Electricity Substations

[John Whitworth]

OK - sort of DIY...

We live fairly close to an electricity substation. It's housed in a building which is approximately single-garage-sized. The building is at the bottom of our 30ft garden - so we sleep perhaps 40ft away from it.

There have often been rumours of dangers to health due to close proximity to substations. But when I search, there is nothing concrete. I do notice, however, that our portable phone makes a weird buzzing noise, which ascends and descends about once a second. The base frequency (without it's 1Hz modulation) is, I guess, very similar to mains humm - i.e. about 50Hz.

I know that it could just be a crappy phone/power supply (BT Synergy 4500). And I've tried turning everything else in the house off. But in the back of my mind is the constant nagging doubt that it is some form of magnetic emission from the substation. From what I read, the electrical element cannot get through any building materials - just the magnetic waves.

How would I go about measuring such an emission?

Cheers

JW

[Gazz]

"John Whitworth" wrote

go see a paranormal scare monger type person, they'll bring along their 'ghost and spirit meter' and convince you the magnetic energy waves picked up are really ghosts, so you can sleep easy that your merely possessed instead of being microwaved as you sleep :)

[John Whitworth]

Hmmm - funny you should say that. Sometimes when I am trying to get to sleep, my brainwaves seem to be in overdrive. Nothing has been thrown off of the chest of drawers yet though!

[Woody]

"John Whitworth" wrote in message news:4b87db79$0$2539$ [e-mail]...

The buzzing noise is a fact of life of Dect phones, they all to it to a greater or lesser degree.

There will also probably be some telemetry associated with the sub-station which may also be being picked up.

The transformer will likely be for local distribution from 3.3KV down to domestic levels so will realistically not radiate much, certainly not enough to fry your brain!

[ARWadsworth]

How much radiation does a dect phone emit?

Adam

[Peter Andrews]

A lot more than a sub station - but not enough to even consider worrying about!

Peter

[John Whitworth]

True - but the DECT phone isn't going 24x7, surely?

JW

[Gazz]

you obviousely havent met my missus then, she moans about the measely 6 hour battery life of the handsets

[Andrew Gabriel]

3.3kV is not a UK distribution voltage. The 230/400V is derived from the 11kV local distribution network.

[Woody]

Beg to differ. There was a transformer clearly marked 3.3KV near the bus-stop when I was at school - and it's still there to this day!

[Andrew Gabriel]

More likely 33kV, which is the next value up from 11kV.

[cj]

Hi You'll need a Gause meter This measures electro magnetic radiation IIR as for your fears these are along the same lines as people who live near high voltage overhead lines especially the Super grid 132KV feeds. TV programs have been dedicated to this and even Mythbusters featured a scenario. There are many opinions out there but I have grown up with people who like you have a Sub' in the back yard and they don't glow in the dark. As a sparky I know all coils of wire emit a magnetic field when electricity is passed through them.But I also know that this field in a transformer is used to induce electricity in another coil. This begs the question IF you can't get owt fer nowt what energy is left to radiate any surplice electromagnetic energy after the transformer has done its work? (same as can u get sunburned by standing in front of your microwave) Whilst I can relate to your concerns I think you are quite safe ,unless the transformer malfunctions and explodes.

[John Whitworth]

OK - thanks CJ.

I guess that it really depends on how efficiently the transformer passes the energy from primary to secondary. It would be the undesirable 'losses' that are winging their way into us! :-/

JW

[Andy Champ]

Gah. Don't like top-posting, but that's the way this thread is :(

The guys who design these things spend _ages_ minimising those very losses. Every watt that leaks out of the side is one they can't sell!

BTW - Gauss, not Gause. Worthy as Gause was he didn't have the same impact as Gauss!

Andy

John Whitworth wrote:

[cj]

never was any gud at spelin English grade C physics A+ and I recall a guy called Eddie had a hand in it to (efficiency that is)

Apologies for spelling CJ

[js.b1]

Domestic supply substation 40ft away is a non-event.

About a mile from me a pub & house are within 100ft of a power station Tx the size of a house.

- The only ill effects they find are the perpetual rain and incredible frost displays caused by the output from 8 cooling towers, combining with fog from the nearby estuary.

- The bigger effect in the area is likely to be from its coal burning

- with old stations the arsenic concentrations were higher in the prevailing wind fallout path. Arsenic is known to reduce resistance to viruses (the outfall from the chimney will not drop on them as they are basically in the carpark).

In the UK it is not unknown to get a Tx stuck virtually in your front garden with no building around it. Very ugly and more typical of industrial locations (AEI 1MVA supplying adjacent small industrial units). So you are some distance away.

The thing I would not like is 132-400kV overhead lines directly over a house. Hold up a fluorescent stick light bulb for the energy radiation. The radiation from holding a mobile phone aerial against your head is far greater than your substation.

A lot of nuclear exposure research found whilst dosage is accumulative, small dosages have disproportionately LESS effect than high levels. It is quite possible the same applies to EM radiation. Away from the heat of a nuke, sheltered from the immediate radiation, a nuke is less horrific than people are led to believe. The problem is the wind direction in theatre re wind borne fallout on your troops (good deterrent).

[John Whitworth]

Thanks all, for your responses. I will stop worrying about it! :-)

Cheers

JW

[Mr Pounder]

This is shocking.

Mr Pounder

[Muddymike]

Ohm my god!!!

Mike

[John Whitworth]

I think that's AMPle jokes for the time being, say WATT?

Oh FARADAY where people just answer the OP's question seriously!

JW