Household appliance EMF exposure
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026
Every appliance that plugs into the mains produces an extremely low-frequency (ELF) magnetic field while it is running — fridges, washing machines, stoves, hair dryers, chargers. The pattern that matters is not the appliance's rating but your distance from it: fields are strongest within arm's length and fall off rapidly as you step back.
Typical levels and limits, with dated sources
- Magnetic-field background in homes, averaged over time, is roughly 0.01–0.3 µT; appliances add to this only when you are close to them (WHO, Environmental Health Criteria 238, 2007).
- Fields close to some appliances can be considerably higher than the home background, but they decrease rapidly with distance and are only present while the appliance is on (WHO, Environmental Health Criteria 238, 2007).
- The ICNIRP public reference level for power-frequency magnetic fields is 200 µT at 50/60 Hz (ICNIRP, 2010, Health Physics 99(6): 818–836).
- IARC classified ELF magnetic fields as "possibly carcinogenic" (Group 2B) in 2002, based on limited epidemiological evidence concerning long-term average exposure above roughly 0.3–0.4 µT (IARC Monographs Vol. 80, 2002).
- WHO's overall position: evidence for long-term effects of ELF fields is limited, research continues, and the guidelines prevent the established acute effects (WHO, Environmental Health Criteria 238, 2007).
How distance and usage change exposure
- Because appliance fields are dominated by the distance between you and the motor, transformer or heating element inside, stepping back even half a metre usually brings the field close to the home background (WHO, Environmental Health Criteria 238, 2007).
- Brief close-range use (a hair dryer, a kettle) contributes far less to a time-averaged exposure than a device that runs for hours at the same distance — the exposure that the epidemiology is framed around is a long-term average (IARC Monographs Vol. 80, 2002).
- Two appliances in our calculator worth comparing are the Electric Stove and the Induction Cooker — the latter is an example where the field is concentrated immediately above the hob.
Try it in the calculator
This link opens the calculator with the Electric Stove emitter pre-selected — set the distance and daily use time, then switch the card to Induction Cooker to compare.
Open the calculator — Electric Stove
Sources
- WHO (2007), "Extremely low frequency fields", Environmental Health Criteria 238, World Health Organization, 2007.
- ICNIRP (2010), "Guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric and magnetic fields (1 Hz to 100 kHz)", Health Physics 99(6): 818–836.
- IARC (2002), "Non-ionizing radiation, Part 1: static and extremely low-frequency (ELF) electric and magnetic fields", IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, Vol. 80.
Educational information, not medical advice. Numbers above are as stated by their dated sources; our calculator's output is a model-based estimate, not a measurement. No adverse health effects are confirmed below international limits, and research on long-term effects is ongoing — see About for our editorial position.