Cleaning substantially down and down/feather mix bed pillows: 
Does washing, dry cleaning or irradiation kill dust mites?

In this post, we explain that the safest and most effective way to kill live dust mites in your down fill or down/feather mix fill bed pillows is through the use of a dry high heat process.

In 3 other Position Papers on this website, we've explained:

• Why washing your substantially down and down/feather mix bed pillows – even in hot water – cannot kill the live dust mites in your down fill and down/feather mix fill.
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• Why you should never dry clean your substantially down and down/feather mix bed pillows – in a dry cleaning solvent – even if dry cleaning can kill the live dust mites in your down fill and down/feather fill.
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• Why irradiating your substantially down and down/feather mix bed pillows – even in standard pillow cleaning machine equipped with ozone-emitting ultraviolet (UV-V) light – cannot kill the live dust mites in your down fill and down/feather mix fill.
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In this post, we'll explain that the safest and most effective way to kill live dust mites in your substantially down or down/feather mix bed pillows is through the use of a dry high heat process.

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First, a brief introduction to dust mites and dust mite feces ....

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The two most common species of dust mites found in the United States are the:

• North American dust mite (dermatophagoides farinae or Der f dust mite), and
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• European dust mite (dermatophagoides pteronyssinus or Der p dust mite).

As you sleep, your skin sloughs off skin cells (commonly called dander).

Unless the fabric used to construct your pillow shell is certified to be a 100% barrier, skin cells pass through the pillow shells (aka tickings or casings) covering your pillows and into the down fill or down/feather mix fill inside your pillows.

Every day, a human being sheds 0.5 to 1 gram of skin cells, enough to feed thousands of dust mites for many months.

Unless the fabric used to construct your pillow shell is certified to be a 100% barrier, dust mites also pass through the pillow shells covering your pillows and into the down fill or down/feather mix fill inside your pillows.

The dust mites feed on these dead skin cells.

These dust mites, in turn, excrete dust mite feces that contains a protein allergen called Der f 1 and Der p 1 respectively.

It's these protein allergens -- inside your down and down/feather mix bed pillows -- that are the primary triggers of asthma and allergies.

Accordingly, any process that is used by a dry cleaner, linen store or “pillow refurbishing” service to “clean” your substantially down and down/feather mix bed pillows must include both:

• killing all live dust mites in your fill, and
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• significantly denaturing (or deactivating) the Der f 1/Der p 1protein allergens in the dust mite feces in your fill.
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Do cleaners kill the live dust mites and denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in your down fill or down/feather mix fill?
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Many dry cleaners, linen stores and “pillow refurbishment" services claim that their pillow cleaning machine -- equipped with a ozone-emitting ultraviolet light (UV-V light) -- not only significantly denatures (or deactivates) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in the dust mite feces but also kills all the live dust mites in your down fill or down/feather mix fill.

THIS CLAIM IS FALSE.

Consider, for example, this statement from one dry cleaner:

Down and Feathers don't go bad, with our restoration process we sterilize your feathers or down, remove dust mites, and replace the pillow cover, also called ticking, with a new 100% cotton feather and down proof cover. The result is a beautiful, fluffy pillow that looks brand new !

And here's a similar statement from a “pillow refurbishment” service:

“During our cleaning process, the contents of your pillow are removed for processing in a machine that resembles an industrial dryer. It fluffs and tumbles the down and feathers, rejuvenating them under anti-bacterial, anti-microbial light that silently kills bacteria, microbes, dust mites, etc. that have made their way into your pillow” (bold added by us for emphasis).

The addition of the words "remove dust mites" and “kills....dust mites” to these statements, render these statements FALSE.

The use of the terms "anti-bacterial, anti-microbial light" by many dry cleaners, linen stores and “pillow refurbishment" services, refers to their belief that an ozone-emitting ultraviolet (UV-V) light inside the wheel of a standard pillow machine can kill live dust mites.

As pointed out above, this statement is FALSE.

This begs the question: Why do they link the words “dust mites” to the words “anti-bacterial, anti-microbial light" when the know, or ought to know, that an ozone-emitting ultraviolet (UV-V) light cannot kill live dust mites?

