Your trusty washing machine- now hazardous to your health?
This morning we received an open letter from Cindy Sage, Principal of Sage Associates, an environmental consulting firm based in Santa Barbara. What she reports below is very disturbing- that appliances are already being fitted with transmitters to connect to the ‘smart’ grid via the ‘home area network.’
The problem here is that these decisions- to install smart meters, to have your washing machine chatting behind your back with your utility through the “Home Area Network” (HAN)- have all been made behind closed doors- at exclusive resorts and conferences where utilities, regulators and appliance manufacturers hatch ambitious schemes without any consultation with the people whose lives will be affected by these technologies. We can catch a glimpse of the arrogant mindset behind this truly stupid program from reading through PG&E’s internal presentations on the SmartMeter program.
Moral of the story- beware when you buy any new appliances- they may come with a nasty electromagnetic surprise inside. Always ask before buying, and let them know you don’t want wireless! Corporations should be even warier. As the hazards of wireless technology become well known throughout society- hopefully this will hit these companies in their bottom line- about the only thing they appear to pay any attention to. Boycott the HAN! Refuse Smart Meters! -SSM!
From Cindy Sage:
Dear Friends,
This is a personal story. We just purchased a new Bosch washer and dryer – for delivery next week. Sam Milham happened to call this morning and said the following:
“I’ve just tested a home with an oven and dishwasher that had continuously radiating RF from internal power transmitters”. He could verify the RF signal was continuous, and only stopped when he threw the circuit breakers for those appliances (turned off the electricity to them). He could say with certainty the RF signal came from the appliances, because the signal was strongest at the appliance and attenuated with distance.
We have been told that these power transmitters will – in the future – be placed on appliances to monitor and report their energy usage to a wireless smart meter. Further, they should only be giving off RF pulses (the signal) very infrequently. According to Richard Tell, an electrical engineer formerly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — in a 2008 report on Smart Grids for Hydro One Networks, Inc./Toronto — antennas on appliances may transmit at a density of .18watts, each at ballpark 4.5 seconds per hour. Well, these appliance power transmitters are, in at least some cases, transmitting CONTINUOUSLY. This puts them into a category more like wireless routers and WI-FI. No one is going to tolerate 12-15 such power transmitters inside their homes that radiate full time. These are appliances you come into close contact with while you cook and move around your kitchen. Multiple, continuously transmitting RF sources are absolutely unacceptable to people with EHS and some ADA people with medical implants.
Bosch customer service confirmed that both the washer and dryer we have on order contain power transmitters. They cannot be ‘deactivated’. We cancelled our order this morning.
- “Hey utility, you wouldn’t BELIEVE what my owner ate last night!”
The news that appliances can only be purchased with a wireless activiated signal is truly terrifying. For those who are sensitive, does that mean that we must go back to hand washing everything, storing our food in cold rooms, drying our clothes in front of the fire. Those who cannot tolerate these signals are being consistently marginalized in this new, dangerous world. The truth is that those who promote these devices, will themselves become ill.
For people worried about certain large appliances fitted with ZigBee transmitters, I say don’t buy them, or insist that the seller disable the transmitter or you will not purchase it.
And don’t worry, these transmitters only transmit electrical consumption data to the customer purchased Home Area Network display monitor, they do NOT transmit to the smart meter or on the meters “smart grid” radio network to the utility, or to the power grid itself. And, most importantly they are not interactive with the customers HAN system or the meters smart grid, in other words, they are one way only and are not capable of controlling the large appliance, they strictly for in home monitoring. If a customer wishes to remotely control the appliance off or on, or for lighting dimming functions, they need to buy one of the many home automation systems that have been available for decades.
I was at Best Buy last week looking at electric clothes dryers. On a few of the high end models I noticed an advertised feature that said that the appliance had a “smart diagnostics” chip. So I asked the sales person what that was, and he explained that it is not a transmitter, but a tone generator that generates audible tones. If one has a problem with the unit, they can call the service center on any phone, hold the phone next to the appliance and a series of audible beeps will be decoded by a technician at the other end so they can tell the customer what the problem is, like close the door on the appliance etc., etc.
And more about the HAN’s and sales of the systems and appliances, sales figures are dismal. Obama gave $50 million of our tax money through ARRA stimulus funds to Whirlpool to install monitoring chips in 2009, and since then sales figures have fallen to very low levels. So low that Whirlpool laid off 5000 workers about 6 months ago due to sluggish sales.
