how to get 105 degrees in a home for three hours

So it's good that cats can regulate their body temp.

Our body temp is 98.6. And I know that I've been outside for hours and hours at temperatures exceeding 105.

And while cats will seek shade at 105 and above, I'm thinking that when temps hit 115, it's probably 105 in the shade.

I suspect that the cat will be fine and I plan on being in there at 105 for the three hours too.

ROFL JIL

Someone brought up the point of the cats ability of thermoregulation. Humans can sit in a sauna hot enough to cook meat and walk out for dinner.

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Here is the info I have so far: I have a total of three reported cases where people were swarming with fleas. They turned the heat up to the max and left for the day. They came home and all of the fleas were gone. I want to experience this first hand. I now have a house that has the fleas and the cat and the owner is willing to let me do the experiment. I would like to come up with something that works that I can share with everybody to say "I turned the heat up to 105 for three hours and all of the fleas died."

If I turn the temp up to 105 for three hours and there are still fleas, I'll report that too.

Experiment - put some fleas in a car and let it heat up in the sun - see if that kills them. Even in the winter cars can get mighty hot inside.

The problem would be keeping the temp from getting too high. But I'd skip the "cat included" part. It's not that hard to kill the fleas on the animal but much harder to get them out of the furniture/carpet.

I wonder if the fleas just crawl into cracks and crevices to avoid the heat - you should find out if these people had recurring problems after the time the eggs would hatch also.

I've dealt with one serious flea infestation - we bombed the house several times, treated the cats - got rid of the dog that brought in the problem. Finally got rid of them after removing the carpet.

Cathy

You asked for solid information to the contrary, and I provided that information. What you do with it is up to you, but there is a big difference between a couple degrees when you get that high, which is why I shared what I found.

Kayleigh

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You can get temp controls that can be set for just about any temp you want.
Some also have a adjustable range on off, can be run at 24 volts,(control) 115v or 220 volts (direct connect to electric heaters).

They are used for boilers and many other high temp applications.

A trip to a heating and a/c supplier/parts house would be able to fix you up.
Replace the house T-Stat temporary, run you experment, then go back to the standard t-stat.

Cathy,

What if some goofball like me comes up with something so that others that have the same problem can just turn the heat up for a day and that's the end. Keep the carpet and the dog and don't bomb your house (poisoning all of your clothes, food, bedding, etc.)

That's part of what I'm doing. Part of the freak-show that is my life. There is oceans of mis-information out there. Before we can even perform a proper study, some goofball has to put together enough anecdotal evidence to suggest a study might bear fruit.

A lot of stuff I've come up with so far are working great for tens of thousands (maybe even hundreds of thousands) of people. This is just another bee in my bonnet I'm chasing down and the folks in this forum have been fantastic in the past in helping me solve some of the small bumps in the road on the way to a smooth solution.

Kayleigh,

You are correct. Your information is first rate. And I added more info to your info. At this time, I think the cat and I would be safe. If you have information that would suggest that a human can survive three hours at 105, but a cat cannot, I would appreciate that info.

Hooo doggy! Now we're talkin!

So different thermostats work in different ways?

I've done some research and some are "two pole" and some are "three pole". This is beginning to sound a bit like the instructions could become a bit robust. ????

But the thing you are saying is that you might be able to go to a really good hardware store (or a heating parts/supplier) with your existing thermostat in hand, and explain that you want something that goes up to 105, and then they would sell you something that would work which you could install yourself. ???

Why not stay in the house, with the cat, and monitor the temp yourself. Remove your furnance thermostat from the wall, twist the two wires together, and the furnance will run continuously until you untwist the two wires. When the temp gets to 106º untwist the wires. When the temp drops to 105ºF, twist the wires together and so on.

Just have a few cold ones on hand while you're doing the experiment from inside the house.

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Excellent suggestion Cabin Fever. I do plan on being in the space with the cat. I like the idea of touching the wires and untouching the wires - except for the part where I've been electrocuted lots of times already and would like to avoid further zappings. I also want to write about it and make it a suggestion for others as a possible solution. So it would be good to come up with something that would be zap free for me and for those that might follow this path in the future.