We suspect that there are 3 reasons:

• it sounds plausible
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• it sounds scientific
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• dust mites induces fear. And fear is always a great marketing tactic.

Truth is:

• you can't kill the live dust mites inside your down fill or down/feather mix fill with an ozone-producing ultraviolet (UV-V) light, and
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• you can't significantly denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in the dust mite feces in your fill with an ozone-producing ultraviolet (UV-V) light.

END OF STORY.

While ozone-producing ultraviolet (UV-V) light does kill the bacterial and viral pathogens (bacteria and viruses that can cause disease), there is no scientific research to support the claim that an ozone-producing ultraviolet (UV-V) light kills live dust mites.

FACT IS, THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE. And that's based on the known scientific research.

Here's one example...

Abidin et al, “Effect of a commercial air ironizer on dust mites Der p and Der f in the laboratory”, Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, 2(2), pages 156-158, February 2012.

This study investigated the efficacy of ozone in killing the American dust mite (Der f) and the European dust mite (Der p) by

• direct exposure to live dust mites, and
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• indirect exposure to live dust mites embedded INSIDE A MATTRESS

Here are the pertinent results:

When live dust mites were directly exposed to an ozone-producing ultraviolet (UV-V) light, it took:

• 18 hours to kill 50% of the North American (Der f) dust mites
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• 10 hours to kill 50% of the European (Der p) dust mites
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• 36 hours to kill 95% of the Der f and Der p dust mites.

Think about that: It took 36 hours to kill 95% of live dust mites with DIRECT EXPOSURE to an ozone-producing ultraviolet (UV-V) light.‍

When live dust mites INSIDE A MATTRESS were INDIRECTLY EXPOSED to an ozone-producing ultraviolet light (UV-V) light, it took:

• 72 hours to kill 50% of the North American (Der f) dust mites
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• 132 hours to kill 50% of the European (Der p) dust mites
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• 403 hours to kill 95% of the North American (Der f) dust mites
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• 956 hours to kill 95% of the European (Der p) dust mites

Think about that: It it took 956 hours to kill 95% of dust mites INSIDE A MATTRESS with INDIRECT EXPOSURE to ozone-producing ultraviolet (UV-V) light.‍

If you accept the premise that a covered mattress is a proxy for a covered substantially down or down/feather mix bed pillow, it's obvious that, for all practical purposes, an ozone-producing ultraviolet (UV-V) light:

• cannot kill the dust mites inside your down and down/feather fill, and
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• cannot significantly denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in the dust mite feces inside your down and down/feather fill

‍Stated another way, your dry cleaner, linen store or “pillow refurbishing” service can only kill the live dust mites inside your fill and significantly denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1protein allergens in the dust mite feces inside your fill if they're willing to to treat each pillow they service for anywhere from 16.8 days to 39.8 days.

And, after all that time, they'd still only achieve a 95% mortality rate.

There is only ONE PROCESS that can kill the live dust mites in your fill and significantly denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in the dust mite feces in your fill:

And that process is a DRY HIGH HEAT PROCESS.

Looking for proof?

Read on...

Dry high heat kills live dust mites and significantly denatures (or deactivates) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens

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WHITE KNIGHT pillowCARE employs a dry high heat process to kill the live dust mites in your fill and significantly denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in the dust mite feces in your fill – before the cleaning and refurbishment process even begins.

At WHITE KNIGHT pillowCARE, we follow a 4 step approach to cleaning the fill in your substantially down and down/feather mix bed pillows:

Step 1:

Kill the live dust mites in your down fill or down/feather mix fill by subjecting the entire pillow (pillow shell and fill) to a dry heat process.

Step 2:

Denature (or deactivate) and/or significantly denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in the dust mite feces in your fill by subjecting the entire pillow (pillow shell and fill) to a 
dry heat process.

Step 3:

Extract the down and feather dust, dead skin cells, dead dust mites and denatured (or deactivated) dust mite feces from your fill using a sifting process.

Step 4:

Denature (or deactivate) the bacterial and viral pathogens (bacteria and viruses that can cause disease) in your fill using a germicidal ultraviolet (UV-C) light, NOT an ozone-producing ultraviolet (UV-V) light.‍

These 4 steps are part of our 5 step PillowPure ® process, a process available exclusively from WHITE KNIGHT pillowCARE.

