The alleged effects of unbalanced voltage on a person

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You can have electric fields or magnetic fields. Voltage creates electric fields, current creates magnetic fields. A _changing_ field of either sort will create the other, thus 'electromagnetic waves'.

A sufficiently strong electric field will have some effects on living things; for example birds simply will not stand on wires that are too high voltage...but I rather doubt that the electric fields created by 120/240V home wiring will be significant.

The effects that Karl has documented seem to be caused by magnetic fields related to unbalanced current flows. Fixing problems of unbalanced current flow has the benefit of being something that you can measure with well defined repair strategies. In addition you would almost certainly be correcting aspects of the wiring that were not to code.

A 'technical power system' would reduce the electric fields created by home wiring, because now every circuit would be at an average voltage of 'ground'...but as I said I do not believe that these electric fields are a significant issue, and hunting down the magnetic fields is probably much more supportable.

-Jon
 
winnie said:
A 'technical power system' would reduce the electric fields created by home wiring, because now every circuit would be at an average voltage of 'ground'...but as I said I do not believe that these electric fields are a significant issue, and hunting down the magnetic fields is probably much more supportable.
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The only differences between a 60/120V and a 120/240V system are:
1) the voltage levels are lower, therefore the magnetic fields are less.
2) all loads are connected L-L, there are no L-N loads.

Being at an "average voltage" to ground has nothing to do with this problem.
 
If you have a large bulk of conductive material bonded to the same potential, and a small conductor at some other potential, you can pretty much ignore the large bulk and simply consider the 'electric field' created by the small conductor. Of course, you really need two electrodes to have a potential difference and an electric field, but you can work with the fiction that one of those electrodes is 'the rest of the universe at infinity' and still do useful calculations.

It seems to me that two conductors in a cable, one at ground potential and one at 120V relative to ground, would produce an electric field between the cable and ground that would be similar to a single conductor at 60V. This IMHO is where the 'average voltage' will make a difference in terms of external electric fields.

Two conductors, both at 120V to ground, but of opposite polarity (what you get with a normal 240V circuit in a residence) would balance each other's electric field, giving a net zero field relative to "ground".

Two conductors, both at 60V to ground, but of opposite polarity (a 120V circuit in this 'technical power system') would balance in the same way. So you get the supposed benefit of net zero electric field between the cable and ground, but you get to supply ordinary 120V loads.

I don't think that 60/120V balanced power is any more balanced than 120/240V balanced power, if you are considering 'line to line' loads. But in a residence you will have lots of 120V loads, which will be intentionally unbalanced with a 120/240V supply.

As I said, I do not believe that the electric field issues are significant, and that unbalanced current caused by wiring errors are a much more likely culprit, with a large dose of wishful thinking and placebo effect thrown in for good measure.

-Jon
 
bphgravity said:
I believe Tesla was a highly functional psychotic. It was his wandering and demented mind that derived his inspirations for all the great stuff he did. There was really nothing normal about him.

As for the person in the opening post, I would lean towards some sort of paranoia and anxiety disorder. Is it completely impossible what they claim is true... NO. Is it likely what they claim is true... NO.
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Who wants to be normal?:wink::D:smile::cool::roll::confused:
 
EM forces

EM forces

I remember a client that asked me to rerun an air conditioner feed so that it not run under his bed (in the crawl space, mind you) so that the Electromagnetic Field would not disturb him.

Maybe he knows more than us? Or is he just crazy?
 
I would not be so quick to disprove this individuals sensitivity to such an occurrance. It's like anything else certain individuals have a higher tolerance for different things thus being less affected or unaffected by it at all. Example: Sensitivity to sunlight- my wife can go outside all day long without sunshades on a bright sunny day but it is completely agonizing to my son and myself without eye protection simply because we have a lighter eye color. My sense of hearing, and smell far exceed anyone else who lives in my house. This individual may indeed have an extreme sensitivity to electrical or magnetic fields. Just my $.02.
 
iwire said:
I think the person is nutsand my best guess is a 'balanced voltage system would be like the ones used in recording studios. Basically a 120 volt transformer that has a grounded midpoint so you end up with 60 volts to ground from both legs and 120 between them.

I am just a hack but if anything is causing electrical fields I believe it would be unbalanced current and not the voltage system.
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Yes I agree theyr'e nuts
 
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