How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs Using a Steam Cleaner

Does Steam Kill Bed Bugs?

What actually matters, though, isn't just the temperature. It's contact time. A quick wave of the nozzle over a mattress seam doesn't do much; a slow, deliberate pass that holds the steam on the surface for a few seconds does. Speed is the part people get wrong.

How to Steam Treat Bed Bugs — Step by Step

Prep the Room

Strip the bed and wash everything washable in hot water. Vacuum the mattress, floor, and baseboards first — this picks up loose bugs before you start steaming and keeps you from just chasing them around the room. Pull furniture away from the wall enough to get behind it.

Treat the Mattress & Box Spring

Start with seam lines, tufts, and piping — that's where bed bugs actually cluster, not the open flat surface. Work in slow, overlapping passes rather than one quick sweep across the whole mattress. Flip it and do the same on the underside and the box spring.

Treat Cracks, Crevices & Furniture Joints

Bed frame joints, headboard seams, baseboards near the sleeping area — a narrow detail nozzle gets into these spots a wide floor head can't reach. Bed bugs hide in gaps you'd walk right past, so this step matters as much as the mattress itself.

Treat Upholstered Furniture

Couches and chairs near where anyone sleeps get the same treatment as mattress seams — slow passes along the piping, tufts, and any crevice where the cushion meets the frame.

Preventing Bed Bugs From Coming Back

A steam pass over the mattress and bed frame every few months, as routine maintenance, catches a small problem before it becomes an infestation. Inspect secondhand furniture — mattresses, couches, even dressers — before bringing it inside; this is one of the most common ways bed bugs actually enter a home. Mattress encasements are worth using alongside steam treatment, not instead of it — they seal in anything steam missed rather than replacing the need to steam in the first place.

For a broader look at how steam handles bed bugs, dust mites, and allergens together, see Bedbugs & Allergens

Steam vs. Pesticides

Steam leaves no chemical residue, and bed bugs can't develop resistance to heat the way they've developed resistance to some pyrethroid pesticides in certain regions. That's a real advantage. What steam won't do is treat a whole room at once the way a fumigant does — it only kills what the steam actually touches, which means technique and thoroughness matter more than with a spray.

For a light to moderate problem, steam combined with vacuuming and hot-water laundering is often enough on its own. For a severe, established infestation, pairing steam treatment with professional pest control is standard guidance — not a sign that steam failed, just a recognition that a heavy infestation needs more than one method.

Which Vapamore Model to Use

The MR-100 Primo is built for this job — its continuous, no-purge steam means you're not stopping mid-treatment to reheat, and its narrow attachments reach mattress seams and furniture joints directly. A 50-to-60-minute tank is enough to treat a full bedroom in one session. For smaller, lighter jobs — a single piece of furniture, a quick spot check — the MR-75 Amico's faster heat-up makes it a reasonable lighter option.

Frequently Asked Questions

What temperature kills bed bugs?

Roughly 113°–122°F with sustained contact kills both bed bugs and their eggs. Vapamore steam cleaners produce 210°–220°F, comfortably above that threshold — but contact time, not just peak temperature, is what actually gets the job done. Slow passes beat a quick wave every time.

Can steam get rid of bed bug eggs, not just adults?

Yes. Heat is one of the few treatments that reliably kills eggs along with adults, which matters because some pesticides have lost effectiveness against bed bugs that have developed resistance to them in certain regions.

Is steam enough to get rid of a bed bug infestation on its own?

For a light to moderate problem, thorough steam treatment combined with vacuuming and hot-water laundering is often enough by itself. For a severe, established infestation, combining steam with professional pest control is the standard recommendation — that's not steam failing, it's just what a heavier problem actually needs.

Which Vapamore model is best for bed bug treatment?

The MR-100 Primo, mainly for its continuous no-purge steam and narrow attachments suited to mattress seams and furniture joints. Its 50-to-60-minute runtime is enough to get through a full bedroom without stopping to reheat partway through.

What should I look for in a steam cleaner for bed bugs? 

Continuous, no-purge steam and narrow detail attachments matter most, since you need to hold heat on a seam for several seconds without stopping mid-treatment to reheat. The MR-100 Primo covers a single bedroom this way; the MR-1000 Forza is the better fit for a full apartment or back-to-back units.

Get Started

Bed bugs are stubborn, but heat is one of the few things they genuinely can't develop resistance to. Thorough, patient technique matters more here than any single product.

Shop the MR-100 Primo Steam Cleaning System, or see

10 Ways to Use Your Vapamore Steam Cleaner for everything else the same machine handles.