Tumble drier temperature and moths

[JohnD]

My old mum got moths in her cupboard. I have emptied and vacuumed it and put some Raid in. Most of the clothes have been washed and tumbled.

To save the expense of dry cleaning them, non-washables were just put in the tumble drier to freshen up.

I looked up moths, and it seems they are killed by a 60C wash. What temperature does a tumble drier typically go to? the eggs will be the problem as I expect any larvae will have been damaged.

 

[Lusi83]

I've had the same problem with carpet beetles...I know 20 mins in the tumble killed the larvae (tumbled one tied in a sock to find out)...
I even spoke to the makers of my tumble dryer (Bosch) and didn't get an answer...and now I can't remember why - but I came to the conclusion that it would kill the eggs...(I have a feeling that the air temp is 90 + degrees -although why that doesn't ruin clothes I don't know...)

Another way is to steam things...I have a wallpaper stripper type with cleaning attachments I use...or also you could try steam ironing...

After internet searches I also investigated the effectiveness of lavender and cedar oil on deterring carpet beetle larvae - and found that cedar oil didn't work at all and whilst they would rather not crawl over lavender oil when it was wet as soon as it was dry they did quite happily...don't know about moth larvae -but it is something to bear in mind. (I think adult insects don't like them though -so they shouldn't lay eggs near them but I don't think I would depend on it.)

I think your best bet is to tumble them on freshen up and then store things that aren't used often in plastic (vac bags) and after a few months check them again shaking over a dark cloth or the bath (without water!). If you don't see anything then do it again in 6 months and then I think you could be content that you have got rid of them...
Also I found it was a good opportunity to dump/recycle (after washing of course) lots of old/rarely used clothes, sheets and towels etc - if you are using/washing them regularly moths/other insects won't get a chance to breed in them...
Good luck....it was a complete nightmare for me...although I'm hoping it is over for me now...

 

[rocks1]

tumble dryers heat between 140 /160 degrees.

 

[cakeman]

farenheit or celsius ??

 

[rocks1]

Under normal operating conditions, the hot air blown into a clothes
dryer's tumbler reaches a temperature of about 160 degrees Celsius.

 

[Lusi83]

Do you know why that doesn't ruin clothes - thinking that I tumble dry synthetic clothes - that have iron temps of one dot and max washing temps of 40 degrees celsius -I do it on mixed fabrics options (on my machine I have an even lower temp option but I don't use it regularly)

Or is that the air temp for cottons only....

 

[jj4091]

I would think it does not ruin clothes because they begin the process wet & therefore heat up very slowly. You can feel how hot a tumble drier gets by touching metal buttons, or other fasteners, when you take the clothes out of the drier They are hot enough to give you a real burn.