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Comment by wenc | Hacker News Reader

You should consider a dust mite vacuum with UV. I bought one on Amazon (this one but you can check YouTube reviews for others).

https://www.amazon.com/JIGOO-Vacuum-Cleaner-Dust-Sensor/dp/B...

I was surprised how much dust this thing picked up (my sheets get washed often, but it’s hard to clean the mattress itself). Back in the day people used to sun dry their mattresses but no one does that these days.

This dust mite vacuum picked up half a canister of gunk from my dead skin and environmental dust that has accumulated over the years (and it has a light scattering sensor that tells you how much dust is being sucked up). My nose was clear after sleeping on a vacuumed bed. I now vacuum my bed once a week, and it has really helped.

Vacuuming your bed and other fabric surfaces also feels therapeutic. For me, it’s like watching one of those powerwashing videos. You feel cleansed after.

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Vacuuming one's bed makes complete sense to me, but what is special about the model you linked to that makes it specifically a 'mattress' vacuum cleaner? Many canister vacuum cleaners are more powerful and can be used elsewhere in the home too (with a different attachment for hygiene, of course). There's the UV light, but I can't see how this is effective when used only for short periods of time. The dust won't be removed with it and the mites will withstand it too.

Not wanting to make you feel bad about your purchase, but is there something unique about this kind of device that gives it an edge over conventional vacuum cleaners?

I jumped on the idea but then immediately came to the same conclusion. Now I’m thinking I stick with the vac(s) I have, but get a separate UV. And UV the bed while I’m working. Maybe?

Your thoughts?

Get a mattress encasement, it's like a HEPA filter bag for the mattress (cuts off the mites food supply and preventing allergens becoming airborne).

Skips the whole trying to clean porous foam problem.

I read that mites can't survive temperatures above 60C, and wondered then about just a big plastic bag around the item then fill it from a hot air source (hair dryer, fan heater)?

I think the problem would be temperature control, as you don't want to damage the item, but need to maintain an even, specific air temperature, you'd need turbulence. Then vacuum clean afterwards.

Maybe a wallpaper remover style device with a hot air source instead of steam??

Yeh I've thought about whether it'd be possible/safe to use something like an "overclocked" electric blanket to sterilize the mattress daily.

They also need humidity (~50% RH), hence why I got the dehumidifer, which has definitely knocked them back.

I got the exact same idea sadly most electric blanket i could find on amazon where kinda small and had disappointingly low heating power...

Pretty much my conclusion as-well.

I guess they just don't want folks giving themselves burns during sleep.

AliExpress as always is tempting [1], but you'd have to be incredibly careful about regulating temperature [2] and adding safety interlocks that'd make falling asleep with it active, or forgetting to turn it off impossible.

1. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007963462500.html

2. Don't blame me when your house burns down, I warned you.

Look into something like flexwatt tape. Maybe run it during the day when your not sleeping. In my mind, they probably use something similar inside heated blankets with some kind of limiter/thermostat.

Do your research though!! I'm not sure if flexwatt tape could ignite your mattress, but you would definitely want to know for sure yourself beforehand!

There are ways to control heat though; I'm familiar with using flexwatt tape with reptile enclosures, hooked up to a thermostat with a probe in the habitat for temp control. Maybe some math, like desired_temp = watts_supplied * feet_of_fw_tape, where the watts_supplied is the independent variable you adjust based on the required feet_of_fw_tape for your mattress to get the dependent variable desired_temp. Probably include a fail safe, but I'm no electrician, proceed at your own risk.

They do sell self contained fire extinguishers you can hang on your ceiling that deploy automatically at a certain temperature, ideally putting out fire sources they are hung above. Nice to have around for things like this.

nice another project to the pile ;p

>I read that mites can't survive temperatures above 60C, and wondered then about just a big plastic bag around the item then fill it from a hot air source (hair dryer, fan heater)?

People do something similar to kill bedbugs, I think they make specialized equipment to do so, but it might just be something like an off the shelf heat gun.

Just a data point. I have a mattress encasement which has never been removed (I got it to protect against bedbugs). Dust (dead human skin) still accumulates on the surface. It might not go into the mattress, but it will be on the surface. Since the encasements are never meant to be removed, vacuuming the mattress (with encasement on) still makes sense.

I asked above as well, but since you have direct experience, what do you have between the plastic and you? Aside from the fitted sheet? Wouldn’t a regular mattress cover just attract mites as well?

It’s just the fitted sheet.

