1 Drying will kill the bugs but not clean the clothes. 2  If you want to only kill bed bugs and do not need to wash your clothes, simply putting infested items in the dryer for 30 minutes on high health will kill all the bed bugs.aundering Items to Kill Bed Bugs (.pdf). Washing clothes and bedding is a simple and cheap method of killing all bed bugs. It is a very important part of both do-it-yourself bed bug control, and when you have professional pest control company apply insecticides.