Musings of a Taste-tester

Ooh the aroma of fresh-baked . . .

Humbly I sit at our looong countertop, as my wife coaxes / nurtures / molds previous life forms (oats, grapes, cranberries, eggs, chocolate (OK, so I stretch this a bit)) into forms that will shortly suffer high temps and solidify into familiar oatmeal-raisin-cranberry cookies, and some with chocolate for the chef. My job, when the opportune time comes, will be to verify and qualify whether they’ve reached another 9.5+, and then to try and convince her that I need to taste-test more than a few, to fully vet the cookies before storage (somewhere I cannot easily find them).

Meanwhile, as the mixer turns the mix in the bowl, I marvel at the flickering incandescent lamps lighting the work space. Oh, if only there was a solution to this! Oh, if only this was a problem!

But wait, it is, say some merchants, and an institution that teaches their products as “the” solution. IT IS a Problem. MEP (Microsurgery Electrical Pollution) this is, the scourge of every residential, and sometimes commercial, lighting and power system.

For those who simply know numbers:

For those who know Alternating power:

Problem is, it’s not a problem, but a natural expression of the laws of physics. That techie word, Physics, like it or not, encompasses the laws generally dictating how the world around us functions (no small thing, if you know any physics), or not. Please, you may not want to try this at home, due to the dangers involved.

Electric systems are “elastic,” by design, and by the laws of Physics (I really, really do not want to overemphasize this word). Every system is designed with lots of extra capacity, to allow you to turn everything on, and still have about the same supply Voltage, within reasonably narrow limits. So if you start with all devices off at say, 120 / 240 Volts, fully loaded your system’s design will still provide about 118 / 236 or so, and the impact of this slight reduction will be negligible. While this power is alternating (that is, constantly changing with time), incandescent light bulbs provides what appears to the naked eye as a steady and stable level of light. Connect an electrical device whose power consumption is not smooth, like a motor, with brushes needed to provide it the extra strength needed (so the wife does not have to toil), and the lighting (especially if on the same circuit, and especially if at the same point of supply) will flicker, as above.

Well that’s MEP, and have we got a solution for you. Use our filters ($300, operators standing by . . . ), and these MEPs will diminish in 6 to 8 weeks. If you delay desiring a return beyond the 8 weeks guarantee, we can chat about it. Two primary vendors come to mind, with several others seeing a money train and jumping onboard. Oh, and because these filters have lots of reliable research from Sweezeland, you’ll be best served if you buy several. These will also reduce your electric bill by about 3%, and cause the utility to overbuild by using higher capacity power lines, by your house. We wouldn’t want you to be underpowered. And neither would you, I suspect.

Motor brushes, being what they are, make and break an electrical contact (or several) while they draw current (Current Draw contest coming soon, please stay tuned) to make the device turn, grind, mash, etc. Each time they make (contact closing), an instantaneous surge of current is demanded (and because of the very slight resistive character of the wiring) causing the lights to blink (only a few milliseconds, but enough to be visible). Lots of blinking = flicker. When they break (contact opening), something like water-hammer (physics-related, there’s that word again) happens with the current. Once started, it does not want to stop suddenly. If you try to force the issue, the breaking action develops high voltage (high pressure and pipes bursting when related to water), arcing, a metal melting phenomenon and burning with its associated smell. A very small Capacitor is used across each of these contacts, so that when they open, the surge gets quenched across the capacitor, which serves as a temporary current storage tank. Nonetheless, some arcing, albeit much reduced, still occurs. This can cause electrical interference with an AM radio, sensitive electronics, and your brain, if you lean onto that rotating motor. This is known as EMI (ElectroMagnetic Interference), and violates laws of EMC (ElectroMagnetic Compatibility). But since you are not a piece of electronics, and are expendable, you cannot claim EMC violation. Nor EMI, unless you use an industrial mixer that affects the power of your entire neighborhood.

Another subtle product of these motor brushes, is that they produce Harmonics, or echoes of the power system frequency.

In the above, a Harmonics train is shown only on a few peaks for clarity. Each peak, positive or negative, produces harmonics since each peak is a pulse of power. Also realize that the Harmonics train starts when instantaneous current is demanded, which does Not occur at the peak, so this is overly simplified.

But wait, if I can call them “dirty” electricity, I can offer you the same filters as above, to help alleviate that dirt. But since you can’t see electrical dirt, you need to buy my meter ($2000, have a valid CC ready . . . ). This will show you numbers decreasing when our filters get plugged in, and give you the warm fuzzies. For sure it will us, after you pay for them. Minuscule problem, though. These filters produce electrical dirt of their own (physics-related very techie reason, oh my). But no matter, I’ll make my meter not see that portion of the frequency spectrum, so it won’t bother you. Or it might, because the harmonics produced by these filters occur in the lowest audio frequencies, those used for human speech, and to which most of us are finely attuned.

In the above, the audio spectrum is divided into the slowest portion, where you see the 60 Hz presence (50 Hz, other than N America), which is the power available all around you, shaded orange at the extreme left and exceeds the vertical span of the display. To the right of this block, from about 300 to 4000 Hz are the frequencies we normally hear in human speech, and where the “dirty” electricity filters produce their own dirt harmonics (unfortunate coincidence). Neither of these blocks are detected by dirty electricity meters. To the right, the largest block of the audio frequency range is generally devoid of activity. A peak of around 17 kHz may appear if Solar is employed in your neighborhood, but otherwise quiet. Harmonics are strongest the closer they are to the originating frequencies, so by the laws of physics (sorry . . . ) harmonics on the right block will be minuscule. Yet this range is where dirty electricity filters are supposed to do their dirty deed, because a report was produced somewhere in Sweezeland that says these faster frequencies are the most relevant biologically. Pure BS. In reality, faster frequencies simply become carriers of the slower (more relevant) frequencies, as in AM radio. So if some smart tech shows a spectrum analyzer display with “harmonics” in the 30 to 150 kHz range, they are blowing smoke. These are not harmonics, since they would have to be manifest as odd multiples of some frequency. If you are shown that, ask what the fundamental frequency they are derived from happens to be . . .

MEPs and electrical “dirt” have existed for as long as the power system has been around, slightly more than 100 years. Its derivatives, Electric Fields (from Voltage) and Magnetic fields (from Current) have been around for as long. As some individuals have become sensitized by any form of injury, these derivatives, and their marketed solutions have become relevant in real time. Like now. Why do I feel this way? Turn the power off, and only get some relief. That’s because most people are technical vacuums, and cannot consider maintenance of a system that might as well be voodoo, so to prevent fires we’ll install a power line in your home and share it with the neighborhood. Lie? Think again. Study the matter and see for yourself.

This site is sustained without regard for advertising, or cost, and is sufficient for the wise reader to become familiar with the problems that ail us. Electrical ones, that is (and a bit of Air Quality, on other pages). Peruse at your leisure, while it’s still available - https://www.emfrelief.com - While this is serious business, the FAQs for EMF (https://www.emfrelief.com/emffaq.html) and IAQ (https://www.emfrelief.com/iaqfaq.html) include a bit of humor, derived entirely from clients’ understanding, or lack of.

Cheers.

BTW The cookies were fantastic, I had my fill, and found where she hid the rest.

So then I had to explain how cookies volatilize when the lid is not put on tight.

BBTW I’ve been rehabilitating a 5000 sq’ “country cottage” whose maintenance has been lacking for a decade or so. So I’ve been busy.