Sparking/arcing components and connections are a potent source of RF exposure "The overall result is that the spark generates wide band radio frequency energy that can be coupled in the spark gap transmitter to an antenna and radiated."(How Does a Spark Gap Transmitter Work?) Because a spark/arc results in an instantaneous flow of current and drop in voltage, it also raises the magnetic and the electric field. The electric field has proven to be much more localized to the source and, thus, much more useful for locating the problem so it can be fixed.

If you have or can easily get an infrared thermometer that measures down to room temp, you can check for loose connections or bad breakers using it.  You will want to write down readings for all connections so you can easily see standouts. Temperatures that are higher than the rest, even by a few degrees can indicate a sub-par connection or an overloaded circuit.  If you know the circuit is overloaded, you will want to do the necessary re-wiring et cetera to prevent an electrical fire. If the high temperatures occur where the wires connect to the breakers, then having an electrician clean the wires and the breaker connection point and then apply an anticorrosion aid like silicon grease and tighten the connection well, should take care of it.  If the point of high temperature is the breaker itself, then it will need to be replaced.

  Another method requires the use of a good electric field meter.  We have used the Cornet 88 electric field setting.  With paper in hand to make notes of readings, turn off all the circuit breakers in your circuit panel box where the power enters the house.  Measure the electric field by the wire as it enters the box and write it down.  Then turn the main circuit breaker on and note down the reading, not the momentary increase that occurs due to the switching event, but the sustained reading.  If that sustained reading is much higher than the initial reading, it is likely that the breaker is bad or the connections to it are loose.  This will need to be addressed and it may need to be addressed before proceeding.  However, it is desirable to have all the work lined up all at once when paying an electrician, so you can proceed further and see if you can find more bad connections.

In order to measure electric fields accurately, the electric field meter needs to be completely still, held correctly, and not touching anything. As you use an electric field meter, you will note that the electric field readings can elevate with motion and contact. These are likely to be artifacts. However, with a little care electric field meters can still be used as described to localize many sources of sparking so repairs can be made. This protocol uses the the electric field meter as a relative indicator, not to measure and document fields accurately. 

The next step is to repeat this process with each breaker. With the main breaker on, but all other circuit breakers turned off, turn on each breaker in turn and look for circuits that increase the electric field reading.  (Turn each one off again before moving on.) Each circuit that raises the E-Field readings will need to be evaluated individually in detail to figure out what is causing those high readings.  Turn only the main and the circuit to be evaluated on, then trace the wiring with the E-Field meter.  The places where the E-Field remains elevated even while proper metering technique is employed are where the problem is.  Possible causes include bad wiring practices, nails through the neutral (a fire hazard), back wiring, bad switches, outlets, or devices, and bad connections.  If the problem appears to be a device, unplug it and see if the problem goes away completely, if it does - great! If not, the outlet may need to be replaced or the wiring connection may need to be improved.  You should be able to locate and note problem spots using this technique and then get an electrician to fix them.  Fixing them leads to immediate improvement. If the E-field remains elevated after “fixing” a problem, you have not fixed THE problem and need to keep working to figure out what it is.

After the electrician fixes all the loose/bad connections, wiring problems, and bad electrical components you know about, you should go back and check everything over again since the electric fields the repaired problems generated could have masked further problems that are smaller in magnitude.

You can find a more extensive discussion of steps you can take to minimize your RF exposure on the Solutions page.