And Microsoft and Google both dropped development of HAN systems. It seems that the consumers realize there is not much value in spending thousands of dollars on HAN systems and chipped appliances just to see how much energy the appliances use, especially since that information is stamped on each and every appliance rating plate.
There is a lot of hysteria and science fiction stories going around, but it is not a concern at all if one just simply says “no”, and does not purchase any of the few large appliances fitted with monitoring chips.
Keep in mind that appliance manufactures base everything on sales figures, and if customers don’t purchase their “chipped ” appliances, those appliances will very quickly be gone from the market.
The manufacturers and their sales hype have caused a lot of confusion on this matter, to their detriment no doubt.
If corporation conspire on selling only “chipped” appliances then you may face a dead end situation: your old appliance doesn’t work any more, and there is no alternative manufacture who could give you an option of having non-chipped one.
Most of folks would keep buying the stuff just as they keep buying genetically modified food, or the one heavily poisoned with pesticides. It is more about collective conscious awareness, or rather the lack of it. What need to be done is to introduce ethical principles in all areas of our life, and technology progress has least interest to be ethical. Someone has to start that shift.
Schools may have a potential of informing children on making ethical decisions, and making ethical choices as it is a very ungrateful, and least appreciated task to teach adults. Although public sector is still managed by government with its least interest on ethics. Private schools may be seen as a potential foundation.
Sorry Michael,
But you have been duped, there are no chipped appliances, no Home Area Networks monitoring systems on the market, and the HAN’s never had anything at all to do with the SmartMeter/SmartGrid revenue collection radio systems.
It’s all pipe dreamed marketing hype that some activists fell for and repeated in propaganda sites and far out videos made all over the world. It amazes me how people could be so stupid .
Yes there are chipped appliances! All new appliances send out pulsed radiation. Why would you tell such a lie?
So Paul H.
Since you called me a liar, can you back that up by naming any chipped appliances being sold ?
I thought so, it is you that are a troll and a liar.
I apologize for calling you a liar. Maybe misinformed and out of touch with your google browser. I have personally measured RF emitting from new appliances.http://mashable.com/2012/01/12/use-your-smartphone-to-run-samsungs-wi-fi-enabled-washer-and-dryer-video/
Hi Paul,
Appology accepted.
When I refer to “chipped” appliances, I am referring to the appliances that were supposed to be for the Home Area Networks monitoring system that use ZigBee radio transmitters that were co-marketed with SmartMeter/SmartGrid projects.
There has been much misleading information about the HAN systems, partly because of the utilities marketing brochures. But if you read the wording very carefully, the utilities never claim that these new few large appliances communicate with the utility through the SmartMeters using them as a repeater, instead they claim that these few large appliances with the ZigBee transmitters transmit the energy use data to an in home monitor. This monitor is not being sold yet anywhere that I can find, since Google and Microsoft both abandoned the HAN development projects.
What has happened is that some activists and pseudo-scientists mis-interpreted the marketing brochures and made up all kinds of far out science fiction stories about how ALL appliances are monitored AND controlled by the new SmartMeters. And that the SmartMeters are capable of transmitting not only a meters total electrical use once every 4 hours, but that they also report individual appliance use in real time directly to the utility. I’m sure you have seen some of these videos about spy meters that report personal information, appliance use and medical conditions all over the SilverSprings radio SmartGrid.
There have been high end large appliances like SubZero refrigerators that have chips in them to transmit signals over ethernet (cat 5) cables for years, and now, there are smart thermostats that have wi-fi transmitters in them, also I think they are putting wi-fi transmitters in new large flat screen television sets.
So, it is partly my fault for not being clear about the ZigBee monitoring chips used for the pipe dreamed HAN monitoring systems, I mistakenly called them “chipped” appliances. So from now on, I will refer to appliances and HVAC equipment that use the ZigBee radio system as:
“appliances that have the ZigBee monitoring transmitters for Home Area Networks”, and I will not say chipped. I know that all electronic devices have chips in them, whether they have transmitters or not, and they can still give off RF and EMF.
The addition of wi-fi to some large appliances is to enable remote access to customers who have purchased these special appliances, control modules, computers, smart phones, interfaces, software and subscribe to data plans, internet connections for their computers and also subscribe to the cable company for this extra service of interfacing security systems and automation systems. Very expensive indeed.
I have never designed or installed automation systems for regular working folks, it’s all been in very large single family houses for extremely wealthy people. To think that a customer is going to run out and spend thousands of dollars on an automation system if they have an 800 sq. ft. apartment is a joke. Nothing will change, it will still be only the wealthy families who have huge estates who will be doing the buying.