Unlike other dry cleaners, linen stores and “pillow refurbishing” services who partially deliver Step 3 using a sifting process and partially deliver Step 4 using an ozone-emitting ultraviolet (UV-V) light, WHITE KNIGHT pillowCARE delivers all 4 steps.

And unlike other dry cleaners and “pillow refurbishment” services, we use no water, wet or dry steam, infra red heat, dry cleaning solvents or fluids, chemicals, detergents, ozone, fragrances, moldicides, fungicides, pesticides or miticides.

Our entire PillowPure ® process is dry and green.‍

Our dry high heat process is based on independent scientific research
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Every living organism has a thermal death point based on temperature and time.‍

Louis Pasteur proved this in the 1860's when he discovered how to pasteurize food products using temperature and time. Pasteurization reduced the levels of contamination in food products, allowing for safe consumption and longer term storage. All without damaging the food product.

At WHITE KNIGHT pillowCARE, we use these very same principles of temperature and time to kill the live dust mites in your down and/or feather fill and to significantly denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in the dust mite feces in your fill.

You could think of our process as Pillow Pasteurization ®.‍

Dry heat has been used for decades by a variety of industries and in a variety of applications to denature (or deactivate) or significantly denature (or deactivate) proteins in microorganisms.

Take the sterilization of medical instruments, for example.

In the case of medical instruments, the goal of sterilization is to eliminate, remove or kill microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, spores, etc.

There are a number of methods used to sterilize medical instruments.

One such method is dry heat sterilization.

This process involves heating the instruments to a specific temperature for a specified period of time in order to denature (or deactivate) the proteins in these micro-organisms.

At WHITE KNIGHT pillowCARE, our approach to killing live dust mites and significantly denaturing (or deactivating) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in dust mite feces is based these same principles and is supported by the conclusions of several scientific studies.‍

Here are 3 such studies:
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(1) Chang et al, Survival of the house dust mite, Indoor Air, Volume 8, Issue 1, Page 34-38, March 1988
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This study investigated the effect of dry heat on dust mites.

The study found that:

• a constant temperature of 60 degrees Celsius (140 Fahrenheit) for a full 10 minutes will kill 100% of dust mites by dry heat
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• a constant temperature of 70 degrees Celsius (148 Fahrenheit) for a full 5 minutes will kill 100% of dust mites by dry heat‍

(2) Mahakittikum et al, Killing dust mites with heat, Allergy, Volume 56, Issue 3, Page 262, March 2001
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This study investigated the effect of dry heat and wet heat on dust mites.

The study found that:

• a constant temperature of 50 degrees Celsius or more (122 Fahrenheit or more) for a full 20 minutes will kill 100% of dust mites by dry heat
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• a constant temperature of 60 degrees Celsius or more (140 Fahrenheit or more) for a full 20 minutes will kill 100% of dust mites by wet heat
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• dry heat is more effective than wet heat

Mihakittikum et al provides yet another reason why washing your substantially down and down/feather mix bed pillows – in order to kill the live dust mites and to significantly denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in the dust mite feces – is a futile exercise.

Why futile exercise?

Because your home washer, or even a dry cleaner's commercial washer, can't reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit. And, even if it could, your home washer, or even a dry cleaner's commercial washer, can't maintain that temperature at a constant 140 degrees Fahrenheit for the full 20 minutes.
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(3) Cain et al, The effect of dry heat on mite, cat and dog allergens, Allergy, Volume 53, Issue 12, Page 1213-5, December 1988
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This study investigated the effect of dry heat on protein allergens in dust mite feces.

The study found that:

• There's a 95% reduction in protein allergens at a constant temperature of 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) for a full 15 minutes
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• There's a 100% reduction in protein allergens at a constant temperature of 120 degrees Celsius (248 degrees Fahrenheit) for a full 30 minutes

Our dry high heat process is safe and effective

The 3 studies mentioned above prove the following:

The live dust mites in your substantially down and down/feather mix bed pillows can be killed AND the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens can be significantly denatured (or deactivated) ONLY IF the fill is subjected to a dry heat process AND that temperature is maintained at a minimum constant temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit for a full 15 minutes.

