DIY Heat Treating Home For Bugs - Danger To My Gas Pipe?

Question

Actual Question:

My apartment has a gas line that is used for my oven and I'm wondering if anything needs to be done with that before I can heat treat my apartment. The apartments temperature will be at 150 degree Fahrenheit for almost an entire day.

Context:

I'm trying to get rid of Bird Mites and I'm considering doing heat treatments myself using the ePro 400 XP Electric Heat Bed Bug package from the company Green Tech Heat.

The reason I am thinking about forking over the large sum of $2,000 USD to buy this and do it myself versus going with a professional company is because I have most of my belongings in a storage unit that would need to be treated, my apartment itself with other belongings of mine would need to be treated, and my car needs to be treated. I'm moving out of my current apartment and into a new house so there isn't really a good way for a professional company to heat treat my belongings in my storage unit because I wouldn't be able to do it in the storage unit and I don't want to move those belongings into my new house and risk infecting the new house.

So my plan is to buy the Dr. Infrared Heater DR-122X4 Large Size Bedbug Treatment System and set that up outside my new house and slowly move my belongings out of the storage unit, heat treat them in the Dr. Infrared tent, then bring them inside my new house and for good measure I will also place the ePro 400 inside the Dr. Infrared tent to compensate for the cold winter temperatures outside to ensure the internal temperature of the tent is at the 150 degrees Fahrenheit required to kill the bugs.

So apologies for that long explanation but that is why I don't feel I can use a professional company because those companies charge a lot of money for their treatment and they probably wouldn't be able to treat all three of my locations for an affordable sum.

So here's my main question and concern. My apartment has a gas line that is used for my oven and I'm wondering if anything needs to be done with that before I can heat treat my apartment. The apartments temperature will be at 150 degree Fahrenheit for almost an entire day.

Answer 1

Welding at a gas line is done with the line full of gas.

In some location, the line MUST be full of gas as safety rule.

It sounds paradox, but the gas needs oxygen from the air to burn or explode - which is missing in the gas tube if filled with gas only.

But of course, the best way is to ask the gas supplier by mail to get a written statement. And the insurance company as well.

As for the heat treatment: There are alternative devices which produce much heat and are much less expensive. And are heat proofed to 65°C.

F.e., room dryers running on gas bottles or diesel/oil (gas bottle to be placed outside of the heated room), which are used in the construction industry may produce 12kW of heat or more, independent on the electric net limitations.

With those electric heaters in the photo, it max be difficult to reach the target temperature of 65°C, because of power limitations.

Hot air guns/hairdryers can output 200°C hot air or more to treat small things or sensitive items where only the surface and pockets should be heated for some seconds.

Answer 2

I called the Green Tech Heat company and they said that it's safe to use their ePro 400 XP Electric Heat Bed Bug package in an apartment that has a natural gas line for the oven. They said the gas line doesn't need to be turned off or anything special.

They also said that the heater is designed to be placed on carpet so you don't have to be concerned about a fire hazard with it catching your carpet on fire either. They said that if I wanted to use this in my car it would be fine sitting on top of the cars carpeting and that if I want to I can choose to just connect three of the plugs so that it has slightly less power running to it for when I treat my car (but that's optional if I'm concerned about it harming my vehicle). They also said if I'm really concerned about it in the car I can place a floor tile under the unit but they said it's not necessary because the units designed to be safe on top of carpeting.

A few other tips they gave me was to make sure I "heat soak" the rooms individually to ensure a thorough heat treatment and that the longer it heat soaks a room the better results; he said one plus side to owning your own unit is that you have the opportunity to heat soak a room for a longer period of time. He also suggested using painters tape to seal up any AC vents and doors when treating an individual room.