Bug Control: Pesticide, or a Salamander Heater?
Warnings: Pesticides will likely not penetrate lumber and kill a particular pest, and heating wood with fuel combustion exhaust can cause discoloration. January 28, 2014
Question
If I put a bug bomb in a solar kiln will the pesticide penetrate deeply enough in 4/4 lumber (oak) to kill Powder Post Beetle's? As the weather gets cooler it's a little more difficult to achieve 140 degrees without supplemental heat.
Forum Responses
(Sawing and Drying Forum)
From Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor:
No. You also need to kill eggs and larva. The gas will not get deep enough, and even if it did the chemical may not be the correct one to kill this insect. Pesticides are selective.
From the original questioner:
Thanks, I actually found that I can put a gas salamander heater in one of the vent openings. I found a neat controller that will turn it off when the temp reaches 160 degrees. I can use the same controller turn my fans on and off for normal operation.
From contributor T:
A word of caution with the salamander: If it's open flame (interior air is actually contacting the flame(s)), as a contractor I see this often with people trying to heat areas in the cold season and the oils that are in the exhaust heated air soak into the drywall (in this case wood). This causes a yellowing stain to appear approximately a year later due to the oils in the fumes leeching back out of the dried surface. This is common with any open flame heat source using oil, LP gas, natural, Kerosene, etc. With a closed flame like a house heat/air system the interior air doesn't come in direct contact with flames so there is no fume/oil picked-up or transferred. This is not noticed by the eye until the yellowing begins.
