An EMP generates a powerful electromagnetic pulse so intense that it can destroy a wide range of electronic devices and everyday items. Some of these might surprise you and need to be accounted for in your preparedness strategy.
An electromagnetic pulse can be generated by the strategic high-altitude detonation of a nuclear device. An EMP effect can also occur if a solar storm hits the Earth just right, like what happened during the Carrington Event of August 1859.
Now, you’re probably aware of how intense electromagnetic energy can affect sensitive electronics like your smartphone, and other solid-state electronics. However, some everyday items could also be destroyed by an EMP that you might not expect!
Refrigerators and Freezers
The sensitive electronics that control your domestic refrigerator and freezer’s compressor are highly vulnerable to the effects of an EMP. If the electromagnetic pulse’s source is nearby or extremely intense it can affect an everyday refrigerator/freezer’s compressor directly.
However, what’s more likely to happen is the EMP will propagate through the electrical grid. Once it enters your house, a powerful electrical arc can potentially bypass the 20-amp kitchen breaker in your circuit panel, making it to the refrigerator.
Possible Prevention Tip
Plugging a high-quality surge protector into the outlet, and plugging your refrigerator into it, might provide enough of a buffer to protect it from an EMP grid event. The flood of current will likely destroy the surge protector, but if the refrigerator survives, you might be able to run it off a generator!
Electrical Well Pump
If you have a rural property with an electrical well pump an EMP could destroy it and the critical components like the internal pressure switches. A well pump with a solenoid built into it is especially vulnerable.
Again, the worry here is two-fold, in that a powerful EMP can directly affect the well pump. Then it can also suffer a double whammy if there’s an electrical grid surge, as any surging current will likely be drawn to the powerful grounding effect the pump offers.
Possible Prevention Tip
One way to help protect your well pump from being destroyed by an EMP is to connect it to a lightning arrester. This is a separate arrester from the one your home should be connected to.
Should a grid surge of current make it to the pump or the EMP directly affect the pump, the lightning arrester then takes the brunt of it. This could leave you with the ability to then draw water post-EMP with a generator.
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Landline Phone
Not only can an EMP destroy a modern smartphone, but it can also destroy a landline phone. The intense electromagnetic energy will travel through the landlines even more easily than through standard power cables.
When it reaches your landline home phone, the EMP’s energy will then wreak havoc on the internal circuitry. It can even spark and hurt you if you happen to be holding the phone to your face at the time!
Possible Prevention Tip
Depending on the power and proximity of the EMP that destroys your landline phone, the local overhead phone lines might still be operable. It’s just that the charge grounds itself out at the device.
In a situation like this, you might be able to connect a backup phone or a rotary phone to the home jack. There’s a chance that you might be able to get phone service again, which could be handy in an EMP emergency of this magnitude.
Shield What Matters When Everything Else Burns
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You’ve just seen how fragile your appliances, medical gear, cars, and smart devices are in an EMP event.Smart Thermostats & Similar Smart Home Devices
The sensitive circuitry in so-called “Smart” thermostats and similar smart home devices can be easily destroyed by an EMP. At the same time, your in-home Wi-Fi hub, routers, and modems are equally at risk.
So, even if your furnace, air conditioner of other home convenience features are still operable, the tech needed to control them properly would be destroyed. Modern efficiency essentially kills them.
Possible Prevention Tip
While you can’t save your smart thermostat from being destroyed by an EMP, it’s relatively easy to install a replacement thermostat in its place. For $20, you can keep one in your stocks just in case you need it to regain control of your home HVAC system.
Your Car’s PCM, ECU & TCM
Computer components like PCM, ECU, and TCM in cars built after the 1980s can be damaged or destroyed by the effects of a powerful EMP event. The level of vulnerability can vary depending on how the car is configured, the distance from the electromagnetic pulse, and the intensity of the EMP.
A car with a single PCM (Powertrain Control Module) has a more robust natural resistance to an EMP, but if affected, it will cripple the synchronized performance of the engine and transmission. A car with an ECU (Engine Control Module) and a separate TCM (Transmission Control Module) is more likely to have one or both affected by an EMP. However, if one of them survives you might be able to still limp the car to safety!
Possible Prevention Tip
Automakers have performed some basic tests on the effects of massive electrical surges on vehicles. While it’s not 100% clear, the research suggests that if the vehicle isn’t running the EMP is far less likely to affect the internal computer components.
So, your car sitting in the garage when an EMP strikes could be safe. Still, it might be wise to have less sophisticated means of backup transportation available. Even if it’s something as simple as a simple moped or dirt bike.
