ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Study of exposure to Electro-Magnetic fields

I had a young family get a magnetic field survey in their old house wired in K&T. A method that promoted magnetic fields. The neutral and hots could be widely separated.
Once they knew the wiring method was the cause they decided to rewire the entire house. Even though a modern Loomex job will eliminate many of those fields they decided to go to the next level and wire with BX as well as relocate the service to an area away from bedrooms.
I recall in my inspection that the young woman was wearing a magnetic mineral bracelet Haematite? I asked her if she wore it for therapeutic reasons to which she said magnets can offer many therapeutic benefits. Now I know an AC field is not a fixed magnetic field but this opened the door for a little fun so I asked her why then they were spending an extra thousand or two to prevent magnetic fields in their house.
I left about that time and just recall the puzzled look on her face as she tried to process the apparent contradiction.
As an aside, the contractor had done just about the neatest job I had ever seen of their work so the customer definitely got a good job.

About 15 years ago I helped my daughter with a science fair project. The title was "EMF: Higher in your home or near power lines?" We used a gaussmeter and took readings under power lines from 12 kv up to 500 kv. Most of these readings were from about 10 to 25 milligauss. The highest reading was inside a substation (I was a utility company substation engineer at the time) with the meter about 4 feet from a 115 kv bus. That was about 200 milligauss. In our house with the meter about one foot from an electric can opener we got about 2000 milligauss. Almost all electric appliances at home were substantially higher than anything I worked around. If you are convinced there is a risk, don't sleep under an electric blanket. That was about 80 mG, not very high but long exposure.

Ichabod

That makes you wonder what a big electric drill does to the guy who is using all day ... assuming EMF is harmful.
There should be plenty of anecdotal evidence though since millions of people use power tools every day.

I add this to the frey.
The globe we live on called Earth, is enveloped with a HUGE system of magnetic belts that form the Van-Allen belts.
These will affect your readings.

I fail to see how it is that people can say they feel the effects of Electro-magnetic fields.
There has been monitoring of people that work with HV bare wires since the 1950's.
There is no conclusive evidence that there are any causitive factors in the health of these workers.

It is the same with the hysteria that is quite prolific when a new cell tower goes up, it seems to be the emotive response from those that are complaining, rather than actual REAL science from those that are looking to install the tower that the media takes on board.

We've all read the headlines "Tower will kill our children" or "Families protest against new tower site"

Many of the people have nothing but pseudo-science to back their claims up, without having read or understood the original technical report on the tower and the emitters.

But one thing I have seen here, is that the same people that are complaining about cell towers are the ones that are also complaining about poor reception.

Work that one out for yourself.

I think it's hilarious that so many of the folks who fear the EMF dangers from the overhead power lines 50' in the air don't say a single thing if they're routed 4' underground.

Maybe we were right to shut our eyes as little kids whenever something scary was happening.
"If we can't see it it can't hurt us".

LOL

Its just not the electricians that are looking at this.

IIRC the telephone unions a few years ago were looking at this for their members that work as cable splicers and in the central offices. They were worried about their guys and all the currents in the phone lines and telephone switches.

Trumpy
I am again hearing the wild haired moms on the news protesting a cell tower near a school. I imagine a number of these parents have wifi networks and pretty sure many of their kids have cell phones too. Ever try explaining to a mom that the EMF from sources in their own house grossly overpower the EMF measurable at the school yard?
As usual the news companies ignore the rational explanations as that only kills the "STORY"

I use to be vice chair of our zoning board. We finally got approval for a cell tower near a hospital that deals with substance abuse patients. After the months it took to get this application through, the whole deal fell through and the tower was never built. The reason: The hospital was worried that their "Patients" would hear voices in their heads!

I kid you not!

Slightly off-topic...

Wasn't there a story about Lucille Ball picking up Morse Code during WW2 on the fillings in her teeth?

In the east coast here near NYC, back in the 60's, there was a radio station (AM, cause FM wasn't around) that bragged that it had the biggest signal around. people claimed that they could get reception on their braces when conditions were right.

Remember Cousin Brucie?