A Graham-Stetzer Microsurge Meter is a simple meter used to test for “electromagnetic pollution” or “dirty electricity” in your home. Dirty electricity is a form of EMF Radiation. It is electromagnetic radiation from the electrical wiring in a building that radiates through the walls into the living or working space.
To use a Graham-Stetzer Microsurge Meter you simply plug it into a normal AC electric outlet as shown in the above picture. When you do the meter will tell you how much Dirty Electricity is on that circuit. If the circuit reads above the safe range you can then insert a filter (also shown in the above picture), called a Graham-Stetzer Filter to see if that will bring the circuit down into the safe range or not.
To test an entire building you plug the Graham-Stetzer Microsurge Meter into each circuit in the building. The circuits that have a problem that a filter will correct, you correct with a filter. Any that a filter will not correct you either have an electrical device plugged or wired into that circuit that is causing the problem, or you need to hire an electrician to repair an electrical problem affecting that circuit.
What is Dirty Electricity?
Dirty Electricity is the erratic surges and spikes of higher frequency electrical energy moving along power lines and wiring in a circuit where only standard 50 Hz to 60 Hz AC electricity should be. As it increases in frequency it becomes airborne and radiates into the rooms of buildings, through the walls . It is caused most often by devices that try to alter the normal flow of AC electricity in some way. These spikes are of a high enough frequency that they are dangerous to living organisms.
In the below video I actually do a test of one of the circuits in my house using the Graham-Stetzer Microsurge Meter. Then I demonstrate how to install a simple Graham-Stetzer Microsurge Filter which will bring the circuit dirty electricity back down into safe ranges in most situations. The video is short, but informative. Seeing an actual demonstration is the best way to have a review in my opinion.
I go into a lot more detail in the rest of this article. However I highly recommend getting one of these meters and testing each circuit in your home. Knowledge is power. Then you will know exactly what each of your circuits read, and how many filters you will need to bring each of them down into safe levels. If you go to the Recommended Protections page of this website I have a link to the best place to get both the meter and the filters.
Graham-Stetzer Microsurge Meter & Dirty Electricity
To really understand how the Graham-Stetzer Microsurge Meter and Filters work, you need to understand dirty electricity. Dirty electricity can be generated by our appliances and our modern-day devices or it can be introduced through our wiring. According to Dr. Mercola , an expert in the world of radiation, “Dirty electricity refers to the electrical component of the EMF spectrum. Ma more precise term is electromagnetic interference or EMI. “Dirty” is more of a layman’s descriptive term.”
The cleanest form of electricity is at 60 Hz. But, many of today’s modern appliances need more power to operate, so at some point the power is corrupted. This means the current is constantly converting between AC and DC. These short bursts of power are happening thousands of times a second as I understand it. All that back and forth of alternating power, emits dirty electricity, which is a form of harmful radiation. Got all that? So the radiation from dirty electricity is referred to as EMI, as I mentioned above.
Turns out EMI is the root cause of a lot of health problems. According to Dr. Sam Milham, an expert in the field of dirty electricity, EMI is biologically active. In fact, Dr. Milham recently wrote a book about why he believes dirty electricity is a major public health crisis of our time. According to Dr. Milham, dirty electricity can cause cancer, headaches, nausea, tumors, dizziness, sleep problems.
He recently linked a dramatic rise in cancer among teachers and students at a California elementary school to dirty electricity produced light bulbs and nearby cell towers. EMI has the ability to change our cell structure, making us more vulnerable to disease and a suppressed immune system. In some studies, dirty electricity is responsible for a rise in autism and other learning disabilities in kids. The number of kids diagnosed with autism over the past few decades has increased 60-fold.
Some researchers believe the more exposure to dirty electricity in infancy and the early childhood years have a direct impact on the cellular structure of a growing brain. WIFI is a major source of dirty electricity and it’s in almost every school in America. Some kids with electromagnetic sensitives complain of headaches, blurred vision and trouble concentrating.
So how much dirty electricity is too much? Good question. When using the Graham-Stetzer Microsurge Meter, it measures electricity in GS (graham-stetzer units). The consensus among experts is that anything below a 50 GS is considered safe. However, anything above 2,000 GS (which maxes out the meter) is considered extremely dangerous and unhealthy for you and your family. I’ll explain later how to reduce your levels to get safe reading with your Microsurge Meter.
Dr. Martin Graham and Dave Stetzer.
Here’s a little background: this meter was developed by a Dr. Martin Graham and Dave Stetzer. They developed the microsurge meter as a way to determine how much dirty electricity is in your home. According to Dave Stetzer, the meter is “designed to separate the power line frequency to detect and respond to low level high frequency voltages caused by transients a harmonic on power lines. Electro sensitive people have reports sensitivities with reading as low as 27 on the Microsurge meter.
However, medium or even low Microsurge Meter readings should not be interpreted as a guarantee that there is no harmful health impact; only a medical expert can determine that. Some harmful health effects of high frequency energy on humans appear to be cumulative and possibly non-reversible.” As I mentioned earlier, the Microsurge Meter measures in GS units. One GS unit is 24 volts per second. The higher the reading or GS unit, the dirtier electricity is present in that particular outlet.
I was a little nervous about using this product, to be honest. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to know how much dirty electricity is in my home. But, you can make a change until you know what the problem is. So, with that motto I ordered the meter and filters for a couple hundred dollars. You can purchase the meter alone for about $99, but you’re also going to need the filter to reduce your exposure.
