Electrical Sub-Station

[greenerpastures2022]

Hello All,

I am getting divorced and therefore selling my beautiful family home and trying to remain in the same, very expensive area where I live, with my share of the proceeds which I am sure you can appreciate is tough.

I have seen a property that fits the bill, lovely road, close to family, schools, same social network for kids etc.

However, close by there is an electrical sub-station which I can only assume is the reason this property is affordable to me, it's been reduced heavily although I know this could also be due to the high mortgage rates etc, other more expensive properties haven't sold in many weeks.

Anyway, the substation is not directly next to my property, it's next to the neighbours (rear of garden) but the access road to it is next to the property. I've attached a picture. Would this location bother you, what are your views? TIA

So for clarity, I'd be buying the house with the solar panels...you can see the access road between that and the neighbours property.

My uncle has one next to his house. I think the company did pay him some money for accessing the land or something like that. It would t bother me.

So the access road belongs to third party - it's not part of either houses, it's their land, hence they have put a gate at the top of the access area, which has one of those "danger zones" signs, sadly!! So I'm guessing this is putting people off as it definitely hinders kerb appeal!!

Not at all. I grew up living right next door to one, and don’t recall it causing any problems. Just make sure kids and animals (your own or visitors’) can’t get into it from you garden.

Your photo is as clear as mud.

I assume the "access road" is that thin strip and the substation is somewhere off photo ?

What is the distance from your house to it ?

The main concern for me would probably the potential for noise/hum. Some people are really sensitive to this.

Substation transformers are designed not to radiate electromagnetic energy into the greater environment because that would be inefficient. There isn't really much chance of shielding because at 50Hz the skin depth of most materials is massive, it would need a massive pile of mu metal to shield it. I would probably worry more about radiation from the HVAC line to it (wherever that goes), rather than the substation itself. And the hum. Proximity is always the issue with these things. Sorry if this contains some actual science.

I think the gate thing is weird. I would put a normal outer gate, and then a second gate with the warnings on after it, which should keep the locals happier. Maybe this isn't done because it makes it more difficult to find for the utilities.

They do catch fire occasionally.

True. And there may be some fizzing crackling noises for a bit until the repair person comes out.

I think these days though they have multiple remote telemetry on them and you can tell that by the mobile phone masts on top. We have one down the road, and if it goes wrong the truck comes out pretty quickly to fix, so I expect it automatically beams back to base the fact that some bit of it inside has gone up in smoke. It's almost as if the internet is useful for something other than posting pictures of cats.

I doubt whether it poses a huge amount of fire risk to any houses near it though, maybe worth checking.

Do you have an aerial photo that shows the substation? How big is it?

There's one down the road from me, very small, just an extra driveway with a gate with a yellow sign on it. It wouldn't bother me.

If it's absolutely massive, maybe it would.

I lived near a pylon once, and wouldn't again, as it was really noisy. Buzzed all the time and if it was misty or drizzly it fizzed and popped a lot.

I'd go nearby when the air is damp and see what it's like. Not proper rain, as the noise of the rain drowns out the noise.

The sub station is in the photo - it's at the bottom of neighbours garden in the kinda square box.

No it's not a massive one.

Following with interest OP and DPs are considering something very similar.

How often do they catch fire??!

My friend lives next door to a very large one.
No issues.

I grew up next to one, just looked like an extra driveway next to our house with a large gate. I never heard any hum or other noise from it and I am VERY noise sensitive, particularly with mechanical and electrical type noises. Parents still there and no fires or other issues in the last 40 years.

I'd not be worried if it was a small one of no noise came from it.

I thought you meant a huge site, we have a field-sized one on the edge of our town, full of pylons, very ugly!

Ask the neighbours who live next to it.

Got to be quieter than many other things - shop, pub, garage.

That is a small substation and if the price is reduced as some people don’t like a danger of death sign then great for you!

So no being close to a small substation wouldn’t put me off.

Can't make out your very out of focus photo but i'd go around on a quiet night and see if you can hear any buzzing?

when i did some work for Western Power, the substation had techies working in, also housed BT and other ISP kit.
Other thing is its alarmed, which means if it goes off, you'll hear it, we used to regularly get called to attend, as in 4 or 5 times a year.

That little square, that looks like a parking space?! I'd not even register it existing tbh!

I thought it was just out of shot to the left, something like this!

That wouldn't bother me in the slightest OP, I'm surprised it's affected the property value at all.

Don't give it a second thought.

Substations are absolutely everywhere, every housing estate will contain several and most of the time people not living directly adjacent are not even aware they are there and no, they do not routinely catch fire!
If in the immediate vicinity you may hear a low hum but as this one is behind the neighbouring property this is unlikely. A plus point is that the access lane acts as a buffer meaning no-one peering over your fence! 😆

You could phone a buildings insurance company, giving the address of the house, and see if insurance is an issue? This might be reassuring. We did that when we were looking at a property with a brook at the back of the garden. The insurance was very high. Didn't buy it.

If it was per your pic I would expect that there is a risk of noise polution

OP it looks as if "cancer cluster risk", noise risk, and the danger sign have all pushed the price down. If you are not a worrier (becauae people will have "a comment" ) I would not let it stop me from buying it.

I can't see it on your picture.

There are small ones every 200 metres or so on the streets round here so most people are fairly close to one. I would ideally not be next door or adjoining but other than that, wouldn't bother me as it would rule out virtually the whole estate.