When do you buy shielding? Does shielding work? Should I buy shielding for my home? These are questions that come up a lot. Many people that are worried about the effects of being exposed to EMF’s have bought some type of shielding. There are many items that will shield you from some aspects of EMF’s. Today we are going to talk about a few items that block microwave frequencies.
How does shielding work?
Most of these items are made in a similar way. You take a piece of cloth and then you line it with a conductive metal. Many times this metal is silver. The lines of thread are then woven together and the result is a basic Faraday cage that mitigates microwave frequencies. These items are good at blocking these frequencies, but this is not the whole picture.
When should you get shielding or where should you have shielding?
If you are in an area that has a lot of wireless activity, or find yourself next to towers that you can can’t do anything about, then this is when you should consider shielding. The most cost-effective place to shield is your bed. This is for a few very important reasons:
- You are in the same spot for many hours a night
- Night time is when your body heals
- A good nights sleep is an important part of health
We live in an area that has a lot of wireless activity and because of my sensitivities I purchased a canopy as pictured below. This is the set up that we were using for a long time. For the record, this is wrong. We were doing this wrong because we were only looking at one side of the problem. I will explain.
WRONG SET-UP:
With this setup, many times during the night, we found different parts of our body (feet, hands, arms, or head) touching the canopy. This is where the problem is. Items that block microwave frequencies will do so, and the higher concentration the more it will block. This is where we failed. By touching the canopy that is blocking wireless frequencies, it gives that energy someplace else to go, which is into your body. This is also referred to as contact current. By mitigating one problem we created another problem.
Key point in shielding: You should not allow the shielding to touch your body. If you are inside of the shield you are fine.
In our instance we had contact current passing through as shown by the picture below. Anything above 18 microamps is considered bad and harmful as can be read here. At 127 microamps you need to do something. The question is –which is less bad? To be exposed to wireless frequencies or 127 microamps of contact current? I honestly don’t know. So I took down the canopy to try and find out which is worse for me by judging how I slept at night. Over time I noticed that my quality of sleep started to suffer. I was not as rested. I was less patient. I needed to try something different. I had to go back to the drawing board.
What we needed was a way to create a defined space for the netting that we would not come in contact with while we slept. The solution was a four post bed made of wood (not metal because metal is conductive).
CORRECT SET-UP:
Now with our bed we are able to set up our netting without coming in contact with it for long periods of time. This has led to better sleeping for both my wife and I. This was something special that needed to be made and we couldn’t have done this without Nordic Custom Woodworking (Eau Claire, WI). Now we not only have a great looking bed, but we also have something that supports our netting in a functional way. This in turn has provided us with better sleeping and most importantly we are not coming into contact with the netting in our sleep.
The other option to deal with shielding is to have it grounded. However you MUST keep in mind that in most cases ground is not zero. There is contact current there and so by attaching yourself to ground, you can increase your contact current. This defeats the purpose of grounding.
Here are some key things that you should take away from this:
- If you are going to shield from wireless that you cannot control, the most cost-effective method is to shield your bed.
- By grounding the shielding, you could could increase the contact current present
- Do not use any shielding that will touch your skin because you will increase your contact current. This includes items like shielding blankets/sheets, shirts, hats, or any other clothing. If you use a canopy, make sure you do not come in contact with it in your sleep.
- Bed frames should be made of wood and not metal
- Metal is conductive and is an antenna for wireless so wear as little metal as possible. This would also include excessive jewelry and metal in under-wire bras
flutterbusters.com 
Hi Joe, I had 21 solar panels installed on our low pitch roof. Found out the hard way that, the electric field of solar panel/inverter wiped out our TV antenna reception. Wondering if we could set up an appointment/estimate/for whole house EMF assessment. Thanks D
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This is a fixable problem. I would be more than happy to help. Email me at darnell@flutterbusters.com and we can set up a time to go over your home. In addition I’d like to get some more information on the solar panels you have.
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Hi Joe,
During your 1-10-19 interview with Lloyd Burrell, you mentioned that smart meters can be shielded inexpensively by wrapping all six sides with many layers of aluminum foil.
How will this affect the utility company’s reading of the meter?
Thank you,
Chris
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It may block the signal entirely, or it will just decrease it. If it blocks it they will let you know since they will need the reading to get paid. If the foil is removed then you can always just replace it. The upside with this approach is aluminum foil is cheap. To avoid doing the cat and mouse game they could switch their meter or you could ask to have this done. This might cost a little more a month to be warned.
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Hi Joe,
What tri-field/tri-mode meter do you recommend for laypersons?
Do you have any thoughts, good or bad, regarding the ENV RD-10 Tri-mode meter by EnviroSens?
