Canopy Questions

Hi Folks,
i am in the process of researching the possibility of using a canopy, floor mat.  Wondering, if not grounded, how far should the canopy be from a wall with wiring (never turned off at the breaker box).  Does grounding cause or prevent more problems?  Is there an issue with the highest quality fabrics degrading (looking into getting the Aaronia shield) and causing a silver particle inhalation issue? If my bed frame has metal slats do i need to junk it for a wood platform? If my bed has springs in it with a latex topper, is there anyway to remedy this besides junking the innerspring mattress?
i would be grateful for any advice about this somewhat confusing and topic.
Many Thanks!
Chana

On September 27, "chanamichaelah [via ES]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
>  If my bed frame has metal slats do i need to junk
> it for a wood platform? If my bed has springs in it with a latex topper, is
> there anyway to remedy this besides junking the innerspring mattress?

A lot of questions there, and I'm sorry, but I don't know a good answer for
some...  as for the metal bedframe & innerspring mattress, I've seen
conflicting reports about the value of changing to non-metal.  Some say
it makes a big difference, while others didn't notice any difference at
all.  So it's all very individual...

... as for me, I don't recall noticing much difference switching from a
metal to non-metal bedFRAME, but I do notice a big difference from
switching from metal innersprings to foam or cotton.

Marc

Thanks Marc,
It's quite helpful to hear about your experience with the mattress and the frame.  i don't think i would notice a difference but then i tend to be pretty oblivious to these things in general.  i just know i'm pretty darn sick and don't want to add to my body's burden, nor my pocketbook's, unnecessarily.  
Warmly,
Chana

Is it possible to get a measure of our unique exposure in different environments such as the bed situation by doing "body voltage" readings?    I have seen articles about doing body voltage measurements, but they all involved grounding a voltmeter into an electrical outlet or other complicated tasks. I assume the term "body voltage" means the amount of electrical current currently running through one's body, but maybe it means the amount of electrical charge the body is currently holding. Does anyone know about this and perhaps know of an accurate way of measuring body voltage using easily understood methods and ideally not not involving any equipment more expensive than a voltmeter or EMF meter?  Ellen

Hi Chana :)

I have the aaronia canopy and it's a beauty!  To bad I can't use it lol.   Disclaimer - I'm really electrically sensitive so my experience may be completely different than yours.   Also, EMF conditions in our house maybe different than yours, which can make a significant difference too.

Regarding an ungrounded canopy:    Using a multimeter, I found that my ungrounded canopy and mat act as an antenna, amplifying the low frequency emf electrical fields that radiate from the electrical power in one's house.    According to the way my body feels, it also appears to amplify other transient frequencies in the vicinity, even with the house power shut down.   I personally would never use a shielding canopy that was not grounded for this reason.      

Regarding grounding:  If you consider grounding the canopy to a receptacle in the room, any frequencies on that receptacle ground terminal and neutral wire  will be transmitted to the canopy through the ground wire.   So while the canopy can  shield smart meter, wifi and cell phone tower frequencies etc,  if these extra frequencies are present, the canopy can also surround you and reflect them into your body when you are inside the canopy.   I feel it is important for anyone considering buying a canopy or painting a room with shielding paint to verify that their receptacle ground/neutral don't have the extra frequencies carried in by power being supplied by the utility company.      

I don't know an easy way to tell you how to do that.   Somebody else here might know though.

I have an electrical background so did it by disconnecting the house hot, ground AND neutral wires from the incoming utility company power at the main electrical panel, and then felt a huge difference when inside the canopy.   Without doing that, I'm guessing you'd need to use a spectrum analyzer to show what frequencies are present.    Stetzer meters do not include the full spectrum of frequencies that can ride on the utility company neutral.  An EMF consultant can help if you are interested.  

My brother is an engineer who has worked with RF.  He explained that when grounding the canopy,  the shorter the ground wire, the better.   He used layman's terms to explain why.   As I understand him, this is because RF can never be completely grounded due to the frequency being so fast.   As soon as the RF reaches the end - either the receptacle ground or a ground rod planted into the earth -  part of the RF frequencies doubleback on themselves, also creating harmonics, and they come  back up to the canopy.    So the longer the wire, the more  cycles per second that double back on themselves and return to the canopy, even though it is grounded.  And those frequencies will be reflected into yoru body when  you are inside of the canopy.      

He said in an ideal world, a ground wire  is best when only  a few inches long.     But it can be up 12 feet maybe.   The other thing is the ground wire should not have sharp angles or loops in it because these will induce more frequencies into the ground wire.
       
When I was trying to get the canopy to work for me, another forum member recommended using shielded cable to ground the canopy with.   And he also thought that a ground wire up to 20 feet would be ok.      
 
I know this is a lot to through out at you.  Sorry.  And as you probably know, the aaronia canopy cannot be returned for a refund under any circumstances because it is considered "bedding".    I willingly ran that risk, but it's a big one because the canopy is so expensive.  

Sue

Sue,
This is really interesting information for me (even though I wasn't the one asking the question).  I had a further question:  Do the frequencies that get doublebacked remain RF frequencies, or can they change into other types of EMF frequencies as well by then?  In my case, I am concerned that this is happening with the RF-blocking paint I have used in my bedroom that is grounded by a wire about 25 feet long to a copper stake in my yard.  I have had trouble sleeping in there even with circuits turned off and wondering now if it's because this phenomenon is happening.  At any rate, thank you so much for explaining this and bringing it to our attention!  I have not seen this mentioned anywhere before.  
Ellen

Hi Ellen,

Ellen wrote

  Do the frequencies that get doublebacked remain RF frequencies, or can they change into other types of EMF frequencies as well by then?

That's an interesting question and I don't have the answer.   Left a message for my bro in case he has information and will get back to you.  

I have heard that wave forms bouncing off shielding material can become distorted and change frequency.     If that's truly the case and  I was inside a room that was shielded and connected to a problematic ground,  the induced frequencies in the shielding material  from the ground could possibly bounce around inside the shielded area, sort of like a pool ball bouncing off the little walls surrounding the pool table, and become distorted each time they hit the shielding material.  

Is there access to the earth any shorter than 25 feet from your painted room?    If so, have you tried disconnecting the 25-ft ground and in its place connect up to  shortest wire you can, clipping it onto a screw driver plunged into the earth?   If this is a workable experiment, you can pour water onto the ground surrounding the screw driver to make an even better connection.   Then see how you feel in the room.    This might help you determine if the length length of the original wire is creating a problem for you.

Al Harding's suggestion of using a shielded cable as a ground might be worth considering too.    As I understand, any frequencies physically surrounding the long ground wire can induce frequencies into it as well.   The shield can help protect against that.  

Ellen wrote

I have had trouble sleeping in there even with circuits turned off

Another variable is the possibility of frequencies riding on your house's neutral wires, even with the power off.     Al Harding gave me a heads up about that.   And as I mentioned before, I tested this out by removing the house neutral wires from the utility company's neutral and felt a huge improvement once inside the canopy.    

Good luck :)  

Sue