Paper Shredders

I've shredded a few documents at work this week and began to feel bad afterwards. Anyone else notice if using a shredder has this same affect? Just wondering if the motor could have caused interference with my PM.

5 Comments

No

by PacerRep - 2013-08-23 08:08:27

A paper shredder won't intefere with your pacemaker

Paper shredders

by donr - 2013-08-23 08:08:34

Pacer Rep posted his comment while I was writing mine. I write as an electrical engineer - he wrote as a pacer expert. As an engineer, I am not as absolute in my response as he is. There can be circumstances where it could happen, but very, very unlikely. You asked what time it is - I told you how to build a watch. Hazards of my training!

My answer:
Depends! How large was the shredder? How many pages at a time did you run through? Silly as that sounds, those answers can affect how the shredder reacts. How long did the effect last? Just till you moved away with the job finished or longer ?

First, a LARGE shredder has a large motor; a larger motor has larger magnetic fields. Run a lot of pages through at a time & the motor starts "Lugging Down," meaning its speed drops with the big load placed on it. Load the motor up & it requires greater electric current to keep turning. Greater current draw means greater magnetic fields generated, creating the POSSIBILITY that it could affect your PM. Also - where is the motor located? Close to your PM? That makes a big difference.

Final question: Did you EXPECT it to affect your PM? If you EXPECTED it to affect you, there's a great chance that it will - & it's all in your mind. Harsh reality - but I have noticed that effect on my PM before, as well as other aspects of physical effects - like breathing.

Happens all the time in crowds - called HYSTERIA. Ever read of a crowd of teenagers at a HS football game that suddenly produces a lot of barfing kids due to what is initially believed to be food poisoning due to bad hotdogs? Turns out that the first case was due to a single kid having an attack of flu (or some other totally unrelated illness). Sub-conscious minds take over & spread sickness throughout the crowd - all of it being psychosomatic as opposed to medical.

There is a small chance that it is affecting your PM, but very small. Motors are designed to confine their magnetic fields for efficiency & power output. Been that way for many yrs before PM's were ever even thought of.

To answer the question for you, perform this experiment: Get someone else to run the shredder while you stand several feet away - like about 5 or 6. (To give you a base line for affect on a PM, I had a water heater affect my PM & I had to have my PM a mere 3 INCHES from the cable carrying 30 Amps at 240 volts. That's a LOT of magnetic field & notice how close to it had to be to my PM. Therefore, 5-6 feet will be guaranteed to be safe for you.) Slowly move closer to the shredder to see if it affects you. It really should NOT. Unless, of course you really expect it to affect you. In the last case, I guarantee that it will bother you & the effect will last for a while after you move away or the job is finished.

Don

Smitty: You sell your...

by donr - 2013-08-23 09:08:18

...experience way short! Our experiences parallel & support one another.

Thanks for the supporting experience. I'd say that 2 " from a 4.5 KW generator is equivalent to 3" from a waterheater cable.

Don

Feeling Bad After Shredder Use

by SMITTY - 2013-08-23 12:08:56


Hi Joanna,

I doubt that the paper shredder interfered with your PM if you had left the area when you started to feel bad. PM interference has happened to me only twice in the 13 years I have had one. The symptoms were the same each time and very short lived. Both occurred while I was in close proximity to the interference source.

I take it you started to feel OK after being away from the shredder a while. If that is the case, then I'll venture a guess that your PM was not the cause of your feeling bad. If it had been the paper shredder and the symptoms lingered, then to me that would mean something in the shredder has tampered with your PM settings and it will take settings change, like we can get during a PM checkup, to get the settings back where they should be.

Now to finish what I started about the way I felt when I got to close to a security gate (like they use in Wal-Mart's) and it felt like a very irregular heart beat. Not painful but down right uncomfortable I recognized (at least I thought I knew) what was going on and move about 5 feet away. PM and heart beat returned to normal and there were no lingering affects.

That was the first time I thought my PM was thrown out of kilter by something, and the second time I got my PM within about 2 in. (way to close even if I did not have a PM) to a 4.5 KW generator. Same thing happened only I moved a lot faster this time.

Just for the record, I am not trying to contradict one word of what DONR has said. He has given you a comment based on knowledge. Mine is based on a little experience and probably even less logic.

Good luck,

Smitty

LoL DonR

by PacerRep - 2013-08-26 01:08:23

What a great post! well done

......It's still not the shredder =)

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