Thank you,
Chris
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When it comes to meters it is more about how much do you want to spend more than anything. The difference between price is normally in detection and accuracy. The Trifield 100XE is easy to use and I normally just use this to identify the presence of magnetic fields. The meter that you mentioned I have no opinion on because I have never used it.
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Hi Joe,
During your 1-10-19 interview with Lloyd Burrell you mentioned using mylar “emergency” blankets to shield walls when there are WiFi signals coming from the other side of the wall.
Can mylar blankets also be used to cover a bed mattress containing coils, with regard to mitigating the affect of the coils acting as an antenna? How many layers of mylar blankets would be necessary? And would they need to be grounded?
Thank you,
Chris
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Since the blanket is metallic putting on the bed will only shift the issue from the coils to the blanket. You would also be touching it so you would be part of the circuit which isn’t good either. You could ground these, but normally there are small amounts of current running on the ground so in most cases that is not a good option either. If you use the blankets put them on the walls or under curtains to cover windows or use a metal screen on the window.
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Hi Joe,
I listened to an interview a while ago that mentioned that some internet routers can’t be turned off, thus shielding is necessary overnight. But can’t all routers simply be unplugged?
Thank you,
Chris
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Yes they can be. If you plug this into a remote control outlet you can then shut this off before you go to bed at night. These go for about $20 at a hardware store. Turning things off is the best way to reduce your exposure. Anything inside your house you can turn off.
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Hi Joe,
I got rid of my mattress with metal coils regarding the metal acting as an antenna. But I was wondering how much distance I need between my bed and the 1/4″ diameter, metal window security bars protecting my bedroom window — with regard to the metal bars acting as antenna for WiFi, RF, etc.
Thank you,
Chris
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If the WiFi is hitting the window then it is also getting in and around the window. Try not to be right next to it. 3-4 ft if you can manage it.
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Joe — regarding your May 2, 2019 comment above, you’re saying that if the metal window security bars are within reach of the WiFi signal, then the metal bars will act as an antenna, amplifying/concentrating the WiFi signal for a distance of 3 – 4 feet?
Please let me know if I’m understanding correctly… Thank you 🙂
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Anything metal will act as an antenna. It is best to use non-conductive materials if you are in an area of high wireless activity. If you are in such a place try and create as much space as reasonably possible to help reduce the fields around you, 3-4 feet is a good benchmark to hit.
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One comment about bedding canopy options. We were able to use ‘room divider’ curved curtain tracks to surround the bed, much like hospital curtains — many pinch-clip rollers allow various curtain materials including Swiss Shield. This would seem to be another option for folks following a DIY route.
I am still learning about ‘contact current’.Here is a related phenomenon I am trying to puzzle through. My sweetheart is chronically ill and we have found that she is quite sensitive to wifi, magnetic and dirty electricity. We have mitigated at home, but she still suffered in the car as each trip left her flattened. Recently we purchased an experimental piece of Naturell Swiss Shield fabric (3 x 8 foot swath) and she now wraps it around her head and torso before I turn on the ignition and wears it until we arrive at our destination. It looks odd,verily, but she strongly avers that this makes a large difference for her. She is not likely feeling a placebo effect, as we have experimented with several variations.
So, my mysteries include —
Contact Current: she is in the car (thus not grounded) but the material is completely in contact with her skin. I am not sure that contact current will manifest in this situation, though if it does, I will have to assume that it is a very small amount, below her threshold to notice.
Frequencies: My understanding of the Naturell is that it is recommended for WIFI signal range mitigation, but my car is old and there are no WIFI emanations. We have measured with Acousticom and other meters that respond to 200 MHz – 2+ GHz and there is no measurable difference under the swathing with Naturell. Obviously, the lower frequencies related to dirty electricity, or magnetism associated with the starter and other electric aspects of the car must be coming into play. My understanding is that Swiss Shield is that there will be no way to shield from Magnetics, so that leaves low frequency (and possibly DC) electric fields. While we drive it makes sense that the Naturell fabric will shield from random WIFI/Cell signals we encounter en route.
Since this pricey shielding material obviously works for her, I wonder if you (or any of your astute readers) can posit why she feels relief during the car’s ignition starting phase wrapped thus.
Thank you for turning life’s sadness into positive actions. The Building Biology guiding principles and recommended practices have been very helpful to our household. This information needs to be more widely disseminated in our over-electricifed society.
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Here is something you can try. Try driving around in diesel power vehicle and see if there is a change. The reason being one of the issues that you might be experiencing is the distributor cap on the engine from the spark plugs. With a diesel engine you wouldn’t have this since they have glow plugs.
If the problems are just when you start the car then it might be amount of amps that are needed to get the engine to turn over. The more amps the higher the magnetic fields will be, however the blanket that you have would have little if no affect on the these fields.
