Dirty Electricity Filters and Meters – Guide & Best Products
*The information on EMF Academy is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please review our full Medical Disclaimer for more details. This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.
Dirty Electricity is a problem that not nearly enough people are aware of.
In fact, in many homes, dirty electricity is one of the highest sources of EMF radiation.
Fortunately, there are dirty electricity filters that can completely, and measurably, reduce or remove this source of radiation.
First, let's talk about what dirty electricity is, and how it produces EMF radiation, then we'll look at how to measure and filter this dirty electricity.
What Exactly Is Dirty Electricity?
Dirty electricity, also known as dirty power or electrical pollution, refers to erratic spikes or surges of electrical energy traveling through a building's wiring.
These surges create high-frequency voltage transients (basically unusable electrical noise) beyond the standard 50/60 Hertz AC power that electrical systems are designed to handle.
This “noise” spreads through the wiring, emitting electromagnetic fields (EMFs) into your living space and contributing to overall EMF pollution.
The wiring in your home and most buildings are designed to use 60 hertz AC electricity (or 50 hertz in Europe). This worked well when originally designed since nearly all electronics were designed to consistently draw this exact type and amount of power.
The issue began when modern electronics began demanding, more, or less, or varying amounts of power.
This is sometimes referred to as high-frequency voltage transients, and the inconsistent use of power causes erratic surges of power that are unusable.
This unusable dirty electricity sits in your wiring, spreading around and radiating EMF radiation.
How is Dirty Electricity Created?
As home electronics have advanced, the 60-hertz wiring just doesn't meet all the needs of these devices and allows them to do what they were designed for.
So, product creators have to manipulate the way these devices draw power, most commonly in one of these ways:
- Converting the 60 Hertz AC (alternating current) into a low-voltage DC (direct current) or
- Higher voltage AC
- Drawing power intermittently in short bursts by turning the electrical current on and off, sometimes thousands of times per second.
Each of these corrupts the normal flow of standard 50/60 Hz AC.
This corruption creates spikes and surges of power as these devices draw electricity, and it's these spikes and surges that most people refer to as “dirty electricity” or “dirty power.”
Most of the electronic equipment you use such as your laptop charger, compact fluorescent light bulbs, laptops, dimmer switches, and much more, need more, or less electricity than the 120 volts that normally would come out of your electrical outlet.
This is accomplished typically in a couple of ways.
- The device has a transformer that changes the voltage (this is that black box or small round black tube you'll see in the middle of charging cables)
- The device has some sort of rectifier to change the AC (alternating current) to DC (direct current).
The issue with this is that when the normal flow of electricity is interrupted, the smooth sine waves normally in the lines are corrupted and it produces harmonics (physics, not music), which is the dirty power or electricity you think of.
This dirty electricity flows throughout your home because there are no electronics that can use it, and radiates EMF radiation.
How To Measure Dirty Electricity
There are quite a few ways to measure the dirty electricity in your home, and this is a crucial step to knowing how much work you will need to do to filter the dirty electricity out and to know how effective of a job the filters are doing.
1. Use a Dirty Electricity Meter
This is the simplest and most accurate way to measure dirty electricity in a home but is not the least expensive option.
There are a few good options for reading dirty electricity: the Saticshield Dirty Electricity Meter, the Graham-Stetzer meter, and the Greenwave broadband EMI meter.
1. Satic EMI Line Monitor Dirty Electricity Meter
Check the current price on Amazon.
The SATIC EMI Line Monitor is another great tool for detecting dirty electricity and is a newer addition to my list.
This meter measures electromagnetic interference (EMI) (another name for dirty electricity) directly on your home’s AC power lines.
It features a simple digital display that provides real-time readings, making it easy to identify problem areas in your electrical system.
One of the things I like about this meter is that it doesn’t just help you measure EMI levels, it also assists in improving energy efficiency by identifying sources of interference.
By locating the areas with the highest electrical noise, you can take steps to reduce wasted power and even protect sensitive electronics from potential damage caused by dirty electricity.
When using this meter, aim for readings under 300 mV if possible. Anything significantly higher than that could indicate a need for dirty electricity filters, which I’ll cover in more detail below.
2. Graham Stetzer Meter
Check the current price on Amazon.
This meter uses its proprietary measurement of dirty electricity called Graham-Stetzer (GS) units.
The documentation for the meter says that ideally, you'd like to see readings somewhere under 50, which in most homes is almost impossible to obtain without the use of dirty electricity filters.
With filters, your goal should be to get your readings below 30 GS.
You can pick up a Graham-Stetzer Meter on Amazon.
3. Greenwave Broadband EMI Meter
Check the current price on Amazon.
