Did you know that when you have a smart meter on your home, there’s more to shield from than just wireless (radiofrequency) radiation? That no matter what kind of electric meter you have—smart, digital, opt-out, analog—you are subjected to high magnetic and electrical fields if you are too close to the meter?
How far away from your smart, digital, opt-out or analog meter do you need to be to be safe from EMFs? And if you can’t move your bed, your couch, or your kitchen sink, what do you do to be safe?
Here’s an in-depth guide on how to shield from smart, digital, and analog meter EMFs.
What Kinds of Fields
Come from a Smart Meter?
Everyone knows that smart meters emit radiofrequency (RF, wireless) radiation. Many people call this “EMF,” but radiofrequency radiation is just one type of EMF. There’s a whole spectrum of EMF (the ElectroMagnetic Spectrum), from the earth’s magnetic field to visible light, infrared radiation, all the way up to X rays and gamma rays.
The fields that concern you from any kind of electric meter—whether it’s smart, digital opt-out, or analog are:
- Magnetic fields
- Electrical fields
- Dirty electricity
- And with a smart meter, also radiofrequency radiation
In addition to your meter, your breaker box (circuit panel) and the incoming power lines emit high electric, magnetic, and dirty electricity fields.
How Far Do You Need to Be
from Your Electric Meter to Be Safe?
Building biologists recommend that you be at least 12 feet from your meter and circuit panel (breaker box). I found that 7 feet was just fine. The magnetic and electric fields drop off significantly at 4 feet, but 4 feet is still too close. If you can’t be at least 6 feet away, then you need to shield.
If you just spend a little bit of time in an area, say 10 or 15 minutes, then unless you are extremely sensitive, you are okay if you are 6 or fewer feet away.
If your bed is near the meter, move it! Rearrange your room, or switch bedrooms. Your health is at stake. Did you know that analog meters emit even higher magnetic fields than digital/smart meters? When I measured, I found that the magnetic field was about 3 times higher. This is because the way analog meters work creates a significant magnetic field. People who sleep with their head near their analog meter often develop brain tumors or other cancers later in life.
How to Shield
For magnetic fields, use G-Iron. This is the only thing, other than mu metal or lead, that will “block” a magnetic field. Lead, of course, has its own dangers. Note that you can’t actually block a magnetic field. What happens when you use any of the above materials is that the field becomes more diffuse. There is a woman I know who couldn’t even walk by the circuit panel in her hallway without feeling terrible symptoms. She is extremely electrosensitive (EHS). She used two layers of G-Iron and this reduced it to where she was okay going by. Now, that’s exceptional, but it tells you what G-Iron can do. You can purchase it at Safe Living Technologies using my coupon code, LindaK.
For electrical fields and radiofrequency fields, use Field Shield. This is a wonderful product developed by Satic that will block radiofrequency fields and electrical fields. It must be grounded.
For radiofrequency fields, you have multiple angles to use for blocking. Obviously, Field Shield will kill two bird with one stone, blocking both RF and electrical fields. Remember, radiofrequency fields are not the only field you need to block.
It is also suggested that you block the RF coming from the meter itself with a Faraday cage. This will protect you (and all living beings) out in your yard. Typically, RF from the smart meter does not come into your home, but at times it does, and always better safe than sorry. I used both a DIY cage I made and the Smart Meter Guard. Here is an article discussing what I did, and if you wish to purchase the Smart Meter Guard, you can do so directly from me or you can go to the Smart Meter Guard website and purchase using my coupon code, LindaK. It will be a little cheaper if you order directly from me.
Other ways to block are RF are to use aluminum window screen on the walls (several layers) or put sheet metal on the wall around the meter housing (the meter housing is the metal box the meter is in). I would do 4 feet on all sides for safety’s sake, although you might not need to make it that extensive.
For dirty electricity, you must filter using a whole-house filter. The Satic Power Perfect filter, which I sell at a discount, will clean up dirty electricity in your circuit panel. Plug-in filters cannot do this. Dirty electricity is very harmful to health, and one of the primary causes of it is the smart or digital meter on your home.
Testing Your Results
It is advisable to, at a minimum, test to see whether the shielding you have done for magnetic fields is working. The reason I advice this is because magnetic fields are tricky. You want to make sure not only that you have reduced them, but they have not somehow intensified farther away. If you wish to test, I recommend the Trifield TF2 meter. It is the least expensive good meter you can buy. Cheaper meters are simply unreliable.
The Trifield will also test your electrical fields and radiofrequency. It is not very sensitive for RF, but will get the job done. If you’d like a better RF meter, then I recommend either the Safe and Sound Pro or the Safe and Sound Classic, both available at Safe Living Technologies for a discount when you use my coupon code, LindaK.
More Questions?
Do you have more questions? Need additional help with shielding? I offer a free 15-minute consultation on shielding specifically. After that, it’s a dollar a minute, a very reasonable price. Contact me. Fifteen minutes is usually plenty of time.
There’s no charge for any questions about filtering dirty electricity.