Electrical Substation next door to house

[Flair223]

We are in the process of buying a property next to a small electrical substation (two boxes fenced off). My partner is not concerned at all about it all. Everyone I have spoken to has said that household items such as WiFi, mobile phones, microwaves emit the same energy so it’s nothing to worry about and all evidence is against there being any health implications. As it is somewhere we are likely to start a family, I just thought I would jump on here and get some other views and whether it would both you?

you might struggle to get a mortgage. Also, it’s not the same as wifi - there’s actual research suggesting a link between living near to electrical substations and cancer… I’d do a bit of research before committing

No it wouldn’t bother me at all. Best of luck with your house purchase!

I wouldn’t buy it, and you’d need to think about selling it on too

You won’t get an equity release mortgage but you won’t struggle to get a standard mortgage (at least, not on the grounds of the substation). And, no, there is no ‘actual research’ suggesting a link to cancer.

I would not be concerned about health implications. It does reduce your pool of potential buyers when it comes to resale, but for that reason you are likely to be buying it at a discount yourself, so you can pass that on when you sell.

I rejected a house largely on this basis. I looked into it and there isn’t conclusive research but there is some research suggesting that being within a few metres of it for an extended period of time might cause health problems, and the patio of this house/where I might have put a garden office was right next to it. The sellers were selling after only owning it a year and a half while expecting their second baby so I guess they had concerns too. It may well be that there are no issues but that’s not definitely known at this point and I just thought why risk it? If it turned out that I or my child got sick down the line I’d always wonder if it had anything to do with it. And yes, other buyers may have similar thoughts when it comes to selling.

Not actual peer reviewed repeatable scientific research showing a causational link there isn't.

Plus unless you plan to spend your entire lives leaning on the substation fence, it's not going to increase your EMF exposure, unless you currently live off grid and never spend any time near any electrical appliances whatsoever.

I didn't buy a property for this reason either. The research wasn't conclusive but it was emerging and I didn't want to be in a situation a few years down the line where I regretted it. It was a big dilemma though - I feel for you.

I rejected a house because of this. Now when I walk past it I realise it hums. Would have driven me nuts. And resale implications.

I didn’t view a (beautiful) house because of this.

Didn’t look into health/humming, just nope.

The hum will drive you nuts if you're susceptible to leaving windows open at night etc
Our neighbours have recently upgraded their drainage system, new one runs a fan constantly, it hums and REALLY is annoying, but DH cannot hear it.

Well they are wrong.

EM fields generated by substation transformers are 50Hz frequency. Mobile phones and wi fi operate at much higher frequencies in the GHz range.

The EM fields behave differently, in the respect that shielding a 50Hz field is very difficult, but shielding a GHz field is very easy. That is why for 5G phones there are going to be a lot more aerials, because it is easier for the high frequencies to be blocked. As a homeowner, it is conceivable that you could eliminate all GHz frequencies within your home with shielding (think thin aluminum plates on all the walls, plus film over the windows, and filtering any inlet lines. You could essentially turn your house into a Faraday cage for GHz frequencies at relatively low cost, like that guy who lived in a truck in Enemy of the State. It's not conceivable to shield your house from substation EM fields because there is no practical material thick enough.

Generally transformers are designer to keep all the em fields inside because that makes them more efficient. There is no benefit to spraying EM out into the space around them. Modern ones are probably much better at this than older ones.

How dangerous high frequency EM fields are compared to low frequency EM fields I have no clue. You should bear in mind though that the electrical wiring in your house emits 50Hz EM fields, and if the sub station is far away, it may be that you get far greater fields from the wiring in your house than actually from the substation.

If you were really concerned about it, you could probably pay for a survey from someone who could survey the house and check whether the EM fields fall within or outside any guidelines. I am not sure whether there are guidelines for domestic premises, but I think there probably are for industry. You can search on the web.

The science is about as clear as can be that there are no health effects due to EM radiation like this.

A larger concern can be that some emit an audible hum or that when you come to sell then some buyers may have stronger concerns than you do and so it could affect the price that you can get.

Here’s a decent summary of the question of low-frequency EMF causing cancer.

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/electromagnetic-fields-fact-sheet

I grew up with one 29foot from my bedroom window zero noise
never any electrical Interference mum still lives there Wi-Fi and mobiles no issues

Just to add, this house is in a beautiful village and perfect location and within our budget, whereas other houses in the village aren’t.

The humming would put me off

We have stood right next to it when viewing the house and did not hear a peep from it.

It sounds like it doesn’t bother you that much and you’d like to buy it, so do! I wouldn’t but that’s partly because I know it would always niggle at me, and ultimately that’s what it comes down to - does it bother YOU. If not, go for it!

I think you’ve answered your own questions really. If there is no hum, no evidence of health risks, and if you are getting a house you want for a price that you can afford, what is the issue? Just a nagging sense that you ought to worry? Given that there are over 400,000 substations in the UK, hundreds of thousands of people live next to them or near them — and most hospitals and schools have them actually in the building. My only concern in your position would be aesthetics, but they can usually be concealed, or their appearance softened, by judicious planting.

There's a lot of misleading information out there. One site I found that sounded quite official advised a safe distance of 75m, but they are probably talking about larger facilities than the ones that are typically found near homes. According to the National Grid, the kind you find next to homes are not dangerous as the magnetic field decreases substantially beyond 1-2m, at which point it is generally less than inside the home itself.

https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/is-living-next-to-substation-safe

It's at night once everything goes quiet that you notice the slightly sinister humming.

We have one behind our back garden.

When we were looking to buy, it honestly never even crossed my mind for a second that it would be an issue (but maybe that was me being too naive and enthusiastic about our house and of course u should make sure you are happy with the surroundings before buying a house).

Luckily, we have 0 regrets and I really can't see it being an issue when we come to sell.

We've also never heard a peep out of it and we've been here nearly 6 years now.

Where you say "next to a small electrical substation (two boxes fenced off)" is one of those actually a transformer. You say no hum, so it might just be switch gear.

We used to live right next to one - it was in a building and you couldn't hear it at all from the street or our house.

We had zero issues selling either. It was a little mews street and the house sold straight away