The encasement I have is actually not a plastic wrap but a zippered tight weave synthetic fabric (polyester).

https://a.co/d/3ut09wO

It’s suppose to prevent bedbugs and others from setting up shop inside the mattress but the surface is fair game. The idea being it’s easier to clean the surface than the insides.

I have had the encasement for years. No problems with humidity but I also live in a less humid area (41-45% rh all year round).

So a dust mite vaccuum still makes sense.

Also interesting fact: dust mites themselves are harmless to humans. It’s their fecal matter (after digesting our dead skin) that are allergens.

Ok. What do you put between the plastic and the sheets? A standard mattress cover? Won’t the mites just go there as that’s where the dead skin, etc will be?

The plastic would also trap heat between me and it.

As someone who uses a plastic mattress cover I can answer your question: yes, if you let dust build up, mites can and do start to live on the fitted sheet that you put around the mattress cover. However, it is of course easier to wash just the fitted sheet than to remove dust from within a mattress, so I think that a cover is still beneficial.

I'm not sure what you mean by trapping heat - once there are two normal cotton fitted sheets around it, I don't feel the plastic mattress cover at all.

This causes mold by trapping humidity. Had to throw out a latex mattress be careful with full plastic.

This causes mold on mattresses due to humidity. I had to throw out a latex mattress.

Obviously there are different species of dust mites, but the ones I'm familiar with are nearly invincible. They are able to cling onto smooth surfaces even with a vacuum cleaner right over them. I've noticed that they are 'directional' in their grip though: when the vacuum cleaner is behind their direction of travel, they'll hold fast, but if you move the vacuum in front of them they'll be sucked up. Thus, drawing the vacuum nozzle back and forth repeatedly seems to me to be essential for reliably getting rid of them.

As for UV, I have no idea. They seem to survive on surfaces that get exposed to sunlight though windows, but apparently glass blocks most UV radiation. You'll have to make a new post with your results if you try it :)

I doubt a bit of UV on a vacuum does anything to a mite. They're kinda like spiders with a hard shell after all. One study [1] found you need one hour of hard UV-C exposure to kill most mites. That would probably also degrade the textiles and foam of your mattress, and probably does not even reach most mites/eggs in between threads and foam pores.

1 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3609379/

You can use a conventional vacuum if it has enough suction (most of these dust mite vacuums are rated at 13 kPa, a sweet spot for extraction without damaging fabric), and if you don’t mind using the same vacuum attachment on other surfaces. These also have rotating polyurethane fins that go close to the surface which helps in agitation — most vacuum attachments have plastic brushes which I suppose will do the job but possibly slightly less effectively.

It’s not a mattress vacuum so much as a dust mite vacuum that can be used on couches, fabric chairs etc. It’s also handheld and is specialized for the job, so it’s more ergonomic to hold.

The UV I can’t really vouch for but can’t hurt. I personally would not run a conventional vacuum on my mattress because I use the same vacuum on less hygienic surfaces, but if you have a dedicated attachment why not — I feel it would be less effective (because in my experience, the suction is often diminished when you use an attachment) but have no data. If you have a high end vacuum this is less of a factor, but most low end vacuums like Hoovers aren’t designed to deliver full suction with attachments.

I’m happy with my purchase because I feel that given it’s small size, I’m more likely to vacuum more frequently. I’m less likely to want to bust out the big vacuum.

Got to say after figuring this out I am tempted to ditch the western style mattress and replace it with something like a Japanese futon. I assume it'd be much easier to wash.

In the meantime I need to purchase a mattress encasement, I put one on my pillow and that alone helped a bunch.

Long term maybe desensitization is an option but I'm too lazy for that atm.

I did a desensitization and it helped a little bit. Despite the regular washing and using a dust mite vacuum I'm still having a hard time getting good sleep though. At least my nose isn't bloody in the morning anymore, so I guess that's something.

In my country we used to use woolen matresses, which would be completely emptied and washed twice a year, and the wool would be dried in the sun for a good two days, then whipped with a long stick for couple hours, and then filled back in the washed cover again. Nowadays it's very rare unfortunately.

Great example of forgotten cultural wisdom, absolutely would have reduced dust mite pressure.

It's just a vacuum with an HEPA filter, correct ?

I had the same experience, it just occurred to me that I could vaccum the mattress with the for-textile head and was really surprised with the amount of dust and its texture (transparent dust holder is satisfying hehe)

Is there a reason to get this over a waterproof bed bug protector? Which you can wash.

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