My favorite thing about this meter is that it displays measurements in a universally accepted way.
It takes in a very wide range of frequencies but filters out the normal 50/60 hertz which is not considered dirty electricity. It then displays this amount in milliVolts (mV).
With this meter, you should hope for measurements of around 300 mV or less, or if you're highly sensitive to EMF radiation you will want this as low as possible.
This meter is extremely simple to use and will really help you know how good of a job your dirty electricity filtering efforts are doing.
2. Get an AM Radio
This is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to measure dirty electricity in the home. First, pick up a simple handheld radio with a built-in speaker, like this one from Amazon.
Then, turn the AM dial all the way to the left, and it should land at 530 kHz.
Turn the volume on the speaker up and go somewhere outside like your back lawn. You should hear almost no, or very little static.
Then go back inside your house and hold the speaker near the walls, you should hear a considerable difference.
The louder and more sporadic the static, the more likely there are to be dirty electricity issues in your home.
Ok, now that we've talked about what dirty electricity is, how it's created, and how we can measure it, let's talk about the best ways to filter it out of your home.
How To Filter Dirty Electricity
Once you've detected how much dirty electricity is in your home with one of the devices or methods above, the next step we want to take is filtering out that dirty electricity.
Dirty electricity filters, like the ones I'll talk about next, are designed to reduce the high-frequency voltage transients, smoothing out the electrical noise in your wiring. They accomplish this by absorbing and/or neutralizing the spikes in power in your wiring, allowing the electricity to flow more smoothly.
Most dirty electricity filters don't require any professional installation whatsoever, you just plug them into an outlet.
They commonly only cover a single circuit, so depending on your home layout, and how many electronics you have, you may need a few meters to reduce the dirty electricity in your entire home.
Below I'll walk you through some of the best dirty electricity filters on the market and how they can help you reduce your exposure.
SATIC Pure Power Plug-In Dirty Electricity Filter
Check the current price on Amazon.
The Satic dirty electricity meter and filters are new to this article in 2025 but absolutely belong.
The Pure Power Plug-in is a great option for reducing the dirty electricity in your home.
When plugged in, like others on this list, the Satic plug goes to work immediately at cleaning up harmful electromagnetic Interference (EMI, otherwise known as dirty electricity).
It accomplishes this, much like the other products I talk about in this article, by smoothing out the electrical noise to deliver more stable, cleaner, power to your devices and outlets.
How does it work? Simple, you just plug it into any 120V outlet and it starts working immediately at reducing the dirty electricity on that circuit.
If you have one of the dirty electricity meters that I talked about above, you should be able to see the readings go down almost immediately.
In addition to filtering out your dirty electricity, the Satic plug also can help to protect your electronics from damage caused by electrical noise, often increasing the lifespan of the appliance.
Overall, I think the Satic plug is one of the best dirty electricity filters on the market right now.
Here is a great video demonstrating how the plug reduces your dirty electricity, and ultimately your overall EMF radiation exposure:
StetzeriZer Dirty Electricity Filter – How Do They Work?
Stezerizer Filters transform dirty electricity back into 50/60 hertz power that can be safely used by your electronics.
They filter out any electric pollution between the range of 4 and 150 kHz, which is the most dangerous dirty electricity that is carried by your electrical wiring.
This is accomplished using the High-Frequency EM Pollution Reducer (HF EMPOR) that was designed by Dr. Martin Graham.
The HF EMPOR consists of EMF high-frequency suppressors that you plug into electrical outlets throughout your home. These filters will dramatically, and measurably, reduce the amount of dirty electricity in your home.
If you are sensitive to EMF radiation, likely, you will physically notice a difference, and have a reduction in EMF exposure-related symptoms.
The SterzeriZer filters do not use any electricity, and will not disturb any of the electronics in your home.
How Do I Know If I Need a StetzeriZer Filter?
Honestly, the answer is probably yes. Most homes consist of electronics that are going to consistently produce dirty electricity, and this dirty electricity is going to emit a large amount of EMF radiation that is harmful.
If you live in a city, live near a cell tower, or have a large number of electronics in your home then you certainly should consider getting a filter system.
How Do I Know How Many Dirty Electricity Filters To Buy?
This depends on a few factors, at least when it comes to the Stetzer filters. First, the size of your home and the number of electronics you have will play a role.
The Stetzer website FAQ says that for the average household, it takes about 20 filters to fully and consistently filter out all of the dirty electricity.
Again, this should be completely measurably using any of the testing methods we talked about above. So, you can start by buying however many filters you believe you need, and then test to see how much dirty electricity is still present, and then purchase more if needed.
When you are testing using, for example, the Stetzer dirty electricity meter, you must do a few things to get an accurate reading.
