Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) mitigation while on the road

[weirba]

We have a 2022 Riverstone Legacy that has numerous sources of Electromagnetic fields (EMF). From the obvious sources like wifi routers and bluetooth devices like the Firefly Mira app, smart things in the Samsung refrigerator, The furrion observation system 4 wireless cameras are always on, etc. And then less obvious things like the solar controller, converter and inverter, etc.

Most RV parks have some level of boosters and repeaters for their wifi service and many are closet cellular towers and high voltage transmission corridors.

More and more we are getting hammered. EMF's of all frequencies represent one of the most common and fastest growing environmental influences on our health.

Doesn't seem to be much information available to understand how that impacts our health but it clearly is, so I am trying to learn more about what I can do on our rig to minimize that.

My question is for those that are aware, what are you doing to protect yourselves?

[tetranz]

Originally Posted by weirba

More and more we are getting hammered. EMF's of all frequencies represent one of the most common and fastest growing environmental influences on our health.

Doesn't seem to be much information available to understand how that impacts our health but it clearly is

Can you point to some serious peer reviewed research that comes to this conclusion?

[Old-Biscuit]

Your S&B house is FULL of wiring so you are surrounded with EMF

I worked in Power Plants for 25+ years surrounded by 120V, 480V, 66KV, 220KV voltages and then went home to 120VAC

Afraid of EMF......do not plug in your RV, put down your cell phone and stay away from microwaves

[Bigceasar]

Look hard enough and you will find some “expert” who will proclaim virtually everything is harmful to your health. Sun exposure causes cancer, lack of sunlight is harmful, sunscreens contain cancer causing chemicals. You can do the same exercise with food, beverages, the air we breathe and on and on.
In my opinion, all that electromagnetic radiation is a net positive. Those wireless cameras prevent accidents. Those cell phone and WiFi emissions summon help, provide real time warnings of weather and traffic. Electricity provides life saving heat and cooling. Refrigerators keep food from spoiling and growing deadly bacteria. Microwave cooking heats food to a temperature that renders the food safe to eat.
I’ see no need for a tinfoil hat.

[Tachdriver]

I would believe that the statistics of getting hit by an impaired driver than danger from EMF radiation. The field strengths decrease on a larger scale as distance increases.

I believe there are better things to be concerned about in lieu of EMF.

[shootist]

Montecito ca. had an elementary school under high power lines. The kids had a way higher incidence of cancers. They stopped using the playground directly under the wires iirc. Microwave ovens can cook you and the doors leak, stay 3 feet away when using. Biggest thing is get your cell out of your ear. Use the speaker I guess. Other than that, order some faraday cloth off Amazon and wrap yourself head to toe. Not much you can do.

[bigb56]

The practice of keeping the wires of a circuit close together for the past 90 years or so eliminates the large magnetic fields that surround single conductors since one cancels out the other. The overhead transmission lines do produce large magnetic fields but it is not a problem in a properly wired structure. Knob and tube was spaced apart and the result was inductive heating and EMF, most K&T is long gone now being replaced by cable assemblies in the 30's and 40's.
Even though code requires all conductors of a circuit to be in the same raceway or cable (which eliminates the large EMF) we occasional still come across improper wiring, mostly in 3 way switch circuits where the installer used 2 separate Romexes for the travelers, or where the neutral conductor of a 3 way circuit was not carried in the same cable with the line.
An AM radio carried around the walls will reveal EMF as it will make loud, crackling static when near an EMF source.
That being said, unless you live under high voltage transmission lines I don't think you have anything to worry about.

[NXR]

Do you understand that all radio, including TV, transmissions are electromagnetic fields?

If you can hold a shortwave radio and listen to Radio Moscow those Russian EMF waves are passing through your body. Even lightning produces electromagnetic fields. So do hearing aids.

Whether a particular field may be detrimental depends on the frequency, the duration of exposure, and the strength. There is no easy answer other than "more may be worse".

I've worked on communications and navigation systems for 50+ years. I worked on jets. Trust me, that aluminum body does not shield you from the radio transmitters.

I took 8' fluorescent tubes out of the dumpster and shoved them though the chain link fence surrounding a 50,000 watt AM radio station tower. The energy in the air was so high that the tubes would fluoresce and at night we'd run around in the field next to the transmitter. Heck, we used them as light sabers before Star Wars invented them.

