Basically put everything that can take the heat in a hot dryer for half an hour.
Washing in hot isn't important or desirable for many fabrics. Better to put dry clothes in a hot dryer for half an hour, then wash and dry as normal for anything that needs to be cleaned.
Since so many posts mention putting items in the dryer for a half-hour, it is reasonable to assume that the hard plastic clips and plastic coated zipper pull tags on backpacks don't melt? Just asking ...
Not in my experience, though I did put a hat in the dryer that came out rather doll sized and misshapen.
This would be effective in killing the bedbugs. However, for some items it would not be practical. I ruined the curvature of a backpack by putting it in a tumble dryer. Some items cannot be washed.
I had those things sprayed by a hospitalera with something containing DEET. It's not great for plastic products, and it did something to the coating on the fabric inside my backpack.
I once put my backpack in the washing machine. It didn’t do it much good. Destroyed it actually. Hopefully there’s some spray on stuff that will kill them.
A 60° wash is not necessary. It's the hot dryer that does the trick.
Extremely unlikely. If true, we can all give up!
If the clothes and other items are wet then they will need to be in the dryer for much longer because they won't start to heat up until they are nearly dry.
Exactly right. For the umpteenth time, put your dry clothes in a hot dryer (55° or more) for half an hour to kill the bedbugs. If the clothing also needs to be washed then do it after the heat treatment.
Are you saying that you put wet clothes from the washing machine into the dryer for 10-15 minutes only? The clothes don't get hot enough until they are dry, at which point they need at least an additional 20 minutes at high heat.
That doesn’t sound like bed bugs. The itching can be awful, but usually lasts just a couple unbearable weeks.
It's okay, I don't have the itch now it started three days into my camino last September and only a small area on neck but no bites anywhere else on body for rest of the way. I walked the Portuguese coastal in April this year and had no problems at all, thank goodness. Thank you for the advice though, I should have gone to gp at the time
Also: check your pack… many in the Osprey line have removable frames… not sure about other brands but assume similar.
Don’t set the dryer at the highest temperature. Last year I got bed bugs somewhere before Sarria, but didn’t get the chance to wash and dry my stuff until I was in Arzúa. In the laundromat I stupidly set the temp to the highest. The back plate of my backpack (not sure what it’s called, it’s the plastic plate like thing that keep the bag in the right shape) shrunk and melted, which destroyed my backpack. Also the zippers, the nylon thingy on the bag and on my hat, all melted. My socks from decathlon shrunk in size. I had to hire a taxi to the decathlon right outside of Santiago to replace many of my gears.
Very valuable insight, thank you. My experience on the Primitivo a year ago was that dryers in the albergues are default set to a drying temperature. I just put in in coin tokens and pushed the start button. Your comment makes me think the safer approach for the backpack is the trash bag in the sun.
Some fabrics can't handle the hot wash or the hot dryer while they are initially wet.
Anything with Down in it and various other fabrics won't survive a hot wash but probably will survive a hot dryer if done correctly.
Yes, they could, if the fabrics allow.
