# Electric can opener, mixer and blender

> Small kitchen motors used at arm's length: can openers were the strongest household appliance measured, at 500–1,500 mG (50–150 µT) at 15 cm and 40–300 mG (4–30 µT) at 30 cm, for a few seconds' use.

- Canonical URL: https://emfbase.com/emitters/kitchen-motor-appliance
- Collection: Sources & emitters
- Record id: `emitters:kitchen-motor-appliance`
- Status: verified
- Last verified: 2026-08-12
- JSON: https://emfbase.com/api/emitters/kitchen-motor-appliance
- Also known as: can opener EMF, blender EMF, food mixer EMF, kitchen appliance EMF

## Key values

- **Category:** elf magnetic
- **Emission bands:** Power frequency
- **Environments:** home
- **Duty cycle:** Seconds to a couple of minutes; the field exists only while the motor turns.

## Field strength by distance

- **15 cm:** 30–1,500 mG — Measured range — Measured range at 15 cm in the EPA's 1992 survey of 60 Hz appliances, across can openers (500–1,500 mG / 50–150 µT), mixers (30–600 mG / 3–60 µT) and blenders (30–100 mG / 3–10 µT). [nrc-1997-appliance-fields, epa-1992-appliance-fields]
- **30 cm:** 5–300 mG — Measured range — Measured range at 30 cm across can openers (40–300 mG / 4–30 µT), mixers (5–100 mG / 0.5–10 µT) and blenders (5–20 mG / 0.5–2 µT). [nrc-1997-appliance-fields, epa-1992-appliance-fields]

## Mitigations, most effective first

- **Judge these by cumulative time, not peak level: a can opener at 1,500 mG for ten seconds a day contributes less to a daily average than a bedside clock radio at 5 mG all night.** — Time-weighted average, the metric used in the epidemiology, is dominated by long low-level exposures rather than brief peaks.
- **Step back or let the appliance run unattended where the design allows.** — The measured range drops by roughly an order of magnitude between 15 cm and 30 cm.

## Measure with

- ELF gaussmeter (power-frequency magnetic field)

## Related records

- [Household background magnetic field (50/60 Hz)](https://emfbase.com/emitters/household-background-magnetic-field): Away from appliances, homes typically sit below a few milligauss; the WHO's epidemiological association with childhood leukaemia begins at a daily average of 3–4 mG (0.3–0.4 µT).
- [Microwave oven](https://emfbase.com/emitters/microwave-oven): The only consumer appliance with its own federal leakage standard: 5 mW/cm² at 5 cm from the surface over the product's lifetime, which is 50,000,000 µW/m² — high compared with any communications source.

## Sources

- `nrc-1997-appliance-fields` National Research Council (US), National Academies Press (1997). *Possible Health Effects of Exposure to Residential Electric and Magnetic Fields, Table 2-3: magnetic-field strengths of common household appliances*. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK232734/table/ttt00003/ — peer-reviewed, link checked 2026-08-12
- `epa-1992-appliance-fields` U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (1992). *EMF in Your Environment: Magnetic Field Measurements of Everyday Electrical Devices (EPA 402-R-92-008)*. https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=000005EP.TXT — government, link checked 2026-08-12

Data licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Dataset version 2026.08.1. Retrieved from EMFBase, https://emfbase.com.

This record is reference data, not medical or legal advice. Regulatory limits, scientific guidelines and precautionary values are labelled separately and answer different questions.