs, the operator should:
• Pay particular attention to seams and ribbing on beds and chairs;
• Avoid using nozzles with “jets” because they can blow the bugs from one surface to another, instead of killing them; and
• Where necessary, wrap the nozzle with a cleaning cloth to allow direct contact with the surface being cleaned and even better steam control.
According to Schaffer, using the steam-heat treatment “can dramatically reduce the amount of pesticides necessary, making this an effective, healthier and more environmentally responsible way of handling the bedbug problem.”
Go to Tornado.
