EMF from electric blanket?

[dacflyer]

hey,,,is there any worries of EMF radation from a electric blanket? or long term use of this.<p>just currious...<p>just thought of another fright too... electrical storms... i bet if you was laying on this and a storm happened to run in on you,,,you'd be like a bug in a bug zapper {:>O

[bodgy]

Well the true electronic or is that electrical answer is that, yes there is radiation from an electric blanket, but then there is radiation from any length of wire that has a current passing through it. A television gives off radiation in the X-Ray wavelength, your telephone (if corded) will give off a magnetic field.<p>However, the question is actually, what is the strength of the electrical field, and at what point is it noticable at a tissue level.<p>Bear in mind, that there are natural and man made magnetic and electrical fields all around us. Radio and TV transmissions are winging their way through me as I type.<p>Colin

[josmith]

The most likely way to die from an electric blanket is fire.
I have seen hydronic heated electric blankets that isolate you from most obvious danger. I don't know if they are still available.

[toejam]

my guess is they have far less emf than the wireing system in your house when an air contitioner is running the compressor.

[Joseph]

I have also wondered about the amount given off by one. One thing that could increase the net amount is if all electrical paths go from one end to another in the same direction. I have wondered how they run, and if they are nichrome wires or what. Anyone know how they are made, what thry are made of?

[dacflyer]

the wire in them seems to be like that of a telephone cord,,, thin copper ribbon wrapped around a thread of nylon..of sorts...but the wire is not copper...and almost impossible to splice...
i played around with an old blanket once...
science project as a kid,,,
anyway...thats all i know

[tonybackache]

Back about 35 years ago when my grandparent's electric blanket would quit operating. My grandpa would wait until it got dark in the bedroom. Spread the blanket out on top of the bed with it turned on. Then he would start looking for electrical arcs while moving the wires and connections. When he found one he would make a small incision in the material and then repair the short. Grandma would then sew it back up.
I think they were very brave to sleep under such conditions.

[dyarker]

For EM fields the strength falls rapidly. At least to a quarter for twice the distance. So yes, the air conditioner (and wires feeding it) have a much stronger field; but you don't sleep with an air conditioner on your chest.<p>I think some consumer protection group would be screeming if there was a hint of danger from the field. Change the bed cover order from sheet - electric blanket, to sheet - regular blanket - electric blanket if you want to reduce the risk even more. (The regular blanket increases the distance between you and the heating element.)<p>I don't need an electric blanket 'cause I run warm anyway What I want is a cooling blanket for summer to reduce air conditioning costs. hummm .... maybe somebody will invent flexible peltier pads that can be sewn inside a blanket. Current one way for cooling, the other way for heating. The trouble is, a study would have to be done on the effects of DC fields, because electric heating blankets now use AC. :p <p>Cheers,

[dacflyer]

TONY >> wow your grandparents were brave..!

[Bernius1]

I agree with the other posts, except to add that according to the aps.org newsletter, DNA is not affected by wavelenghth longer than near UV. And while electrically polar, I don't think any proteins are magnetically polar. So even long term effects should be negligible.
On the lighter side, howzabout a warming blanket of a different gender ??????

[dacflyer]

lol... my other warming blanket is a 4 legged one...156lbs worth....great bed warmer except when hogging the bed...but hes my baby
*my great dane*

[toejam]

I wonder how much emf a great dane gives off? I guess it may depend on what you feed them.

[perfectbite]

I had heard once that the more recent electric blankets ran two heating element cords side by side with power coming to them from opposite directions to minimize EMF creation. I suppose if one could put the phase of the return loop to exactly the opposite of the incoming loop the EMF generated would effectively become zero or close to it. Which brings up another question. Would a 'set' of capacitors (so that there isn't one great honking cap which would tend to drag the blanket off the bed) change the return 60 Hz phase path so that it would be 180 degrees out of synch with the incoming?

[dacflyer]

toejam >> i have a great dane...hes a good bed warmer...but some days he gives off bad methane !
anyway a great bed warmer,,but also a big bed hogg !

[Bernius1]

Temp. is 'avg. kinetic energy of the molecules'. All a heat source does is 'shake' them faster & harder. As you go up the E-M band , the rate increases. OF COURSE, even down in the microwave band, the Avg may be safe, but PEAK may be enough to fracture proteins. Hence the 'radiation' paranoia. Once past near U-V, damage is sure, over time. So 60hz is probably too low for any harm. But I like the capacitor idea. If it's a resistive element, feed it thru a bridge rec. & cap. (power supply).