Any thoughts on living next to a high tension power line?

[Brian Elfert]

I've been looking for a large cheap lot to build a new house on. I found one, but I realized the price was probably so low because there is a high tension power line running along one edge of the lot. (Price is $100,000 less than the next cheapest lot in the city.)

What are your thoughts about living next to a high tension power line? Would I regret living there because of the power line?

[John C Lawson]

It's been pretty much proven that there's no health effects from living near a power line http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/emf.html However, that doesn't mean everyone else is convinced of that, so you may have trouble selling when the time comes.

[Chuck Wintle]

I've been looking for a large cheap lot to build a new house on. I found one, but I realized the price was probably so low because there is a high tension power line running along one edge of the lot. (Price is $100,000 less than the next cheapest lot in the city.)

What are your thoughts about living next to a high tension power line? Would I regret living there because of the power line?

I personally would not like living next to a high tension power line. Just too much talk about health problems from the electromagnetic filed they generate.

[George Bokros]

I agree with Chuck on the electromagnetic field issue and John is also correct, it could be an issue when it comes time to sell. Besides both of these issues they are ugly.

George

[Joe Kieve]

Just Google "living next to a high tension power line"...over 30,000,000 sites. Something you'll have to make up your own mind about.........I wouldn't. Apparently you already have some reservations or you wouldn't have asked.

[Dan Hintz]

When you can find 100 studies that say it's safe and 100 studies that say it's bad, many by respectable researchers in the field, it tells you one thing... there is simply not enough evidence either way to make a statistically valid conclusion. Look at all of the hubbub surrounding cellphones and brain tumors... every other year they flip-flop back and forth on whether or not it's harmful.

This really is a case of you needing to make up your own mind... as for me, I'd say no, particularly if I planned on having kids.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Even in the Nuclear industry it is still argued if any radiation is bad for you no matter how small the dose, two of the finest physicists I know still argue from opposite sides.. As Dan said there just isn't enough data one way or then other to form a conclusive opinion for me.

By choice I'd say no but it's your call my friend.

cheers

Dave

[Pat Barry]

Personally I wouldn't want to live to close because I'm sure it would interfere with radio, TV, GPS, and mobile phone signals. As far as the health dangers go, if you are reasonably far away, lets say triple the distance or more from the wire to the ground, you shouldn't have health concerns. I think that no one wants to look out there picture window or relax on the deck with a cell phone tower or high tension power line in the near field of view

[Chuck Wintle]

Personally I wouldn't want to live to close because I'm sure it would interfere with radio, TV, GPS, and mobile phone signals. As far as the health dangers go, if you are reasonably far away, lets say triple the distance or more from the wire to the ground, you shouldn't have health concerns. I think that no one wants to look out there picture window or relax on the deck with a cell phone tower or high tension power line in the near field of view
+1 to that.

[Bill Huber]

I have never lived close to one but I had a friend when I was in Kansas City that did and moved after about a year, just could not take the hum from the line all the time.

I guess that is one thing you need to check, is there a lot of hum where you will be building?

[Matt Meiser]

Technically we do but they are at the back of our 1/4 mile deep property and are around 800-1000' from the house. The back 100' or so there's an easement that they keep tree-free. These are on very tall wood poles not the metal skeleton poles more typically seen. We can see one set of poles (actually on the neighbor's property and the lines aren't real noticeable. Both are becoming more and more obscured every year as I'm letting trees grow in the "back 7" and selectively cut brush to encourage them. By the time we decide to move you probably won't even notice them without going for a walk. Check the easements. I don't think we can put any permanent structure within 2x the height from the centerline or something like that.

They might have messed with our ability to get a good signal from a wireless ISP several year back. Then again the lady that ran that was so incompetent she might have had trouble getting us a service through a 10' Ethernet cable. Haven't noticed any cell problems because of it, especially Verizon because there's a tower < 2 miles away as the crow flies and we have a monitoring device that uses the AT&T network that gets a good signal. We also get a good digital signal for TV off a fairly small antenna from transmitters about 15-20 miles away as the crow flies. We really only see attenuation there during heavy precipitation and even then its watchable.

