Vacuuming is an effective cleaning method, but can it help to kill bed bugs?

Well, one thing we know for a fact is that bed bugs love to live in unhygienic and dirty living conditions; and their common hideouts are mattresses, furniture, and old beds.

And vacuuming certainly assists you in remarkably reducing the number of these tiny harmful creatures.

Does Vacuuming Kill Bed Bugs?

No, not in the sense of terminating bed bugs’ life. However, vacuuming can help in reducing bed bugs population in your home, according to the Department of Entomology at the University of Minnesota.

However, it is important to note that vacuuming is not 100% effective and particularly works best where bed bugs are present in groups or clusters. It means that if your home is not heavily infested with bed bugs and has limited infestation at specific places (forming groups), then thorough, and regular vacuuming can effectively reduce the number of bed bugs.

If your place is heavily infested, then vacuuming alone can only get you started in cleaning, it will not effectively kill the bed bugs.

How to Effectively Remove Bed Bugs with a Vacuum Cleaner?

To make the best of vacuuming for efficiently removing the bed bugs from your place, it is important to consider the following points,

  • As the bed bugs love to hide and in small and humanly unreachable places, so specifically focus on the nooks, corners, and cracks with the strong suction level of the vacuum.
  • It is recommended not to put too much pressing-pressure on the surface/ fabric. That is because with too much pressure the eggs of tiny bugs may fell off the fabric/ surface instead of getting sucked by the vacuum cleaner.
  • Dispose of the vacuum bag wisely, making sure the complete removal of bed bugs from your place. For this, seal the vacuum bag after removing it. Then put this bag in another disposable plastic bag and seal that one too. And then discard it in the outside bin.
  • In case the vacuum cleaner does not have its bag, then empty all the content in a sealed plastic bag and get rid of it.
  • Thoroughly wash the vacuum container with hot water spray thus ensuring that the remaining bed bugs or eggs are killed. Moreover, it is advised to wash the filter as well. Else, you can discard the used filter and replace it with a new one.

Will Bed Bugs Survive In The Vacuum?

If unfortunately, you somehow do not empty the vacuum bag/ container then the bed bugs will stay and surely survive in the vacuum. As stated earlier, a vacuum cleaner does not kill the bed bugs, rather help you get rid of them.

Now, coming to the survival duration of bed bugs in the vacuum, bed bugs can survive for more than six months without having any food or even water. Moreover, the bed bugs will try to crawl out of the vacuum to find a host to get food.

Vacuuming is a great method to effectively control the spread and reduce the number of bed bugs. However, efficient vacuuming and thorough cleaning of vacuum cleaner afterward are two important factors in getting rid of bed bugs.

Check out these vacuum cleaners that work best in removing bed bugs.