Bed Bugs: TV?

April 13, 2010 8:13 PM

Someone in my building (clean loft) left a TV in the hall, with a "FREE" sign on it. I took it. I trust my neighbors but am still paranoid of bed bugs. How likely is it that bed bugs could be in an LCD TV, and can I check for them? I searched earlier bed bug questions & Google and couldn't find reliable stuff about electronics.
posted by Damn That Television to Home & Garden (16 answers total)

Response by poster: (I should point out that there is a small stripe of dead pixels on the left of the screen, which is almost certainly the reason that it was left in the hall.)
posted by Damn That Television at 8:20 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

I really think it should be fine, but selfishly I'm hoping it isn't so that you can make excellent use of your username.
posted by meerkatty at 8:24 PM on April 13, 2010 [9 favorites]

If you are worried about them being in there, you could always put it in a plastic bag taped closed and leave it in the freezer for a few days. That should kill them.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 8:29 PM on April 13, 2010

Ok so apparently they CAN live in electronics, but in all likelihood since yours came from inside an otherwise bug-free building, you're probably ok. But you can safely fumigate it just to be sure, although the cost of an actual fumigation is probably about the same as a new tv.

I would just keep it off the ground and keep a close eye on it since it is Brooklyn land of the great home of the "FREE" bed bugs.
posted by Juicy Avenger at 8:36 PM on April 13, 2010

posted by Damn That Television; Eponysterical!

Now that that's out of the way, it is unlikely that bedbugs would be hiding inside of that TV unless that TV had been located near your neighbor's bed AND your neighbor had bedbugs AND your neighbor's bedbugs happened to be atypical bedbugs who enjoyed living in electronics rather than organic materials like fabric or paper. Nevertheless, page 7 of this University of Minnesota report has tips for using bug spray on electronics, and I like a womble's plastic bag idea, though I wonder whether a TV would fit in a freezer.
posted by applemeat at 8:38 PM on April 13, 2010

Best answer: If you're that worried, put some tape loops on it, as if you were going to hang a piece of paper, wrap it in a garbage bag, tape securely. Next week, look for bugs on the exposed tape.
posted by theora55 at 8:59 PM on April 13, 2010

Best answer: You could try making the DIY bed bug detector, placing it and the TV on a white plastic sheet, and then see if you get any crawling out from the TV while the detector is running.

And don't feel bad about being concerned. Bed bugs are NOT fun, and I would personally also be concerned about any castoff items like that.
posted by gemmy at 9:52 PM on April 13, 2010

Bedbugs can be killed by wrapping the suspect item and placing it in a moderately warm environment - 125 degrees F or so - for 24 hours.
posted by yclipse at 5:17 AM on April 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

I worked in a building that got those little bastards. Men in clean suits gutted it of everything not made of glass or metal, taking everything else to a guarded hazmat vehicle to be burned. Bagging a less drastic solution but if you've already taken it in... cooties. Of all childhood fears, the early 21st century has brought cooties to life in North America. I would have voted for monsters.
posted by eccnineten at 5:45 AM on April 14, 2010

Yclipse nailed it. Bedbugs die when exposed even briefly to a temperature of 113°F or above. If the TV is small enough, spending some time inside your oven set to 140 should do the trick. You'll need to keep the TV in the oven long enough to ensure that the interior temperature of all components reaches at least 113, not just the outside, because the bedbugs are going to move and find the very coolest interior reaches during this process. This treatment may warp some plastic parts on the TV, especially if your oven's minimum temperature is higher than 140 (data point: my oven's min temperature is 170, and my netbook survived 30 minutes at that temperature with only minor warping of the bezel).

Note: Most freezing doesn't reliably kill bedbugs (experiments show that they survive for days in a 0°F freezer just fine; it takes weeks in a -20°F commercial freezer to kill them). And bedugs can survive in a dormant state for up to 18 months.
posted by Dimpy at 7:54 AM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Also note that bedbug eggs have an incubation period of two weeks, and are not particularly affected by fumigation. Techniques that rely on a few days' observation for activity (e.g. the tape-loop method) or vapor-based insecticides aren't going to be reliable in this case.
posted by Dimpy at 8:04 AM on April 14, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks for the help, guys. The TV is way too big to put in either a freezer or an oven -- both hilarious images, mind you -- so I've done the tape + wrap method, and I will check on it in three weeks.
posted by Damn That Television at 8:52 AM on April 14, 2010

Best answer: For the record: the tape-and-wrap method may help identify a massively infested item, but introducing even a single-digit bedbug population into your home is more than enough to begin a hugely expensive and inconvenient colonization.

Heat-treatment or long-term (18 months) sealed storage are the canonical solutions. Thorough vacuuming of all crevices and careful visual inspection are distant second choices. Given the stakes, relying solely on tape-traps to identify an infested item shouldn't even make the list of prudent solutions.

[I say this mostly for future readers who may come here for advice. In the case of this particular TV, we don't even know that it comes from a bedbug infested home, so I won't try to talk the OP into a more robust treatment option, but, having played a part in hir decision process, I do feel some obligation to point out that the OP's chosen solution is not a reliable safeguard.]
posted by Dimpy at 9:44 AM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

Maybe take a look at Hot Shot No Pest Strips

Seconding that the tape + wrap method probably won't tell you anything.
posted by nomad at 9:54 AM on April 14, 2010

Heat-treatment or long-term (18 months) sealed storage are the canonical solutions. Thorough vacuuming of all crevices and careful visual inspection are distant second choices. Given the stakes, relying solely on tape-traps to identify an infested item shouldn't even make the list of prudent solutions.

[I say this mostly for future readers who may come here for advice. In the case of this particular TV, we don't even know that it comes from a bedbug infested home, so I won't try to talk the OP into a more robust treatment option, but, having played a part in hir decision process, I do feel some obligation to point out that the OP's chosen solution is not a reliable safeguard.]

Sound advice. But, you know, 18 months is 2% of your entire life, and it'll feel like twice that once you start using phrases like "canonical solutions", "vacuuming of all crevices", "prudent solutions", "robust treatment option", "decision process" and "reliable safeguard".

Someone left a TV in your hall, and it's free, and it's really unlikely there are any bedbugs in there. Use the tape method above and relax. Anyway, free TVs are ten-a-penny these days.
posted by cincinnatus c at 10:11 AM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the advice, everyone. I took off the tape + bags, no bed bugs, and have gone the cincinnatus route and so far so good. If any are still dormant and I get them, it's my own fault, and Dimpy's advice, while probably over-cautious in my case, is very good for future readers.
posted by Damn That Television at 5:57 PM on April 18, 2010