In my days in the military I spent a week at a unit training soldiers for peace keeping duties. Over the mock town was a pylon run and the sound it made was like heavy rain falling. If they are all like that I wouldn't want to live near by.
Cheers Jonathan
It happens all along the length of the cables, not just at pylons. I used to walk under some on the way to work, and you could clearly hear when you were underneath, even when visibility was such you couldn't see them. Alongside a main road, you can hear them for perhaps 100 yards either side (these were the 275kV ones). In the quiet countryside, I would imagine that would be extended. As Dave said, it's more noticable in damp weather.
At high voltages (275KV and 440KV) there is often a fizzing noise caused by low level corona discharge around the glass insulators. This discharge can be visible on a dark night, especially during rain or high humidity.
The main downside is that the discharge can produce wideband electrical noise which can upset anything from your hi-fi to your TV to your computor, depending on level and distance.
Some are only (!) 132kv. They are local distribution and tend to be quiet.
Don't climb up with your voltmeter! There is usually a notice with the voltage. Long insulators = higher voltage.
Hello Lionel
Not all pylons are equal.
The big ones do buzz in misty or damp weather, very audibly. Maybe you can't hear 'em behind double glazing, I don't know. I DO know it plays merry hell with mobile and radio signals. Their buzzing also seems to vary according to time of day (I'm guessing load).
Small pylons don't buzz, as a rule.
Overhead power lines (2 or 3 wires, 11 or 33kv) don't buzz, neither does overhead LV (240vac, usually strung vertically around here). They do arc quite prettily when the wind pushes 'em together though.
The normally only buzz on misty nights and from my own experiance you have to be fairly close as well.
Ian
Personally I wouldn't want to be that close to a big power line. I know "they" say that the field is "harmless" but...
Ours sing, I can't quite make up my mind if it's some curious midfrequency oscilation in the single phase pole transformer or just wind induced wire whistle that is amplified by the pole.
The buzzing is only the sound of the air molecules being torn apart by the electric stress on them and is often accompanied by a blue glow in the dark. The phenomena is know as corona. the range of the sound depends on atmospheric conditions to a great extent but I would suggest its a bit like living next to a railway line - you soon get used to the sound
The 'official' line is that nothing has been proved. I worked in the industry for 35 years, and whilst I would think nothing of wandering around a major substation, I wouldn't pick a house near a transmission line. I guess that's personal choice, but I still sometimes get the hairs on the back of my neck rising when I drive under a 275 or 400kv line. Oh, and BTW, they're towers, not pylons!:))
I recollect quite by chance parking many years ago under a 275kv line on a damp and misty morning, waiting for a line crew to turn up - we were escorting an abnormally high load. I hopped out of the car, and got quite a belt from induced voltage.
The ones passing near the CPTA were 440kV, and indeed sang quite loudly. However it was also a very quiet environment (if you ignored the odd gunshots, explosions and irate SNCO's).
In article , Peter Parry writes
If you wind 1 mile of cable in your garage (as someone did) you can steal the electricity.
Doesn't sound like a good deal to me! I have the benefit of high voltage cables running over my home and potentially inflicting harm on my family, with free electricity. Or not have the high voltage cables and have to pay for electricity.
I know which I'd vote for.
Andrew
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Even 11KV overheads buzz in damp weather.
They do. Just not very much.
Leastways the ones I used to have over the back garden did.
neither
'Potentially' inflicting harm...haha. Nice pun.
They are harmless really, but the static is annoying sometimes.
Personaly I like peace and quiet, so I wouldn't. But teh inflicting harm bit is almost certainly baloney.
I'm not sure it is possible to draw a conclusion on that. At one time X-rays were considered safe - people used to do magic shows to demonstrate their use. Perhaps an extreme example, but any external influence on the human body could be harmful.
Andrew
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In article , Andrew McKay writes
a twin 33 kV line. FWIW over 10 years three occupants there have died from various cancers...
In article , John writes
one the electric pole shrine..a tribute to the lone electric linesman...
I used to have an old minivan with a long fibre glass aerial thereon . On damp days there is a 475 kV line near here that U could drive under and have sparks about a couple of inches long jump from the inner of the aerial to the vehicle metalwork...
Very low current though!...
As I said elsewhere, the official line is that nothing has been proved. There are some reports out possibly from the National Radiological Protection Board that don't actually say there's no danger, but that there is no evidence to prove there's any danger from electromagnetic fields, which, of course isn't quite the same thing. There was also I think a Swedish report that came out about 10 or 12 years ago that said there was evidence to prove there was a danger. In the end, I guess you pays your money and takes your choice depending on your view point!
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