- Make sure that you turn off and unplug everything you can in the house, even just turn off the main breaker on your electrical panel.
- Then, with everything off, get a reading so that you know how much dirty electricity is entering from the outside. This will help you to understand how little dirty electricity the filters will actually allow you to get.
Will Stetzerizer Filters Completely Eliminate Dirty Electricity?
This depends on a few things.
First of all, using some of the instructions above, you need to ensure you get enough of the filters.
Second of all, if you have issues with your wiring, introducing filters that generate magnetic fields to filter the dirty electricity, can sometimes be counterproductive.
Lastly, the most important thing you can do is to eliminate devices that are the biggest culprits producing dirty electricity, such as dimmer switches, smart televisions, CFL lightbulbs, etc.
I can say though, that they certainly do seem to work as intended. I know this not only from my own testing and experience but also from research that has been done.
For example, the analysis of a group of case studies completed by the team at Environmental Health Trust in cooperation with David Stetzer (the maker of these devices.)
This case study concluded that dirty electricity is biologically active and can affect our bodies and health. The Graham Stetzer filters dramatically reduce the dirty electricity for any circuit they are plugged into.
I would go check out my post on dirty electricity for a more complete list of these types of devices.
Where Can I Buy Stetzer Dirty Electricity Filters?
I looked around the internet, and the least expensive way to buy the filters is to buy directly from the Graham Stetzer Amazon store in packs of two.
You can also buy it in single packs, but it is quite a bit cheaper to buy them in packs of two. You can also go to This Page on the Stetzer website to see a map and a full list of distributors to see if you have one in your local area.
Ok, now let's take a look at the Greenwave dirty electricity filter system.
GreenWave Dirty Electricity Filters – How Do They Work
Greenwave's filters use Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) filtering technology (which I believe is proprietary to them.
The EMI filtering filters out the harmonics (again, physics definition not musical definition) and transient voltage electricity that is in the wiring of your home.
The filters do not affect the standard 50/60 hertz electricity that is supposed to be present in the lines, but they do filter out all of the dirty electricity and, as they put it, “short out” the spikes and surges caused by modern electronics.
A few things I like about GreenWave filters:
- They meet stringent standards of both safety and environmental friendliness.
- They are extremely easy to use, you literally just plug them in.
- They have a built-in outlet at the bottom of the plug, so using them doesn't eliminate an outlet in your home.
How Many GreenWave Dirty Electricity Filters Do I Need?
Just like with the Graham Stetzer filter we talked about above, this will depend on a few factors, such as the size of your home (number of rooms) and how many electronics you have plugged in.
Greenwave essentially says that the average room, with an average amount of electronics, will require about 2 filters. If the room has a higher concentration of electronics it may require 3 or 4 filters. On average, 16-20 filters is needed for your typical 3 to 4 bedroom home, but use the chart on the right to estimate how many you would need.
It would be smart to get one of Greenwave's Meters to be able to tell how much dirty electricity is in your home, and how much has been filtered out by the filters you buy.
Businesses – 2 or 3 filters per 100 square feet depending on the concentration of electronics.
Schools – 5 filters per classroom.
All of these are just estimates provided by GreenWave, if you have really specific questions about the product or how many filters you need, I would just call them at 1-800-506-6098.
Where Can I Buy GreenWave Dirty Electricity Filters?
I found that the best prices and most convenient way to buy the GreenWave filter systems was on Amazon, so I went ahead and found all the different options and compiled links for you:
Do GreenWave Dirty Electricity Filters Really Work?
Absolutely they do. Greenwave filters use Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) technology to filter out dirty electricity and prevent the spikes and surges that cause it. You can see this filtering in action in the video below.
Final Thoughts On Dirty Electricity Filters
I would say that almost anyone living in a modern home probably is surrounded by a fair amount of dirty electricity and EMF radiation.
Depending on how electro-sensitive you are will determine how much you physically respond to this, but that doesn't mean it isn't causing harm that you aren't feeling.
I would start by at least getting a meter, and seeing for yourself how much dirty electricity is in your home, and then you and your family can decide together how important it is for you.
I truly hope you found all the information you needed about dirty electricity filters in this post if you did, please consider sharing!
If you didn't find all the information you were hoping for, please let me know what I missed in the comments so I can continue to make this the best resource on the internet!
Sources: Dirty Electricity by Dr. Samuel Milham (Book), Saticusa.com, Greenwavefilters.com, stetzerelectric.com.
Hi, I have a simple question please – do these filters use electricity in themselves andif so, is it a lot, i.e. running cost? Thanks so much.
All good wishes
Hello! That is a great question. My understanding is that these filters do not use any electricity whatsoever, so they shouldn’t add to your electricity bill.