The principle behind our dry heat process is simple:

• 70% to 80% of the weight of a dust mite is water
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• Dust mites absorb the water from the air
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• They need this water to survive and replicate
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• Dust mites have no ability to regulate their body temperatures in response to changes in external temperatures
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• By subjecting dust mites to our dry heat process, death is by desiccation (the removal of moisture by heat).

While our dry heat process does not and cannot denature (or deactivate) 100% of the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in your down and/or feather fill, our dry heat process can significantly reduce the presence of these protein allergens in your fill by up to 95%.

100% denaturing – a goal that's almost impossible to achieve outside of a controlled laboratory experiment – would require a much higher temperature (248 degrees Fahrenheit) for a much longer period of time (30 minutes).

So there may be some protein allergens remaining in your fill after completion of the dry heat process.

We compensate for this by using pillow shells (aka tickings or casings) that are a 100% barrier to the transfer of Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens out of your pillow shells.

This way the impact of any protein allergen residue that might remain in your fill after completion of the dry heat process is reduced, for all practical purposes, to almost zero.

Our Nor-Lake Scientific constant temperature dry high heat chamber
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Based on the results of these independent scientific studies, we purchased a $30,000 Nor-Lake Scientific three-door, constant temperature, dry high heat chamber.

The dry heat process involves:

• placing pillows on grid shelves inside the heat chamber in such a way that there is no physical contact between the pillows and in such a way that air can freely circulate around each pillow
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• slowly increasing the ambient temperature of the air inside the chamber to the specified temperature
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• holding that temperature (212 degrees) constant for a specified period of time (15 minutes)
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• cooling down the air inside the heat chamber to it's original ambient temperature after that specified period of time has elapsed.

During the course of this operation, internal fans move the heated air throughout the heat chamber to eliminate any possibility of cold spots. Temperature sensors and a digital temperature display allow us to monitor the temperature inside the heat chamber at all times.

Our dry heat process offers a number of distinct advantages:

• Heat is a highly effective and proven method
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• Heat is non-chemical, non-toxic and non-residual
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• Heat is environmentally friendly and cost effective
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• Heat eliminates the need for moldicides, fungicides, pesticides and miticides
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• Heat reduces odors and removes many volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
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• Heat removes the need to wash your down and down/feather pillows in hot water in a futile attempt to kill the live dust mites and to significantly denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1 protein allergens in your fill

Dry high heat does not damage your down fill or down/feather mix fill
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We're frequently asked whether our dry heat process will damage the down and/or feathers.

The answer is an unqualified no.

Why do we say that?

Because US Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations require that down and/or feathers 
imported into the USA by pillow and comforter manufacturers must be either partially washed or fully washed prior to entering the USA (and, if only partially washed, the down and/or feathers must be fully re-washed in the USA before use).

In order to qualify as fully washed, the down and feather must be washed, rinsed and then dried at a minimum of 120 degrees Celsius (248 degrees Fahrenheit) for a minimum of 30 minutes.

In other words, during the course of our dry heat process, we subject your down and/or feather to a lower temperature (212 degrees vs 248 degrees) and for a shorter duration (15 minutes vs 30 minutes) than that mandated by the USDA for fully washed down and/or feathers.

Summary
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The choice is yours...

You can either trust an unsubstantiated claim appearing on some website or you can trust the scientific research.

At WHITE KNIGHT pillowCARE, we put our trust in the scientific research.

Which is why we use a dry heat process to:

• kill all live dust mites in your fill, and
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• significantly denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1protein allergens in the dust mite feces in your down or down/feather fill

When it comes time to choosing a pillow cleaning and refurbishing service, just remember this:

At WHITE KNIGHT pillowCARE, we use a Nor-Lake Scientific three-door, constant temperature, dry high heat chamber to kill the live dust mites in your substantially down and down/feather mix bed pillows and to significantly denature (or deactivate) the Der f 1/Der p 1protein allergens in the dust mite feces in your fill.

The Pillow Pure ® process for cleaning and refurbishing substantially down and down/feather mix bed pillows is only available at WHITE KNIGHT pillowCARE.