Rampage_Rick
Senior Member
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada
So smart meters are a hot topic around here, as I'm sure they are elsewhere. I'm constanly trying to quell rumors of doom and gloom. I've had to explain to friends and family that the utility won't be able to tell when you turn on specific appliances like what's been spread by the local anti smart meter consortium. All it's reading is kWh, just 4 times a day instead of once a month.
Anyways, today I was sent an interesting article about how the meters that have caught fire are the result of all the RF energy these things supposedly put out. Now I'm of the opinion that this whole article is hogwash, and that the few cases of meter fires are the result of loose lugs or jaws that resulted in arcing or resistance heating after being disturbed. I can't see any RF device putting out enough energy to affect a 15 amp branch circuit, let alone the feeders. The specific meters around here put out 650 mW at 900 Mhz and 60 mW at 2.4 Ghz
http://emfsafetynetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Smart-Meters-Risk-for-fire.pdf
I wanted to get other opinions on this.
Anyways, today I was sent an interesting article about how the meters that have caught fire are the result of all the RF energy these things supposedly put out. Now I'm of the opinion that this whole article is hogwash, and that the few cases of meter fires are the result of loose lugs or jaws that resulted in arcing or resistance heating after being disturbed. I can't see any RF device putting out enough energy to affect a 15 amp branch circuit, let alone the feeders. The specific meters around here put out 650 mW at 900 Mhz and 60 mW at 2.4 Ghz
http://emfsafetynetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Smart-Meters-Risk-for-fire.pdf
I wanted to get other opinions on this.