Thanks for posting such important information! I thought new appliances would have power transmitters in the future, not now!
Home automation systems are nothing new at all, I have been designing and installing them for years.
Automation can be very helpful for building managers to control lighting, HVAC and security systems.
And for people that have second homes in Tahoe or Teluride, there are systems that connect to telephone interfaces or internet connections to control water pipe heaters, driveway heaters, refrigerators, HVAC systems, security cameras and detectors.
High end appliances have had ethernet cable ports and remote monitoring and control circuits for years, but not radio transmitters, they used cat 5 (ethernet) data cable to connect to the controller interface.
What I don’t understand is, why the need to connect a clothes washer and dryer to such a system ? Both those appliances have built in clocks, and require someone to be there to load the machines. What is to remotely monitor or control ? People will use their machines whenever necessary, or have hired help during the regular workday to do laundry for them. Nobody is going to settle for some outside authority telling them that they cannot do laundry at anytime they need or want to.
There was a lot of federal stimulus money (our tax money) doled out to major appliance manufacturers to install wireless remote controls into new appliances. This was a big giveaway of our tax dollars to multi national corporations to promote useless technology that most people will never need, many people don’t want at all, and won’t save one bit of energy. Actually all these new systems use energy and are very expensive to the consumer.
If I absolutely needed a new washer or dryer, I would bargain with the retailer. I would say, I am willing to buy a new appliance from you if you remove any radio transmitters. I don’t need the transmitters that added to the total cost of the machine, so remove the transmitters and reduce the total price of each machine by $200, and you’ve got yourself a sale.
Actually, I’d pay extra to have the transmitters removed, and I’ll bet that’s what the suppliers will do, charge people to have them removed. It’s kind of like in the food industry where you pay extra for more pure food products “without” the additives and chemicals. Anyhow, that’s what I predict.
As almost all manufacturing is done in China and knowing that the old USSR had experimented with RF radiation as a weapon there could be consequences to these RF appliance implants beyond just what the utilities want.
We know that it is RF radiation is harmful. We know that China makes their plans centuries in advance. It would be awfully tempting to use something that will destroy health over a long period of time. It would be a way to control the population without having to fire a shot.
The Chinese are great at code wars, but there are people here in the U.S that are also good coders.
For years, we enjoyed free unlimited satellite TV from Rupert Murdoch’s DirecTV, using carded receivers and emulators. Then we pirated the Dish Network with foreign made card less receivers. It was great, all the premium channels, pay per view channels, porn channels and network feeds from across the country at the touch of a button. It was for fun, like a cult. Now, with the creation of Nagravision 3 encryption, we have been down for 3 years.
Keep in mind, that was for recreation, but there are more serious hackers out there that do things to create havok, for monetary gains and for activism.
We all can be assured that those Home Area Networks coupled with the new meter scam WILL be easily hacked.
In most installations, they will use ZigBee radio frequency automation systems. All that these programmable logic controllers are is a switch that can be remotely controlled by the ZigBee or the HomePlug powerline carrier system.
Any novice electronics technician can simply jump the switch, and also cut the power to the transmitters in the new appliances.
If there is actually money to be made by disabling these systems, there are going to be many people capitalizing on the action, no doubt about it.
In these tough times, maybe even former meter readers will learn how to do this, I sure of it. It’s called survival.
I just started flipping off the switch to my fridge, at the circuit breaker and leaving it off for 4 hours or so, then one for awhile as I go out for a walk. I leave it off all night long and it seems to leave all my meat frozen, and milk and produce just as fresh.
My ears don’t buzz as much and I sleep better when I do. I live in an apartment and they installed a new fridge when I moved in.
With radiation coming at us in every wave shape and form in everything we do and everywhere we go it is clear that there is a population control agenda here and to think otherwise is naive.
we here in portland oregon, are already subjected to the stupid meters. my home is buzzing continuously indoors, probably with the RF from those, and all the cell, wifi, tv, and radio towers nearby. the whole neighborhood buzzes at all hours. true EMF pollution.
