Your typical garden variety electrician probably has some basic tools to measure electric fields, but likely it is a rare bird who has any idea of health ramifications of dirty electricity and electromagnetic fields in the home environment, and more importantly, how to mitigate them.

A good building biology expert (BauBiologie) will come to your house armed with at least a highly sensitive gauss meter to measure electromagnetic ELF radiation; a Stetzer Microsurge meter or its equivalent; an AC electric field meter to measure electric fields; and a professional grade microwave RF meter.

I am sure the average layman has the smarts to educate them self on how to detect and measure this radiation, but acquiring necessary instruments won't come cheap.

 

Never owned a trifield meter (I use an Acoustimeter and gauss meter) but it certainly has its fans. Not the most accurate (especially for RF radiation) but for its price point probably not a bad choice for casual use.

I'd venture to say it's chief virtue is allowing you to get rough estimates of EMF contamination in your home. If any readings are suspicious you could follow up with an expert investigation with more sensitive instruments.

 

Yep, I'm a fan of the Pareto principle here.

I can't say enough good things about the moment someone turns on a simple cornet.

My crowing victory with a cornet was trying to convince a senior citizen that their (15+ yo)microwave had to go and their wifi router had to at least be moved from next to their bed. It was a no go and I was "unreasonable". So I magnified a document explaining what the lights on the cornet mean relative to international safety standards and explained it. I then left my meter with the senior for one week with the request that they just walk around with it on once in a while.

"Can you help me throw out this microwave oven and move my wifi router?"

The first time people see a harsh red light on their basic cornet is the moment I've seen a whole new world open up for them

 

I noticed today a higher magnetic reading - went from .2 to between .6 and 1 inside my house and outside in the yard as well. 2 days ago it was not this reading. Does this happen from weather ? We had strong thunder storms yesterday.

 

What is considered a high level of contamination of magnetic field ?

 

Here are some EMF saftey levels from michael nuert- https://emfcenter.com/what-level-is-safe/

 

@drezy and @ElectricUniverse, which cornet do you own? I am willing to invest in a basic set up. I also contacted Brian Hoyer as per Jack and he replied within a day!

 

Thank you!

 

I use a cornet ED88T and an unconventional HackRFOne software defined radio (https://greatscottgadgets.com/hackrf/).

 

Denise,

I don't know why your meter's gauss reading would vary from 0.2 to between 0.6 and 1 mG inside your house and in the yard as well. You didn't elaborate on how long this persisted.

Yes, thunderstorms produce ELF radiation (as well as radio pulses, gamma radiation, and probably many other electromagnetic rays as well) but I can't imagine they would outlast the storm. I am no expert in this area so count me as ill informed.

You may notice variable fluctuations inside your house due to AC current flux in your house wiring. Often, this would be caused by using electric motors in appliances, and especially from variable speed motors (in blower fans in modern HVAC equipment, for example).

 

Before calling a expert to mitigate nnEMF, are there any DIY things a homeowner can start with other than turning off wifi? I've been searching but have yet to find anything so far.

 

Make sure all of your devices are on airplane mode and deliberatley go into computers and disable wifi and bluetooth. They all are default to send beacon signal out of the box. Turn off breaker to bedroom at night. Avoid standing next to the oven and elements when there on. Avoid being in the bathroom when the ceilking fan is on.

 

Do not stand or sit in close proximity to anything with an electric heating element (e.g. electric stove top, electric space heater, electric blankets, etc.) or electric motor (e.g. blender, fan, fridge, or what have you). These electric conveniences also introduce dirty electricity into household wiring.

I am absolutely appalled at thought of people sitting or lying next to a fan to cool off in summer.

These modern appliances may throw off very high levels of nnEMF (ELF electromagnetic radiation, to be more specific). Go ahead, measure it with your trifield or gaussmeter at ranges of a several feet or less from an operating appliance (radiation levels drop off dramatically the further you are from source-- inverse law). Depending on appliance and how cheaply electric components are made (think China, for instance) the readings will blow your socks clean off.

To make rational DIY efforts to mitigate EMF in the home, you really need to quantify how much contamination your family is exposed to already. Without reliable metrics you are just playing a guessing game. Remember, measure and then mitigate.

 

@ElectricUniverse @drezy recommended the cornet ED88T. What do you use to measure? I want to ideally purchase only 1 device that isn't hugely expensive for testing. Dummy proof if possible.

 

Sounds like the old axiom:

Do you want it cheap, fast, or accurate? Pick two.

Still, a girl can hope, and envision...

Actually, not even. I would take cheap and accurate. The other variable is ‘easy’.

 

More like wanting to not spend $700 per device....

 

I use a Schaefer Model EM10 ELF Gaussmeter-- purchased it many, many years ago and it has served me well (don't know if company is still in business).

You can expect to get what you pay for. There are many gaussmeters sold on Amazon for instance, that are priced under $150 price point. They may do the job adequately, but I wouldn't expect high accuracy. Regard seller claims with scepticism-- buyer beware.

These low end meters may actually be okay for a casual sweep of your home to find dangerous outliers in radiation-- which you could then follow up by hiring a specialist with professional grade equipment, or simply rent a quality meter (or go out and purchase a quality meter to double check).

If there are young children in the home I would opt for a proven quality meter to make sure you have reliable metrics. Growing and changing young bodies seem to be particularly susceptible to adverse effects of ELF (note studies that established a causal link to nearby power lines and childhood leukemia).

 

Thank you I appreciate the info. I want to get an idea of potential issues, the "casual sweep", and hope its not too bad.

No kids to worry about.

 

When I used to issue that statement to overzealous project managers I could immediately see smoke come out of their ears.

If you ever look closely 99% of people's advice is really "Just do what I do." so I'm not going to go there.

That's basically my operating mode. With my meter I was able to immediately determine better places for bed positioning, which appliances were nasty (ala ElectricU's fans are junk post ), and that my reproductive organs are perfectly in-line with the strongest field in my house if I cook standing in the regular spot.

You may have potentialfuture kids to worry about that are stored away for now.

 

also true, thought about that after I clicked post reply lol