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Power Tools with Smart Chargers
While most modern power tools like reciprocating saws and screwdrivers are reasonably safe, the smart chargers that recharge their lithium-ion batteries can be destroyed by an EMP. This is even more likely to be an issue if the smart charger is plugged in an actively recharging a battery. It could even damage the battery that’s on it at the same time.
Possible Prevention Tip
If possible, try to prioritize power tools that use standard “Old-Fashioned” battery chargers. Then simply remove the battery when it reaches 100% to prevent damage from overcharging.
If you do have a power tool smart charger, you should always unplug it, and remove the battery it was just charging. This will reduce the risk of a surge making it through the lines to damage the charger. It will only be fully vulnerable when it’s plugged in and actively charging a battery.
Home Medical Devices, CPAP & Pacemaker
Home medical devices like CPAPS and insulin pumps are some of the more concerning things that can be destroyed by an EMP. Many of these devices can be interrupted or their performance arrested by electromagnetic interference, and an EMP is the ultimate form of high-intensity electromagnetic interference.
Older pacemakers in particular are highly susceptible to damage or severe service interruption by electromagnetic interference. If your heart function is largely dependent on one, an EMP could be a potentially fatal blow.
Possible Prevention Tip
Newer pacemakers are specially shielded to make them more resistant to electromagnetic interference than in the past. If you have one, and you have a replacement scheduled in the foreseeable future, don’t procrastinate the procedure.
If you’re modestly dependent on a CPAP device, insulin pump or other vulnerable home medical devices, you should strongly consider keeping a replacement in your preparedness stocks. As long as they’re kept unpowered, and preferably stored underground, they should be safe from being directly destroyed by an EMP.
Final Thoughts
Refrigerators, smart home devices, home medical equipment, landline phones, and smart chargers, are just some of the everyday items that an EMP can destroy. However, there are a few ways to protect yourself from totally losing their function.
This starts with keeping backups of things like landline phones, medical devices and even a simple replacement thermostat in your prepper stocks. Building a Faraday cage to keep these replacement items in, will give you a lot of added peace of mind.
Adding a lightning arrester to your house, and well-pump might also help reduce the risk of an EMP electrical grid surge destroying your home’s electrical infrastructure. Placing high-quality surge protectors near vulnerable devices like refrigerators, microwaves, and smart chargers might also save them from destruction.
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I always appreciate these articles but where is the data or scientific studies to support any of these claims beyond the Carrington Event of August 1859. Most of the items mentioned in this article didn’t even exist back then.
I’ve read a government study conducted on 50 modern day cars subjected to a simulated EMP burst and only 1 or 2 were effected and were easily repaired.
No data to verify these claims makes this article fiction not fact.
You’re absolutely right to demand data, and it’s fair to say the article could’ve cited more sources. We always appreciate that and welcome it. The idea that modern electronics, vehicles, and grid systems could be vulnerable to an EMP isn’t pure fiction, there is supporting research behind it.
For instance:
1. Vehicle EMP tests (real laboratory data)
A U.S. government–sponsored lab test exposed 37 cars (model years 1986–2002) and 18 trucks to simulated EMP bursts up to about 50 kV/m. Some vehicles stalled, had dashboard errors, or required restarts; a few suffered permanent ECU issues.
https://www.futurescience.com/emp/vehicles.html
2. Research on directed EMP to disable vehicles
Defense and engineering researchers have examined how electromagnetic or microwave pulses can disable a car’s microprocessors and control circuits (ECUs, sensors, ignition modules). That means the vulnerability isn’t just theoretical, it’s actively studied for vehicle immobilization systems.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362299461_Recent_Trends_of_Electromagnetic_Pulse_Mean_for_Denied_Vehicular_Access_Application_or_Vehicle_Immobilization
3. Power grid & infrastructure vulnerabilities
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has published studies showing that high-energy pulses can exceed standard lightning protection levels in power plants, possibly damaging control electronics and transformers.
https://www.ornl.gov/news/study-probes-risks-power-plants-electromagnetic-pulse
4. Government EMP Commission findings
The U.S. EMP Commission’s 2004 and 2008 reports both warn that the increasing use of sensitive digital control systems in transportation, energy, and communication networks makes modern society more susceptible to EMP-induced failures.
https://www.empcommission.org/docs/empc_exec_rpt.pdf
https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Baker-Statement-5-13-EMP.pdf
So yes, the article simplifies the science, part of it on purpose to make it easier to understand, but the risk premise that unshielded electronics could be disrupted or destroyed by a sufficiently strong EMP is backed by real testing and government analysis.