Our local utility is PGE (not PG&E- it sometimes confuses people). SEE MY LINK TO THEIR PAGE ON THIS.
here’s part of what pge (portland general electric) says about “smart” appliances + “smart” meters:
…Future demand response programs: The new system is also expected to support the future development of such programs as demand response — a pricing structure program that encourages customers to use energy at less expensive times of the day, when the peak demand is lower;
***and direct load control programs — a program in which customers would agree to permit the utility to turn off certain appliances for limited periods when demand is high. These types of programs will reduce the need for new generation resources to meet peak demand. ***
So they DO plan on remotely turning off our appliances for periods of time! I doubt they will give us any opt-outs- just MAYBE some choices on hours? maybe not! maybe no choices at all. This is absolutely diabolical and utterly unAmerican. WHO ARE THESE DAMN ROBOTS RUNNING THINGS IN THE INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT?
The only way out I can see, at least in Oregon, don’t know about other states: we had a voter initiative a few years back, to take over PGE and convert it into a public utility instead of privately owned. But that initiative was defeated. If the people get widespread education about this stuff, maybe the people can takeover the utilities. And put a stop to this insane garbage!
good gravy! y’all need a SHARE THIS button on your page so it can go viral.
the pge website also speaks of ‘experimenting” first before they went whole hog on the smart meters. Q. ON WHOSE HOMES DID THEY EXPERIMENT? i doubt there was any consent whatsoever for being part of an RF experiment!
http://investors.portlandgeneral.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=377447
Excellent article; thank you so much for the information.
Once again, the FCC isn’t doing their job! It’s time to abolish this Agency! It’s time to clean house, litterally! For people that are taking money or gifts from the CTIA, like Universities, individuals,” Be careful for what you wish.” Without Health, money is of NO use! This is ALL about Greed and Corruption at the expense of our health and our pocketbooks! People save money, not a stupid meter or appliance! The intrusion into our daily lives is,” Big Government,” and once this happens, there will be no stopping them! This is truely disturbing and everyone needs to get informed and rise up! Let’s get these things stopped ASAP!
We have a range hood that always tests for RF, powered or not. Has anyone found that metal objects in their home concentrate/collect RF, whether or not they are electronic or WiFi enabled? Is there a solution to this?
Your range hood may not be properly grounded. If true, your range hood could be acting like an antenna to pick up and re-radiate signals in the range for which it is resonant (based on its physical dimensions). The solution is to ground your range hood. Any experienced electrician can make sure that your range hood has a good ground, and the cost would be only for his time and no extra parts.
The other possibility is that your house/apartment has a ground loop, which means that everything in your house/apartment is properly grounded, but that the ground energy has no true path to earth ground, so the signals just travel around and around between everything which is grounded, including your 60Hz AC house power appliances as well as any products which you plug in “wall warts”, the little AC-to-DC power converters.
If you have a ground loop and you’re in a house you own, the solution is easy; any electrician can find floating grounds and connect them properly to earth ground, with only a service charge and no extra parts. If you’re in an apartment or multistory communal dwelling, however, it’s trickier to eliminate floating grounds and ground loops, but it can be done. That would require a specialist, and probably some filters selected for your specific problem. (which could cost a bit).
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Hi, I´m from Spain, and my mother is electrosensitive… Nobody knows what nightmare is… All of us are sensitive, but… only some of us know when there is radiation next to us feeling pain…. That is the difference between electrosensitive and the rest of the population, but the damage is around all of us, not only for electrosensitive…
You can see our drama…, although you don´t understand spanish
http://vimeo.com/29567608
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulL8SyXI47Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbHiehMPJzg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9v7DC9CC9Y
These two women are living in a cave in France with the same symptoms as my mother
http://www.metropolistv.nl/en/themes/against-the-system/the-french-way-of-life-in-a-cave
No need to live in a cage. RF shielding technology is old and well-established. Clothing is commercially available which is made from silver cloth (very fine silver threads woven into a cloth). Such fabric will shield the wearer from RF energy. Also, the RF-sensitive person’s house could shielded using existing Faraday cage technology. Wallpaper, window films and curtain materials all exist which would allow you to decorate a home to look normal yet be shielded from electrosmog. An internet search for RF shielding materials and Faraday cage materials will likely turn up useful leads.
This explains how a particular brand of new dishwasher will be connected to the internet. It still is wifi and still emits non-ionizing radiation so why would anyone want it? It says that it works with the smart grid.
http://insideadvantage.com/assets/product/ZINSTRUCTIONSHEET/WDL785SAAM_Instruction%20Sheet_EN.pdf
Keep it up to writing!!! Nice writing you that you have to introduces the home appliances stealth emf into homes.
I need to find a hard wired furnace without a wireless chip that sends signals to the electric smart meter