The BBHD12 Heater is the most efficient, safest, and well-made bed bug heater on the market for hotels and motels. You may ask, “How can I know that what you are saying is true?” Well, we’re glad you asked!
Let’s talk about the performance of the BBHD12.
The BBHD12 Bed Bug Heater has 40,944 BTUs and heat treat up to 450 square feet. Understanding BTUs can be challenging and some companies will take advantage of this to make their bed bug heater seem like it is capable of treating more square feet than it is. Calculating BTUs requires taking into account many factors like climate, flooring type, number of windows, insulation, wall construction, square footage, and kilowatts of the heater. However, the formula below is a simple way to calculate approximately how many BTUs per hour your bed bug heater needs to bring it to the proper temperature to kill bed bugs. Be sure to check the claims of the company before purchasing a heater.
(Desired Temperature Change) x (Cubic Feet) x .133 = BTUs per Hour
Let’s talk about the construction of the BBHD12.
One standout feature of the BBHD12 Bed Bug Heater is its proud origin: meticulously designed and expertly assembled right here in the USA. Most companies selling bed bug heaters design in America but manufacture in China. This makes getting parts for a Prevsol bed bug heater easier and quicker. Additionally, the resistor evenly distributes heat because of its elongated shape and heats more quickly because of the 17 touch points. You can see in the photo a comparison of our resistor to a competitor’s coils. The difference is clear!
The BBHD12 heater is lightweight, only 26 pounds, and has a suitcase handle and wheels, making it easy to transport. One important safety feature of this heater is that the cords plug directly from the outlet on the wall to the heater. That means no splitter cords are needed. Another safety feature of the heater is the tip-switch which offers protection if it is knocked over. The thermistor will not allow the temperature to rise above 150 degrees, and the locked thermostat that will not rise above 140 degrees. It also has a metal housing rather than plastic. All of these safety features in addition to the quality construction makes this bed bug heater the best choice for hotels and motels needing to do a bed bug treatment.
Let’s talk about instructions and training for the BBHD12.
Each BBHD12 Bed Bug Heater package, as well as all of our electric heater packages, comes with an instruction card and instructional video. These instructions were created with the experience of our resident pest professional who has 30 years of experience in the pest control industry and has personally treated over 5,000 hotel rooms. The instructions we have included are well thought-out policies that make the heater work properly to eliminate bed bugs and run safely to protect your assets.
Let’s look a little more in depth at the setup of the room and BBHD12 Heater.
- Cover your sprinkler heads. This heater package includes two Styrofoam outdoor faucet covers that must be used to cover the sprinkler heads when heat treating a room. These covers keep the sprinkler head 30 degrees cooler than the room. If you do not cover the sprinkler heads, they may break the during the first treatment, or they may not break the first time. However, it will weaken them each time the room is treated, and eventually, they will pop the and cause the hotel to flood. This is ALWAYS our first instruction as it is one of the most important to protect your assets.
- Strip all of the sheets, bedspreads, pillowcases, and any other linens from the bed. If the linens are left in the room during the heat treatment, they could create cold spots where bed bugs could hide to survive. Be sure to place all linens and pillows in a plastic bag before taking them to be washed and dried. This keeps the bed bugs from being spread down the hall on the way to laundry.
- Put mattress and box springs in an A-Frame as pictured here. Putting the mattress and box spring on top of the bed frame on their side, resting on each other at the top, creates a wind tunnel that allows the heat to circulate through the room. Additionally, it causes the air flow to be directed to the headboard wall where most of the bed bug population will be within five feet of. If you are having trouble getting the beds to stay together at the top, use painters’ tape around the top of the mattress and box springs to secure the A-Frame. Do not use duct tape as the heat treatment will cause it to leave sticky residue on the mattresses. Be sure to pull that A-Frame back from the headboard wall 8-12 inches to allow good air flow. Some maintenance personnel have been known to set the mattress and box springs up against the wall for ease of treatment only later to find they created a cold spot in the room for the bed bugs to hide and the treatment was unsuccessful.
- It’s time to plug the heater in. With the BBHD12 heater package, you will receive two black cords for the 220-volt outlets and two yellow cords for the 110-volt outlets. The two black cords plug into the PTAC plugs on the wall which are the heater/air conditioner found in hotel rooms or apartments. One goes in the room you are treating, and one in the room next door so they will be on separate circuits. One of the yellow cords plugs into the master plug and must be plugged in for the heater to turn on. It should be plugged into an outlet with a dedicated circuit. Some hotel rooms have one circuit for the bathroom and one for the bedroom. If this is the case, you may plug one of each of the yellow cords into the separate circuits in the room you are treating. If the room only has one breaker, one of the yellow cords is long enough to reach the room next door. The longer black cord is designed to be plugged into the PTAC in the adjoining room. The heater will treat up to a 450 square foot room, but if your hotel has some smaller rooms (350 square feet or less, without concrete block), you may use only one of the black PTAC plugs along with the two yellow cords. Additionally, be aware that both of the black cords are twist lock plugs and need to be pushed in and turned ¼ turn to lock in place. On the yellow cords, be sure to push them straight in on the heater. These best practices will prevent the plugs from arching.
- Place the BBHD12 unit in the center of the room. If you have one bed in the room, place the heater with the fan blowing through the A-frame, and if you have two beds in the room, move the night stand over near the bathroom and place the heater in the center of the two bed A-frames. Once again, be sure to pull the bed set-up back from the headboard wall 8-12 inches. This will allow the heat to blow toward the head-board wall and circulate back through the two A-frames you have set up.
- Cover all of the room vents, open all of the drawers, and close the bathroom door. Covering the room vents prevents cold air from seeping back into the room from the vent. Opening the drawers keeps them from creating cold spots where bed bugs can hide. The bathroom door can be closed since bed bugs are not generally strong and therefore do not like tile. Unless there is a huge bed bug infestation, they will not typically be found in the bathroom.
- The black and yellow cord that run to the next room will slide under the door. If you are having a difficult time getting them under the door, it may help if you loosen the screws on the door to allow a little more space. Some maintenance personnel will instead run the cord out one air conditioning unit and back in the next room through the air conditioning unit. After you have run the cords, use painters’ tape to tape off the bottom of the door.
- You are now ready to turn the power switch on. The heater will take 3-4 hours for the thermostat on the heater to reach between 135-140 degrees. Once it has reached this temperature, the heater must run for another 3 hours. Using the infrared thermometer included in your package, check that all the cracks and crevices in the room are over 121 degrees. Never change the thermostat on the heater as it is pre-programmed to 140 degrees. This keeps the temperature at a safe level for all your furniture, fixtures, and electronics. As you finish the heat treatment, shut the heat applied button down and leave the fan running for another 15 minutes to allow the heater to cool down prior to shutting it off.
These instructions are very important to be sure the heat treatment is successful at killing all the bed bugs the first time, every time. Following the directions makes your BBHD12 last longer and protects your assets from damage. Shortcuts cause bed bugs to live through the treatment and cost you more time and frustration. Follow these instructions to have a bed bug free room in about 8-10 hours. Call 844-364-3281 with any questions about your property and bed bug heat treatment.