Earthing mat is making me ill !

[sunnyod]

Thanks for all the entertaining and educational responses in here. I've been out and didn't expect to have ruffled so many feathers! Appreciate your responses and your taking the time to watch the vid. Sorry I couldn't sway anyone and it was a waste of your time!

I've since built a a contraption with a meat skewer, some phone cable, rubber bands and scotch tape. I've slipped the fandangled cabling through the bedroom window in the hope my missus doesn't see it and get deeply offended at the disharmony it's creating.

I wish you all a good night, please pray for me (i've got a video on that too I can share). You're probably expecting me to be dead tomorrow, so any atheists - please turn to God for me temporarily!!!

I'll be back soon with some more whacky ideas to keep you entertained

 

[Mike Johnson]

I thought April fools day was still some way off?

 

[brianmoooore]

Well, I've just forced myself to listen to and watch that link all the way through. A total and utter waste of 15 of the 36 million odd minutes I've been alive!
False associations, pseudo science, unsubstantiated claims by the bucket load, dubious scientific method, etc, etc. interspersed with utter drivel.

 

[sunnyod]

Lots of fact checking. What ‘facts‘ were wrong? I’m genuinely interested

 

[sunnyod]

Lots of fact checking. What ‘facts‘ were wrong? I’m genuinely interested

I mean from the video specifically?

 

[DPG]

Managed to watch about half the video, but couldn't get through it all.

It reminds me of a company called PWB, who sell snake-oil type products that claim to improve the sound of your hifi. Have a Google and see what you think. One of their best ones is a small metallic sticker which you place on the door frame, or on a favourite photo. I kid you not. They've been going for years, and I would say they are prime candidates to team up with this guy who thinks taking trainers off can cure MS.

 

[James]

Thanks for all the entertaining and educational responses in here. I've been out and didn't expect to have ruffled so many feathers! Appreciate your responses and your taking the time to watch the vid. Sorry I couldn't sway anyone and it was a waste of your time!

I've since built a a contraption with a meat skewer, some phone cable, rubber bands and scotch tape. I've slipped the fandangled cabling through the bedroom window in the hope my missus doesn't see it and get deeply offended at the disharmony it's creating.

I wish you all a good night, please pray for me (i've got a video on that too I can share). You're probably expecting me to be dead tomorrow, so any atheists - please turn to God for me temporarily!!!

I'll be back soon with some more whacky ideas to keep you entertained

How did you sleep?

 

[sunnyod]

How did you sleep?

Terribly! However, I was serious about the cabling I used and how it was put together. I did it very late at night, after i had finished my order for the actual parts I'm using.

I tested my cabling in the morning for continuity and there was none lol, so I binned it. Will have a proper setup tonight though and will update again tomorrow... Thanks for asking James

 

[sunnyod]

Any feedback on what things were not correct in the video, anyone?

 

[DPG]

Terribly! However, I was serious about the cabling I used and how it was put together. I did it very late at night, after i had finished my order for the actual parts I'm using.

I tested my cabling in the morning for continuity and there was none lol, so I binned it. Will have a proper setup tonight though and will update again tomorrow... Thanks for asking James

The cable had no continuity? That sounds unlikely, unless it has had some serious abuse.

 

[sunnyod]

The cable had no continuity? That sounds unlikely, unless it has had some serious abuse.

The telephone wire was "bonded" to the mat's original wire using scotch tape - i didn't test it before use. I'll have proper banana plugs setup for the next test

 

[static zap]

Is any paper work included ,
describing the mats Integral safety features ?
or a schematic diagram of its use.
(ie safely bleeding extraneous potentials ..thru a 500k / 1Meg ohm resistor ... )
..or even a nice CE sticker !

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Any feedback on what things were not correct in the video, anyone?

It's slow and difficult to critique a video like that properly, based as it is on personal narrative, because it is deliberately made so that things are not presented as outright lies, just misleading and loaded. It would take me many hours to drill down and locate specific issues with it and I spent too much time on this already - I have electrical things to do!

As an example, look at the first 30 seconds. The guy says he grew up among native American people, and that one of them told him to take his shoes off because they would make him sick, and that at the time he didn't know why that would be. These are presented as though they are significant facts, and there is no reason to doubt them as facts. However, he does not say that the shoes made him sick, or that the person who told him had reliable evidence that they would make him sick, or that if they did make him sick, it was due to an electrical phenomenon.

This narrative is there to plant a seed of an idea, to get your curiosity aroused, so that when the link between sickness and grounding and shoes is later broached, you recall those 'wise words' and make a connection by yourself regardless of whether there is one or not. You infer that the native American knew through folklore that insulative shoes make you sick and now you seem to have a scientific reason for it, and you have used your powers of analysis to corroborate two independent sources to improve the reliability of your data. But actually, it's only one source, the guy who wants to promote his views on grounding.

"In simple terms, grounding is literally putting your bare feet on the ground."
Simple, but in an electrical context, not correct.

"Mother Earth is endowed with electrons." True, but misleading, as all neutral matter is endowed with electrons, including synthetic rubber shoes, the air, your body.

"These electrons are literally absorbed through your feet." Borderline false. Some exchange of electrons might occur but there is no net flow of electrons without electric current, and he does not state that they are absorbed through your feet only if you connect yourself to a source of a potential difference to drive the electron drift against the resistance.

"It's like taking handfuls of antioxidants." False. Antioxidants can participate in chemical reactions in which electrons are exchanged, but the mere presence of electrons does not cause the same chemical reactions.

I have to get on with some work now...

 

[nicebutdim]

I like that the OP is engaging earnestly and appears to be interested in establishing facts, rather than simply accepting marketing claims.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I like that the OP is engaging earnestly and appears to be interested in establishing facts, rather than simply accepting marketing claims.

Except that he has bought an earth mat, so somewhere along the line he accepted it was a good idea.

 

[static zap]

so somewhere along the line he accepted it was a good idea.

I had not realised ,that once we start losing sleep .
It's both irreplaceable ... and important to sound decision making.
.............................................======================...........
.. So worth forgiving the odd Sleepless & Stressed out mistake..
( I have a COVID gamer who occasionally robs me of some sleep )

 

[newfutile]

You are already at around earth potential due to capacitance between your body and the earth , i would expect this to increase when you lay down.

most of us are experienced electricians on this site and if a 50 HZ electro magnetic field can cause illness , would we not all be ill ?

sometimes i fall asleep with my under electric blanket on with no problems (other than getting a bit hot)

perhaps in the 19th people will be extraneous-conductive-parts.

on a serious note anything that connects you to the electrical system is a bad idea .
if a PME fault developed it would become live to some degree .

 

[Lucien Nunes]

if a PME fault developed it would become live to some degree .

Although, in the equipotential zone in a building, everything else should too, so it's not dangerous. The trouble begins when one drags an extraneous earth in from the garden.

 

[newfutile]

You still get a shock in the same way you would if you touched a live conductor , though it wont be a direct shock as capacitance will be the return path.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Have you either done the maths or tried this as a practical experiment?
I have done both, Xc is about 6MΩ worst case. It's not exactly what I would call a shock.