Grounding bed sheets- come on man, is this snake oil?

drcampbell

Senior Member
Location
The Motor City, Michigan USA
Occupation
Registered Professional Engineer
Tin foil is apparently readily available, but it'll cost ya. 😉 ...
If EHS is actually caused by EMF, I would think that μ-metal would be a better option, damping both electric and magnetic fields.

Whether grounded to the EGC, grounded to the dirt, or not connected to anything, a bedsheet might be effective by creating an equipotential zone in the bed.
 

scrubbin

Member
Location
PA
Occupation
Maintenance Tech
What you really need is magnetic sheets: https://www.cariloha.com/magnetic-performance-sheets/
currently all sold out.

How Magnetic Sheets Work​

The thought behind magnetic field therapy is that certain problems happen because your magnetic fields are out of balance. If you put a magnetic field near your body, it's believed things will go back to normal. Ions like calcium and potassium help your cells send signals. In tests, scientists have seen magnets change how these ions act.2 Ultimately, the positive ions are balanced out in the affected area, and blood circulation is enhanced allowing a healthy supply of oxygen and other nutrients to flow more freely to the part of the body that needs healing
 

ggunn

PE (Electrical), NABCEP certified
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Occupation
Consulting Electrical Engineer - Photovoltaic Systems
What you really need is magnetic sheets: https://www.cariloha.com/magnetic-performance-sheets/
currently all sold out.

How Magnetic Sheets Work​

The thought behind magnetic field therapy is that certain problems happen because your magnetic fields are out of balance. If you put a magnetic field near your body, it's believed things will go back to normal. Ions like calcium and potassium help your cells send signals. In tests, scientists have seen magnets change how these ions act.2 Ultimately, the positive ions are balanced out in the affected area, and blood circulation is enhanced allowing a healthy supply of oxygen and other nutrients to flow more freely to the part of the body that needs healing
Someone is confusing electrical charges with magnetic potential. Ions are not affected by magnets.
 

ggunn

PE (Electrical), NABCEP certified
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Occupation
Consulting Electrical Engineer - Photovoltaic Systems
...some have moved to that town that bans all EM activity.

How would the town do that? Did they build a mu metal Faraday cage large enough to encompass the entire town, and did they outlaw cell phones, bluetooth devices, TV sets, microwave ovens, wifi routers...?
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
...some have moved to that town that bans all EM activity.

How would the town do that? Did they build a mu metal Faraday cage large enough to encompass the entire town, and did they outlaw cell phones, bluetooth devices, TV sets, microwave ovens, wifi routers...?
... Lightning?
 

winnie

Senior Member
Location
Springfield, MA, USA
Occupation
Electric motor research
From Wikipedia, just to give a flavor of the approach:

The most severe restrictions to the general public are imposed within a 20-mile (32 km) radius of the Green Bank Observatory.[5] The Observatory polices the area actively for devices emitting excessive electromagnetic radiation such as microwave ovens, Wi-Fi access points and faulty electrical equipment and request citizens discontinue their usage. It does not have enforcement power[6] (although the FCC can impose a fine of $50 on violators[7]), but will work with residents to find solutions.[8][9]

As always with Wikipedia, if you really want details or confirmation, use it as a pointer to the real sources. For example the Green Bank Observatory web page on RFI mitigation:

They do not ban _all_ EM activity. Radio emitters are severely restricted, but certain ones can be used or coordinated, and they apparently chase down radio emission from electrical defects. But they don't prohibit 60Hz electrical power, and I doubt they look for 60Hz near field issues.

-Jon
 

GnarlySparky

New User
Location
Montana
Occupation
Electrician
Alot of the sheets and mats are probably BS. However after waking up if you go stand outside barefoot for 10-15 minutes that is the real deal. Your body is made up of electricity so being in direct contact with bare earth does have a postive impact on your body. Its not the magic pill or the fountain of youth but a free and easy way to improve your health. Dont sleep on this. I wake up every morning and cold plunge then stand on my lawn for 15 minutes and if its out I soak up the sun. It has definitely improved my health and state of well being

If the mats are made out of conductive material that is connected to ground and you stand barefoot on them, you are standing outside barefoot as far as electricity is concerned.
 

ggunn

PE (Electrical), NABCEP certified
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Occupation
Consulting Electrical Engineer - Photovoltaic Systems
They do not ban _all_ EM activity. Radio emitters are severely restricted, but certain ones can be used or coordinated, and they apparently chase down radio emission from electrical defects. But they don't prohibit 60Hz electrical power, and I doubt they look for 60Hz near field issues.
Compared to the frequencies used by bluetooth, wireless networks, cellphones, and the like, 60Hz is DC. :D
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
On a side note: when I was a teen I had an electric blanket on my bed. The controller was just a bi-metallic adjustable switch that would vary the duty cycle between off and on according to where you set the knob, thereby giving you different temperatures. Kind of like an electric range burner control. So, that means the blanket was covering you with 60Hz AC.