As for concerns about cats. I tried googling for thermostats that might go up to 100 and came across this kitty pad that keeps a temp of 100:
http://www.thepetonline.com/product_...ducts_id=45417

just hot wire the thermastats ...or the cat.

Hmmmmm .... it seems that if a thermostat is for heat only, one could turn off the power at the breaker, put in a standard light switch and then turn the heat on and off with the light switch as cabin fever suggests.

Anybody see a problem with that?

I was just about to post that you need to bypass your theromstat altogether and cabin fever beat me to it. because of the thermo regulating cat it likely won't kill the fleas on the cat (I wouldn't think. The cat ought to keep his temp down right along with his fleas.) I must mention that I lived in a trailer home for several years. when I moved out it sat empty for months till I sold it, in 100+ degree heat. when I went in to prepare it for someone to view I was attacked by fleas (never had a huge problem when I lived in it but I vacuumed often and did spot on stuff on the critters). It was crazy, slapping my legs running out attacked with fleas. the heat did little to kill the buggers. I'm not convinced.

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A mystery is not an explanation..... on the contrary....no sooner is a myth forged than, in order to stand it needs another myth to support it.

The easiest way to bypas most common household thermostats would just be to pull off the cover and put a piece of tape or a small set of locking pliers over the spring that tells the thermostat to switch on or off. There is no electricity running through this, it is tension controlled by temperature.

On a side note, most thermostats operate on a 24v current.

There is lots going on here to get the 105 at 3 hours thing to work. One is that we are assuming that the outside temp is below 80 and that the humidity is maybe 70. When we raise the temp to 105, for three hours, this will make sure that the temp penetrates carpets and the like. The temp alone will kill many stages of the flea's life. And the resulting relative humidity (which will probably be less than 50) will probably kill the rest of the stages.

If the outdoor temp is 105, chances are that the indoor temp may be lower. Further, what is the outdoor humidity? What is the indoor humidity? Is the indoor temp 105? Lower? Higher? How long? Are there spots in the house where it is definitely lower? Like underneath the trailer? Will the temp in the carpet be 85 with a decent humidity?

This all gets pretty complicated. If we can start to gather information on what works and what doesn't, we might have some solutions that are far simpler than buying toxic gick. Maybe if the temp outside is 60 and relative humidity is about 60, you can just turn your thermostat to 85 for a day and all the fleas will be gone when you get home. But if the humidity is 80, it won't work (just guessing).

So the trick is to try some experiments.

Humans may be able to regulate their temp. We have a very nice cooling system called SWEAT. Dogs and cats cannot SWEAT. Why do you think it is dangerous to put your pets in a locked up car in the summer? What on earth are you thinking???

At the end of the day, you *might* come home to dead fleas, but there is a very good chance you could come home to a dead cat, as well.

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Hi Paul,
please give that cat away to someone that will care for it, & dont have children,cause I would hate to see the outcome when you start experimenting with them too

What Cabin said. I can't advise trying this sort of thing but it would work. Just make sure the furnace isn't tripping it's high limit switch at normal operating temps. Figure an 80 degree temp rise to start and that's going to drop as the inside temp goes up. So the furnace heat exchanger is going to run hot..... very hot. Most kick off at 200 degrees F but some are pretty low at 150. If your furnace is going off on limit you can damage it so one more thing to monitor. Go ask Goldenmom on the Pet board about over heating a cat. I would not myself, rather treat it with an insecticide

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Plan B: something that I looked into yesterday but it didn't quite pan out and I thought there might be something better to try .... yesterday the idea was to rent one of those industrial propane super duper heater things. They rent for about $25 per day. But do they have a thermostat? It's been years since I ran one. And would most folks feel comfortable running something like that? And, in combination to that, taking the cat to the cat spa. But what do they charge for that sort of thing? Will they wash the cat with a mild, non-toxic shampoo in such a way as to make sure there are no fleas? Unlikely.

Maybe there is a good idea: do the cat bath yourself, make triple sure there are no fleas on the cat and then put the cat in a carrier. Keep the cat away from flea sources during the three hours. Then all of the propane stuff is okay as an option. But .... that is a lot of "ifs". If there is one flea left on the cat, it can lay eggs.