ThermaPureHeat for Bugs, Large and Small

At Alliance, we use ThermaPureHeat technology to kill bed bugs, termites, cockroaches and mold, but high temperatures can take out pathogens, too.

The ThermaPureHeat process was created 16 years ago by entrepreneur Dave Hedman in an attempt to kill termites and other insect pests with heat instead of chemical pesticides. The treatment relies on the fact that every organism has a “thermal death point,” a temperature at which it can no longer survive in its environment.” For bed bugs and their eggs, for example, the thermal death point temperature is 118°F and it must be maintained for at least 90 minutes. For termites, the temperature is higher, but still low enough to prevent damage to homes.

Dave tells stories of when he was developing the technology and experimented on his own house: “I melted the plastic toilet seat.” Hedman’s experiments led to a happy medium between thermal death points and damage to a home’s interior.

In recent years, however, Hedman has moved forward with the technology to experiment with killing bacteria and other pathogens and it has been very successful.

Staphylococcus aureus (commonly known as Staph) is everywhere. It is estimated that 1 out of three people carry it in their own bodies. Some strains of Staph have become antibiotic-resistant and are therefore dangerous to both life and limb. Those strains are called MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus).

While bacteria can develop resistance to antibiotics and chemical pesticides, their thermal death point never changes and that is the magic of ThermapureHeat treatment for pathogens.

Staph is endemic in hospital and other health care settings and especially dangerous because of patients coming in with open wounds which can get infected. Heat treatment works in healthcare facilities just as well as it works in residences and can be an important part of a hospital’s fight against hospital-acquired infections–especially since it does not expose patients to chemicals or other unhealthful substances that could further endanger their health.

So when you think of ThermaPureHeat, don’t just think of the big bugs you can see. Think about the little ones you can’t see, but which can cause more than itchy bites or damaged wood framing–they are literally a matter of life or death.