I currently have a heated throw on the couch in my den. I notice that this controller has pushbuttons for the three warmth settings and it (the controller) gets warm even when turned off. So, there is a lot more going on in it than with the old controllers. For instance, it will tell you if the cord connector is unplugged from the blanket even when off. I haven't checked it, but I strongly suspect that this controller is putting DC through the blanket.

I remember that there were outcries years ago about electric blankets and the AC fields they covered you with. Don't know if they were valid or not, I never had anything weird happen to me. But today, it's easy enough to power them with DC, removing that concern.

-Hal
 

winnie

Senior Member
Location
Springfield, MA, USA
Occupation
Electric motor research
I doubt that the manufacturer would go through the bother of rectifying and smoothing the output of the blanket controller to get DC, since resistance heating doesn't care about DC.

Though they might use some sort of switching power supply that results in a rectified output, thus giving pulsed DC.

Or perhaps they base their design on some common DC power supply for safety reasons.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
I would not be surprised if they used some kind of rectified DC just because it is cheap to control with scrs. But that would give you pulses of DC.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
I would not be surprised if they used some kind of rectified DC just because it is cheap to control with scrs. But that would give you pulses of DC.
Seems to me that it would operate like a wall wart or phone charger. Rectify>high frequency inverter>rectify. That way the DC output would be almost like pure DC without brute force filtering and the magnetics could be small.

Thing is that if they are doing this to placate people who are afraid of AC fields (or they really did find some link to bad things) then why isn't it stated prominently on the box and instruction sheet that the blanket operates with safe DC current? Or would that be an admission that the lawyers could use to assert that the old AC blankets caused cancer?

-Hal
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
Seems to me that it would operate like a wall wart or phone charger. Rectify>high frequency inverter>rectify. That way the DC output would be almost like pure DC without brute force filtering and the magnetics could be small.

Thing is that if they are doing this to placate people who are afraid of AC fields (or they really did find some link to bad things) then why isn't it stated prominently on the box and instruction sheet that the blanket operates with safe DC current? Or would that be an admission that the lawyers could use to assert that the old AC blankets caused cancer?

-Hal
IIRC they were single elements in the blanket. Hot and neutral separated, thus high milligauss.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
IIRC they were single elements in the blanket. Hot and neutral separated, thus high milligauss.

I believe so. Hot connected to the beginning of the of the element on one side of the blanket then it zig-zagged across the blanket to the other side where it connected to the other side of the line. o_O

-Hal
 

mayanees

Senior Member
Location
Westminster, MD
Occupation
Electrical Engineer and Master Electrician
I believe in the concept that if you take the residual voltage off your body, you reset the secretions of your adrenal gland to sync with a circadian cycle.
I've experienced it with my mother, so I have to relate my experience.
I learned how to run barefoot 15 years ago, and as a result I heard alot about the benefits of being grounded. So I bought a "grounded bedsheet kit" from a Dr. Mercado that came with a plug that goes into your receptacle and uses the ground of the third prong, and/or an 18" ground rod for homes without a 3-wire system. There's also a fuse in between the connection to prevent any lightning from striking an individual.
My mom was 86 at the time, and always complained about arthritic pains that would prevent her from getting out of bed in the morning. So I put the kit on her bed, and within three nights she said her arthritic pains were gone. Six weeks later they returned, because the lady who changed the bedsheet didn't reconnect the cable. The bedsheet is conductive and comes in contact with the feet. Six months later her pains came back. She checked the clip and it was on, so she followed the wire out the window to the 18" ground rod and saw where the lawnmower hit the connection and knocked it off the ground rod. I fixed it, and she was good. She lived another 5 years and always had the grounded bedsheet.
I saw it so I gotta say it!
I've also proved out that there is a residual voltage on your body when you climb in bed, using a voltmeter. And I've proven that using my wristband takes 2-3 minutes to completely rid my body of any voltage induced on it.
✌️
 
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