Why Choose Heat Treatment Over Chemicals?

Heat treatment offers a modern alternative. By using temperature instead of toxins, the ThermoPest process provides complete eradication in one visit — without exposing families, pets, or staff to chemical residues. This page explains why more customers are turning to heat over chemicals, and why ThermoPest is the UK’s leader in this approach.

The Limits of Chemical Sprays

Chemical sprays rely on direct contact to be effective. Bed bugs that are hidden in cracks, behind skirting boards, or deep inside furniture often escape exposure. Even when contact is made, many UK bed bug populations have developed insecticide resistance, meaning the spray has little to no impact.

Sprays also leave behind residues that can be harmful in sensitive settings such as care homes or properties with children and pets. And because sprays do not kill eggs, infestations often reappear within weeks as a new generation hatches.

• Contact-only effect: hidden pests often survive.
  
  
• Resistance issues: sprays are increasingly ineffective.
  
  
• Multiple visits needed: re-infestations are common.
  
  
• Chemical exposure: not suitable for sensitive environments.
  
  

The Science of Heat Treatment

Heat works differently. Instead of targeting insects with toxins, it creates an environment they cannot survive. When temperatures are raised to 50–60°C and held for several hours, all life stages of bed bugs are destroyed:

• Eggs: heat penetrates shells and denatures proteins, preventing hatching.
  
  
• Nymphs: immature bugs quickly succumb once core body temperature rises above 48°C.
  
  
• Adults: even resistant populations cannot survive prolonged exposure to heat.
  
  

Because heat moves through the air and into fabrics, walls, and furniture, it reaches harbourages that chemicals cannot touch. See: What temperature kills bed bugs?

Direct Comparison: Heat vs Chemicals

Why ThermoPest Leads in Heat Treatments

Not all providers deliver heat treatment to the same standard. At ThermoPest, our heat treatment process has been refined over two decades to guarantee results:

• BPCA-approved technicians using industrial-grade equipment.
  
  
• Sensor monitoring to confirm every area reaches lethal temperature.
  
  
• Adaptations for challenges such as fixed headboards, cold masonry, or cluttered rooms.
  
  
• 60-day guarantee on qualifying treatments for long-term reassurance.
  
  
• Trusted by other pest control companies as a specialist supplier.
  
  

When Chemicals May Still Be Used

While heat is the most reliable option for bed bugs, there are some limited situations where targeted chemicals or dusts may be applied as a supporting measure. For example:

• Treating inaccessible voids while the room ramps up to lethal temperatures.
  
  
• Adding a protective barrier at boundaries in multi-unit properties.
  
  

Even then, chemicals are a secondary precaution, not the main eradication tool.