Posted by
JamesH on
URL: https://www.es-forum.com/house-electricity-entry-point-tp4022102p4022117.html
You probably have dirty electricity, also known as high voltage transients. The sudden voltage spikes are very similar to the sudden changes in radio frequencies in the digital (pulsed) signals generated by cell phones and Wi-Fi. It is very common. There is a really good book called Dirty Electricity, Electrification and the Diseases of Civilization by Samuel Milham MD that discusses it. The author lives in Washington state.
I started out only being sensitive to cell phones and the antennas on towers. But over time, I became more sensitive, and my symptoms got worse. I am now also affected by the wiring in the wall where the electric meter is.
If you tune a portable AM radio to as low of a frequency as you can (in the 500's or 600's), so that you cannot hear any radio stations, and walk around the house with it, you will hear a loud buzz or hum in some areas. That is the radio picking up the changes in the magnetic field surrounding electrical wiring that are occurring thousands of times per second (dirty electricity).
Pure AC power goes from zero volts to 120 volts, back down to zero, switches polarity, and then goes back up to 120 volts 60 times per second (also known as 60 Hertz). A radio cannot pick that up. The lowest frequency AM radios can detect is 530 kilohertz, which is 530,000 cycles per second.
If you are thinking of moving and want to tell how new places compare, this is a good way to check. However, you may find that the strength varies depending on time of day.
You should also check the walls near your bed, chairs, couch, etc. It is possible that it might be low enough near these spots that you don’t realize it is affecting you. But if the radio can detect it, your body is absorbing it. If that is the case, you might be able to pull the furniture away from the wall enough that it won’t be a problem.
Since it is the worst at your electric meter and near the electric line leading to your house, it is probably coming from the grid. It could be caused by loose connections on a pole (I've heard where Ham radio operators will sometimes find interference caused by loose electrical connections on telephone poles). But a lot is probably from compact fluorescent bulbs or electronics in all of your neighbors' houses. The newer switching mode power supplies used in electronics generate it. To reduce the amount of electricity used, someone figured out that it would be possible to design power supplies to turn the power on and off thousands of times per second. But every time the power is turned on and off, it generates a voltage spike, resulting in dirty electricity.
Magnetic fields can be difficult to shield, but it isn't impossible. Less EMF has information about it:
http://www.lessemf.com/emf-shie.htmlSince you rent, you probably can't use adhesive to attach anything to the walls, but you might be able to prop something up against the wall and use a piece of furniture to hold it in place.
Another alternative is to try to filter out the dirty electricity. But, if most of it is coming in from outside, I'm not sure how effective it would be. The problem is that you need to have the filters as close as possible to the source. And, there is a limit to how much dirty electricity a single filter can eliminate. The more dirty electricity, the more filters you will need. If you have outlets near the fuse panel, you could try it. But if you plug them in 10 or 15 feet away, they may not do much.
Here are some short videos that demonstrates the effectiveness of filtering dirty electricity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zO1JvA6gh8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Noc2OA-xWCMThe second video is aimed at people who are into high-end audio equipment (they are concerned about dirty electricity because it can affect the sound quality of their stereos). And because of the focus on high-end audio, the filter shown is expensive. But it'll give you an idea of what you will hear with an AM radio.
The Stetzerizer filters are much more economical. Here are some places that sell them:
http://www.stetzerelectric.com/http://www.electrahealth.com/http://www.lessemf.com/suppress.html
Also, some surge suppression power strips contain filters (usually advertised as power conditioning).
However, as Stewart mentioned, it is possible that the house could have wiring problems. In that case, unless you have a very sympathetic landlord, your options are probably limited.
James