So, it’s probably cheaper, depending on your budget to buy a bundle of filters and a meter. Once my meter arrived, I started in the living room. The meter is easy to use, intuitive and the screen is simple to understand and read. You don’t need to be an engineer or electrician to understand the levels. In the living room, I simply plugged the meter in to the wall outlet and watched in great anticipation as the numbers began to rise. Phew.
The meter stopped at 60. Not too bad, although experts recommend keeping dirty electricity levels below 50. So, I knew I would need filters, even though the reading was relatively low. Room after room the Microsurge Meter stayed about the same: 60-62. The Microsurge Meter is a great investment in the health of your family. Without this specific information, there would be no way to know the full extent of the problem. The large digital screen makes reading and identifying the level of dirty electricity a breeze.
Graham-Stetzer Filters
So once you know how much dirty electricity is in your home, you can mitigate your exposure with Graham-Stetzer Filters. A single filter is about the size of a deck of cards. No wiring is required. All you have to do is plug the filter into an outlet in a room and it suppresses the dirty electricity, in turn reducing the amount of harmful radiation in your home. It’s that simple, I promise. But, like you, I wanted to learn more about this technology.
Where does all the electricity go? Great question. Here’s what I found: “The Graham-Stetzer Filter is based upon 100-year-old science an power engineering principals . . . The filters are designed to filter harmonics and other high frequency (trash) from the electrical environment, thereby reducing the potential for leakage into the human environment and creating additional trash in non-linear loads, like your television and computer,” stetzerizer-us.com.
Did you catch all that? The filters are basically a high-tech defense system right in your outlets, keeping the bad electricity out and allowing clean electricity through. Pretty amazing stuff.
With a reading of 60-62 in every room, I started plugging in filters, about seven in all throughout my home and tested again with the Microsurge Meter. The filter reduced my dirty electricity levels to about a 20, reducing the levels by about 2/3. That’s amazing.
I can’t tell you for sure the filters have improved my health, but I know I feel better. My wife and I moved recently from a home equipped with a bank of smart meters outside. During that time, we didn’t experience a single dream, not one that we can remember anyway. Turns out dirty electricity can really affect your sleep cycles.
I’m convinced the smart meters were preventing us from reaching that deep level of sleep where dreams come to life. When we moved into our new home, we took at a lot of steps all at once to reduce our RF radiation exposure: we installed Graham-Stetzer Filters, covered our WIFI router with a Wifi Router Guard and digital meter with a Smart Meter Guard.
We turn off appliances and office equipment when we aren’t using them. We no longer hold our cell phones up directly to our heads. The point is, we’ve made a lot of changes and I can’t say for sure which mitigation effort has had the biggest impact on our health. I know collectively all these small changes are making a big impact. With that said, the filters play a big role in keeping us safe from dirty electricity.
Out of curiosity, I also tested my daughter’s house with the Microsurge Meter. During the test, the meter revealed levels of about 250 GS units and one room was off the charts, with a reading of 1,500. They have a lot of high tech devices including WIFI in a lot of rooms. It will be interesting to see how many filters she will need to reduce the dirty electricity in her home.
How many filters you will need to get to safe levels, will vary depending on how much dirty electricity is coming through your wires and the size of your home. According to the manufacturer, filters should be installed in a pattern throughout your home. Let’s take your living room for example. TVs are notorious for producing and emitting dirty electricity.
The developers recommend installing two filters near sources like a television or computer. Even though the filters cost about $30/ a piece you want to make sure you have enough to be effective. Apparently, if you don’t have enough filters it can be just as bad as not having any at all.
“Installing an inadequate number of filters tends to result in overloaded filters, leading to an ineffective solution. The preferred installation method is to be guided by the Graham-Stetzer Microsurge Meter, which measures the amount of high frequency energy present. Readings of 30 or lower indicate an acceptable environment, while readings of 50 or higher indicate a need for additional filters. Not everyone is able to achieve readings under 30. The best practice is to use the “20% rule.”
When adding a second filter to same circuit, you should see a 20% reduction in the reading on the meter. For example, if your initial reading with no filters is 750 G/S units, and then after 1 filter is installed it is reduced to 50. You should try installing a second filter to the same location (electrical circuit) and the reading should drop to 40 or below. If the reading only drops to 47 for example, it would be more effective, and cost-effective, to possibly use that filter somewhere else where it can reduce the reading by 20%,” Stetzerizer-us.com.
Final Thoughts
If you live in a large home, I know installing filters will be a big investment. I understand. You have smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, water filters, air purifiers. Graham-Stetzer Microsurge Meter and Graham-Stetzer Filters are JUST one more thing to add to your list. It’s worth it. I sleep better at night knowing my home is safe from high levels of dirty electricity. Some experts believe our nation and world will not fully understand and see the implications of this pollution until it’s too late.
I don’t want to wait that long. There are tools and resources available to you right now to mitigate your exposure to dirty electricity. Think of a Microsurge Meter and filter as an investment in your future. I’d love to hear about your experience with the meter and filters. Have you noticed a change in how you feel? Are your kids sleeping better? Keep me posted!
For more information about the dangers of dirty electricity please see our article entitled Dirty Electricity Health Effects. For information about how fluorescent bulbs cause dirty electricity please see our article entitled Are Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs Dangerous?