When I worked for an AM radio station I did the routine field strength tests. I mapped out the 1 volt per meter perimeter.

I've got many more problems to worry about than EMF in daily life.

Ray

[Mark_K5LXP]

I just wear my tin foil hat.

Any time you have current through a conductor, a magnetic field is created. If that current changes in amplitude at any rate, energy is radiated. Even lightning arcing through the sky generates radio frequency energy, so it's not just man made devices. Practically speaking "wireless" gadgets these days operate at pretty low power, fractions of a watt. A few feet away from them and the energy level is quite small (inverse square law). Cars have tons of emitters, both intentional (cell, wifi, radar) and unintentional (computers, systems control, ignition). The screen you're looking at is radiating, the keyboard under your fingers have circuit traces, LED lights have switching circuits and sometimes remote control. There's probably half a mile of various cables in every home with energy going through them from DC to GHz. So if it's health effects you're worried about you pretty much have to leave civilization or live in a solid copper box. You're not getting away from it, it's everywhere. That's not to say you can't be aware of it and decide to minimize exposure if there's a concern, but in the grand scheme I'd be more worried about getting hit by someone texting on their phone than the RF energy coming out of mine. Now, *interference* is another question, it amazes me how much wifi junk people run in their RV's. Cameras, doorbells, hotspots, baby monitors, computer peripherals, on and on. Park wifi might even be useful if it weren't for all the 2.4GHz pollution people generate.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

[Piney2]

Your concern is admirable however you are constantly bathed in RF sources. There is no way that you can make your entire RV a farady cage and block all external RF and mitigate all EMI / EMC characteristics of your RV. I would think the stress of your concern that you are imparting upon yourself would be more detrimental to your health that the EMF itself. The following comes after 30+ years of working satcom in the Ku, Ka, C, S Bands and working with TWTs day in and day out: don't worry about it.

[TandW]

Sitting on top of a 3000# battery with many interconnects is becoming all the rage.
Then there is the poor fellow going in for his pacemaker.
And the tens therapeutic device.
Cat scans.
Static electricity on the doorknob.

[jharrell]

Do you guys worry about light bulbs shining on you? A cellphone puts out less power than a led flashlight and RF is much lower frequency than light both are EM radiation except light is closer to ionizing energy levels. Below ionizing frequencies (UV) the only known biological interaction is heating which is purely a function of power and inverse square law which is why microwaves cook food and require 1000 watts of power.

So go outside and walk around in 1000 watt per square meter nuclear radiation that has actual cancer causing ionizing frequencies, get a tan, and stop worrying about a milliwatt blinking lights shining on you in the RF bands.

[tetranz]

I agree with Mark_K5LXP above.

It's not something to completely ignore or ridicule but the power (or more precisely field strength) levels are important to consider.

I have no concerns at all about Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cordless phones etc because they're all such low power.

As for having a school under big high tension power lines. That sounds like something we should try to avoid until we really know more. I couldn't find reference to that Montecito, CA school mentioned above so I'm a little skeptical of "way higher incidence of cancers" which would be big news but I did find some credible looking studies which suggested a small increased chance of leukemia so who knows ... probably something to be cautious about.

I've seen a Facebook group for people who say they're sensitive to this stuff. They don't sound crazy but they genuinely believe that Bluetooth etc is giving them headaches etc and discuss how to cope with it. I don't really know what's going on there but I'm a big believer in professionally conducted double blind studies which, as far as I know, has not shown any effect at all.

I can't find it now so take this for what it's worth but I remember reading about a small town where lots of people were "feeling the effects" of a new cellular or similar tower. They called a town meeting which the tower operator sat through listening to the complaints and then announced that it hadn't been turned on yet.

[Solo_RV_Guy]

FWIW, there appear to be a small number of folks who have uncommon sensitivity to radiated energy, often in the RF spectrum. I work around a lot of RF, though relatively low power, and never observed any problems that I can attribute to that. Not saying it cannot or will not happen to others.

OTOH, a blanket avoidance of anything radiating EMF or RF will prove impossible in Our Modern World.