Would pylons put you off a house?

[Birdies]

Seen a lovely house but noticed a large electricity pylon about 200 metres behind it. I don't mind how they look, that doesn't bother me at all. But I'm a bit confused about possible health risks. Can't seem to find anything conclusive. There is no noise from it as we've stood right by it to check. Would it put you off?

Definitely, they are a definite no from me. Don't like the noise or the look of them.

It was in France (I googled it) but also reports that wind turbines and solar panels also led to cow deaths as well.

I'm buying a house currently nearish pylons and I'm totally fine over it but I'm trying to not let all the negative comments on here get into my head and the scare stories.

Me too!
I hate the humming noise and the weird crackly way it makes the air around feel.
I couldn’t live under one.

Get a survey specifically to measure the impact if the pylon. That's what we did on a house with one close. It will tell you if the emas are at a higher level than acceptable in and around the.house. only way to know if its safe.

No because the constant hum is disconcerting and would drive me mad.

The hum would drive me mad

200m no concern at all personally.

There are houses in the town I live with the cables from pylon to pylon probably 20metres away from them and people are not dropping like flies.

Probably more harmful to live by a busy road in terms of pollution.

I am in lreland and am aware of this here.

We have one at the end of the road and the cables run parallel along the road.
It never bothered me. However I don't live in the nicest area!

It's ugly when you notice it at first but i never hear it from inside the house or even the back garden. Only time is if I'm going out the front of my house very early morning, when everything is silent and if it's damp/drizzly you can hear a crackle.

If the sight of where it was didn't bother me then it wouldn't affect my decision

Yes. There's one down the road and it hums. I heard there's a link between them and tumors.

Yes definitely

I wouldn't consider buying a house near one.

Yes - but it’s because I have a phobia of them!

I 'asked' as I said I would. It seems that in terms of fields (electric/electromagnetic) you'll have bigger ones from your house's internal wiring than from a pylon or undrground high voltage lines. Fields, contrary to my expectations, would be lower from underground HV lines than overhead ones, as the 3 phases are closer together and cancel each other out more.

There isn’t. To start suburban areas like London where there are no pylons would have a much lower incidence of cancer and tumours. It doesn’t.

i can’t find anything on cows either. Cows and livestock have lived alongside pylons for years, it would be strange if cows only start dying now. My money would be on a poisonous plant or some illness taking a herd out rather than the pylon in the field.

200m is ok, I did veto a house with a pylon in the back garden (1/4 acre garden so not huge)

@BlueMongoose if they're bigger in a house, why would anyone even do a study of the effects of pylons on health?

Not disagreeing with you at all (as I've no idea!), but it doesn't make sense to me that a study would be done on pylons if they give off less of a field than household stuff?

I wouldn't like it.

200m is probably far enough away not to bother most people when it comes to value/desirability.

I do say most people. Post-covid I've had my eyes opened to just how many conspiracy cranks walk among us.

200m is a massive distance away.

If you assume an inverse square dependence then in your house, say 3m=9, 200m = 40000 = a factor of 4400 (9/40000).

Overhead cables are about 400kV, so 1600x higher voltage than the 250V mains in your house. So the reduction for distance (4400x) more than compensates for the increased field strength (1600x).

Thanks @GasPanic I just about followed that 😄

Does it make a difference with other pylons being nearby? Not as near but obviously they go in a line access the countryside. Maybe another at 400m, one at 500m at a guess. So is there a cumulative effect?

I still don't understand why far overhead electricity is a problem if closer underground electricity isn't?

Yes they might add together or cancel each other out.

The thing is though anything at 400m will be a factor of 160,000 down so far less than 200m because of the inverse square dependence.

I don't think there is any clear evidence that living close to power lines leads to specific health issues. If there was everyone would know about it and power lines would be moved. Think of something like x-rays. People have known they are dangerous for years and years, and the health effects are clearly obvious. With e-m fields due to power lines no one knows for sure, there have been studies done but the effects are inconclusive.

What that probably means is although you can't definitely rule out there is the potential for them to be hazardous, it probably isn't that significant, otherwise people who lived below them for years would be dropping like flies.

I wouldn't choose to live underneath one, but I wouldn't be worried about living within 200m of one either.

Yes. They hum, worse in the rain.