The truth lies between extremes: not every gadget would fry instantly, but neither is the danger “fiction.” The more electronics rule our lives, the more even partial EMP effects can cause chaos. We are not aware of any study conducted on 50 modern day cars you mentioned and if you can, please let us know which one it is. We couldn’t find it. It is highly possible though based on the cars that were chosen and what EMP was actually used. Even the distance from the EMP detonation counts.
Prepper Staff – Thanks for the level headed and accurate response to the article. Many stories rush to the far extreme, hair on fire scenario, for clicks. On going industry testing, real world lightning events, common safety advice like how to get out of a vehicle with a live power line on it, etc are all mitigating and reducing the possible effects of solar storms and EMP possibilities. A truck or car itself is isolated via rubber tires so does not make a good path to ground for a high energy event (solar storm nor EMP). Plane, cars, trucks, trains are near lightning strikes all the time with no effect and even when directly struck have no or minimal damage. A lot of effort and improvement have occurred in the twenty years since the government reports you reference were published. We personally had repetitive issues with lighting strike damages at one of our farm structures until we tracked down the corroded aluminum grounding conductor used in the crawl space by a past contractor. Once replaced with a correct sized copper grounding conductor our issues disappeared. The point of sharing that story is there are known solutions to apply that are not extreme nor life style altering. In realty the true danger from a solar storm or EMP is via the power grid AC transmission lines (very long antennas to absorb lots of energy) to the transformers (which will fry) and the long time to replace al the transformers (many foreign manufactured). Yes the Federal government is building a stock pile of transformers, but they will be distributed based on “need’ so expect to be ignored as individuals. The very good advice from the original article is install a very robust lightning surge protector on the incoming service to you home. It will provide protection now from common issues and also for uncommon events that may never happen. By preventing the energy surge into your structure (frying the surge protector) everything on your side of that barrier will still function (generator, battery set, electronics) and you can implement your emergency operation and conservation plans.
Even if you save these items, there won’t be any electricity. You’ll need a portable generator or two to keep them operating.
Howdy from high in the desert swamp,
In some ways I feel I have an advantage being deaf. I don’t rely on radios and the news on TV is awful because captioning is awful on live. I’ve already had to stay in about a 10 block area for over a week because of hurricane Harvey. I rode my bike. I walked. I stayed home. I’m thinking everyone should do a weekend with no vehicle no electronics. It is an eye-opener for sure. The chances of balloons being floated over with devices is very real because it’s already happened. It may not now during this administration, but people are stupid and will vote the deathocrats back in one day. The chances of small aircraft carrying devices and taking down major hubs is very real. In order to be able to deal with this situation seriously, try a weekend or three days of your choice of no electricity no electronics no vehicles. See how you do. This isn’t a snarky comment but one that I actually did have to live through. Twice. It was most definitely an eye-opener. There were some people in my swamp who were going from door-to-door wringing their hands and in panic meltdown mode. I could see them coming and I did not open my door. It got kicked. Then I opened the door and told them in no uncertain terms go away and don’t come back.
People told me I wasn’t very Christian. I told them for 120 year’s no one listened to Noah. Until it started to rain. We have public service announcements on what to do to be prepared for storms. One of the local news stations devotes a 10 minute segment Two or three times a week to testing equipment, showing how to build bug out bags, different products and it’s all disaster related. They just didn’t want to and they rely on their neighbors to take care of them. That’s on them. I subscribe to proverbs chapter 12 verse 23 through 25.
To give you some idea of the magnitude of hurricane Harvey. Look at a map of Texas and see Galveston Bay went all the way over to the Louisiana border to the east. Went almost out to Columbus to the west and went up to The Woodlands to the north. There were many places that were above the flood level, but basically Galveston Bay expanded by 125 miles every direction.
My advice for you to practice two or three days, comes at an expense of having been there done that twice.
Remember the Alamo
Remember 9/11
Remember North Carolina
Remember to have your soul prepared
We lived off the grid, sailing/camping, for 6-9 months a year for 22 years. 12v and propane. We had a wind generator on the sailboat and solar on the camper. For those small applications we were perfectly comfortable. The key to all of this for us was that we just required minimal power use for our comforts. We now have foldable solar panels that would charge what we need. Rocket type stove. Water barrels. We did very well on 3 gallons of water/day. toilets did not use fresh water or any water. We still live on an island in hurricane alley.
To think that life will go on in any normal fashion is folly. It can be just fine, but not anything close to how most live now. THAT is the key.