While the solution that you have now is not perfect, if you feel better with it then use it when you need it. It is better than feeling terrible all of the time.
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Hi Joe,
Many years ago I read that the sleeping area should be checked with a compass to see if metal near the sleeping area distorts the magnetic poles. Is checking the sleeping area with a compass necessary, or does an EMF meter like the Trifield meter already “cover that base”?
Thank you,
Chris
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These are two different types of fields. Summed up one is a DC field (earth) while the other is man made (electrical). You are looking at two very different things. A Trifield will just measure man made fields while with a compass you are looking at the earth’s magnetic field.
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Joe — There are plans for 20,000 satellites beaming 5g signals to every corner of the earth. If these signals will be effective, why is it also necessary to install 5g transmitters every 400 feet or so? Thank you.
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It has to do with the strength of the transmitters. The higher the frequency the shorter it can travel. AM radio can travel farther FM and it because of the frequency that they are using. In order to transmit 5G you will need more transmitters that will relay to but bigger infrastructure (optic lines).
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Hi Joe… then what is the reason for the planned 20,000 5g satellites? If their 5g signals won’t be effective, why are they planning on launching them? … Thank you.
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They will need those to get the signal around the world and build the network.
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Hi Joe,
Regarding your comment about not letting the shielding canopy fabric touch your body because of contact current. Wouldn’t that then mean that shielding clothing is also dangerous? What I would like to know is, is there any fabric that is conductive on the outside, but not on the inside, and therefore safe? Or could you line the mesh conductive fabric with another non conductive fabric and make it safe that way. Any thoughts?
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Correct, shielding clothing will have the same issue and is not the ‘fix’ that it is portrayed as. It is just creating a different problem. I don’t know of anything clothing that would be safe. This also goes for blankets, especially blankets for babies.
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What if the conductive fabric were sandwiched between two other normal pieces of fabric? Wouldn’t that prevent the contact current while also blocking the EMF, if for example it was made into a blanket, or any other piece of clothing?
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If the material is a good insulator then it could decrease it. Good insulators are not made of cloth and so having something to wear made of porcelain or PVC really is not going to work. If in this case shielding would be needed at this level you should be covering the whole body at that point, especially the head. In practice it just doesn’t work. You are better off avoiding. Use a canopy for sleeping if have too just don’t touch the sides. Shielding clothing of any kind I don’t recommend.
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OK, sheilding clothing OUT, if using a canopy, don’t touch the sides, but what if I want to make a shielding “travel” tent? The sides will be a bit closer and therefore, the chances of possibly touching it in the night increases. SO…., what if I put a layer of regular mosquito type mesh on the inside of the tent, with the shielding mesh on the outside? Wouldn’t that then solve the problem of contact current while also sheilding from the WiFi, etc. in the room? And of course, I’d add a grounding wire/clip to plug in the wall. What do you think?
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Minimize the touching as much as you can. Nothing will be perfect. If you plug it into the wall that may or may not be better it will depend on the ground current levels. If you are using a tent don’t touch the sides and have something on the bottom to act as an insulator.
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Thanks Joe.
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Our EMF-sensitive person has been very satisfied to travel in the car using SwissShield products. She can bear a multihour car trip if she wears a triple layer of a SwissShield Naturell fabric worn around her head and torso (like a burka), a head-to-toe coverall also made from SwissShield and then a SwissShield ‘sleep sack’ zipped up around her whole body and then a plain cotton twin duvet cover around to prevent these expensive items from getting smutzed in the car. This outfit is bulky and is only going to be a cold weather solution for us. The zipping of the sleep sack is particularly difficult in the passenger seat position since the zipper is on the wrong side so we have to turn that product inside out to have better zipper alignment.
With this $800 ensemble she has much better protection from RF and is not completely flattened by a car trip. We have measured multiple times to confirm that inside remains “green” even while the outside registers levels of ‘orange’/’yellow’. Only when we actually pass cell towers adjacent to the road does she start feeling the pain (at which point the inside of the sleepsack registers into the ‘yellow’ range (with Acousticom 2 or Cornet 88T+). The powerlines will affect her through these materials, and we cannot measure if there was any particular attenuation at these lower frequencies, but the drive is more comfortable so we feel it does have some attentuation below the higher RF frequencies associated with MHz/GHz frequencies. Since she can actually feel the radiation instantly, the meter readings are merely for confirmation.
We have not made any attempts to deal with contact current. The coveralls probably do isolate the shield since there is a cotton/polyester interior. I do not feel that the contact current in this situation is a first order concern, but blocking the actual radiation signals is.
These items are available for sale at LESSEMF-dot-com and SLT-dot-co.
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