I think EMPs will take out solar panels, so if that is true, (idk) what’s your backup plan to that? Having backup panels wrapped in EMP Cloth?
I hate any kind of gas and I am cutting loose of propane hopefully next week, (in my new home). They won’t be able to deliver it anyway in an EMP crisis or other fuel crisis. I hope I’m wrong but looks like war is coming sooner than later and there goes civilian fuel IMO.
I am going all electric and going to do solar too for a backup. If it works well, I’ll swap to solar with electric backup on low sun days. I’m also looking into how the Amish live if both those fail.
You’re right to be thinking ahead and yeah, a powerful EMP can take out parts of a solar setup, but it’s not as simple as every panel suddenly frying. The panels themselves are mostly just silicon and wiring, so they’re surprisingly tough. What’s vulnerable are the inverters and charge controllers, the brains that convert and regulate your power. Those parts have delicate microelectronics that can get cooked if a strong EMP surge rides in through the cables or ground lines. Tests done on PV systems show that induced voltages can spike high enough to burn out circuitry, especially in connected systems. So, having spare panels or inverters stored in EMP cloth (like the one we recommended here: https://tinyurl.com/nhjrnmke) or a grounded metal container isn’t a bad idea. Think of it like having a backup brain for your solar array. If you go fully electric, it’s smart to have layers, solar for everyday power, maybe a small hand-crank or thermoelectric generator, and a few low-tech tools the Amish would nod in approval at. Because when the grid goes dark, simplicity and redundancy keep the lights on.
I’d like to see an article on Wells.
I am going to add solar to work the pump vs. just electric. I would really like a hand pump option too as a backup to both. Anyone know if that is possible? Adding a hand pump option to an existing well without messing up the current pumping system? That would be a good article.
Would those EMP cloths work to protect the well + pump by covering the housing the well pump is enclosed in? BTW is the lightening arrester the same as a grounding pole people have on their homes? I’m going to click your link, so if that answers my question you can disregard.
Thank You
That’s a great point and we’ve actually got a full article on wells and backup pumping options coming very soon. As for your question, EMP cloth absolutely can help. Wrapping or lining the housing around your well pump with proper EMP shielding material can reduce the risk of induced current frying the electronics, it basically acts like a mini Faraday cage. Just make sure the cloth is grounded correctly and covers all exposed cable entry points. And yes, a lightning arrester is related to grounding protection, but it’s not the same thing. A lightning arrester dumps high voltage spikes to ground, while grounding rods maintain stable electrical potential.
Research and build well buckets. It is an easy DIY project (youtube has many clips). Don’t forget to include enough rope or cable to reach your static water level. Include a couple of small snatch blocks to gain a mechanical lifting advantage. I like the mountaineering “rescue pulleys”, a small snatch block that uses a carabiner/snap link. Very lightweight. By the way, DIY PVC well buckets would make a great barter item.
Just going full-on manual here, so I can simply be pleasantly surprised if anything else happens to actually work after an EMP. Takes the edge off.
Having manual backups is my goal, think 19th century manual tools. Invest in quality shovels, hoes and rakes, a heavy european style hoe would be a great item to break ground for a new garden. Axes, splitting mauls and wedges along with a four foot crosscut saw to process wood with. Do you have enough material to construct an outhouse/privy, smoke house and even an oven? If your hauling water by hand, do you have olla pots for conserving water in your garden? They work great with most crops.
LOTS to reply to
well buckets ? I can look up
Hand pump for a well, at same time, yes you can ! but in your area, it may not be allowed. BUT its easy to add if power goes out long term. The question is, the water column height. You can ONLY draw water up just so far ( about 20 ‘ ) So, deep wells get a submerged pump to PUSH it up. well bucket ? When building, Dad took Old 2 Qt glass soda bottle, wire around neck, dopped it in well, the weight submerged it enough to fill it 1/3, we drew it up and dropped twice more, then pulled out 2 qts of water. Easy to draw out a days worth of water for a family, minus 4 showers or baths, but 4 sponge baths no problem.
Old Para, all hand backups, ! ! ! ! Amen
Alex, and staff
we need more on EMP’s. we dont need which state is best, we know that already and better than you do. we need to know MAX power of EMP, and distance it will effect. US Mil has data on this, but getting it is hard. Same as getting a copy of their plan in case. Obviously, middle of Montana beats any place in NY, PA, CA etc . Away from Mil target is best, but what are limits ? so we can plan best and worst limits. I dont think any one can say exact effect on a 2015 ford, in driveway, in wood barn, in metal shop.
Ozark & Dan, wish you lived close, always good comments !