We looked at 2 properties that were along a petroleum pipeline too. I really like the one (It was on a rare-for-around-here "hill") but we would have had to built the house so far back on the lot that we would have actually had to build my shop in front of the house, meaning spending more on appearance. The pipeline had been rebuilt in the past 10 years so we were told the next major maintenance would be a good 20-30 years off.

[Pat Barry]

Technically we do but they are at the back of our 1/4 mile deep property and are around 800-1000' from the house. The back 100' or so there's an easement that they keep tree-free. These are on very tall wood poles not the metal skeleton poles more typically seen. We can see one set of poles (actually on the neighbor's property and the lines aren't real noticeable. Both are becoming more and more obscured every year as I'm letting trees grow in the "back 7" and selectively cut brush to encourage them. By the time we decide to move you probably won't even notice them without going for a walk. Check the easements. I don't think we can put any permanent structure within 2x the height from the centerline or something like that.

They might have messed with our ability to get a good signal from a wireless ISP several year back. Then again the lady that ran that was so incompetent she might have had trouble getting us a service through a 10' Ethernet cable. Haven't noticed any cell problems because of it, especially Verizon because there's a tower < 2 miles away as the crow flies and we have a monitoring device that uses the AT&T network that gets a good signal. We also get a good digital signal for TV off a fairly small antenna from transmitters about 15-20 miles away as the crow flies. We really only see attenuation there during heavy precipitation and even then its watchable.

We looked at 2 properties that were along a petroleum pipeline too. I really like the one (It was on a rare-for-around-here "hill") but we would have had to built the house so far back on the lot that we would have actually had to build my shop in front of the house, meaning spending more on appearance. The pipeline had been rebuilt in the past 10 years so we were told the next major maintenance would be a good 20-30 years off.

Matt, is the power line in between you and the cell tower? Thats where we seem to have trouble. Once the power line isn't in the line of sight to the cell tower everything is OK

[Matt Meiser]

Line of sight, yes, probably even at the perfect elevation to be between the antennas on the tower and our phones. Our service is reliable enough that we no longer use a landline--Frontier requires it for DSL so its here, but no phone is connected.

[Rich Riddle]

Look at it from an investment standpoint. Many people would not want to purchase property near the lines. That alone makes the market share smaller and less valuable. I could care less about the power lines but wouldn't even consider purchasing property with that large an albatross attached to it.

[Julie Moriarty]

As an electrician, I've heard many discussions about this on the jobsite over the years. As part of our apprenticeship training, we have to learn the workings of electricity and that includes understanding the magnetic fields that surround current traveling through a conductor. High tension lines create large magnetic fields.

The general consensus of the electricians I've worked with is never buy a house that is in close proximity to high tension lines. Roughly 90% felt that way. My ex-in laws lived practically right under them. Every time we went to visit them and humidity was high, I could hear the air crackle. I'll let the science and medical experts debate over the potential health risks, but for me, that crackling sound convinced me I would never buy a house under high tension lines.

[Myk Rian]

Rig up a Tesla like device to get free power.

A few years ago the power company wanted to run high tension lines down the main corridor in town. People fought it with every lame excuse they could come up with. Township board wasted tens of thousands fighting it. One argument was the radiation coming off the lines.
Well, nobody could prove anything. The lines were installed, WAY overhead, running down the road. The only effect I have noticed is the local FM station dims out, if you're in the right spot at the traffic light.
If you don't mind the lines, go for it.
By the way, do you know what voltage they carry?

[paul cottingham]

If you did buy the property, you could put an inductive coil near the power lines to generate lots of electricity! Or maybe not......
oops, Myk beat me to it.

[David Weaver]

I wouldn't risk it. It's difficult to get causation on very long term things unless they are extremely risky (miners, etc) and the situation for all vs. a control is very similar.

It may not significantly increase risks to live a certain distance from a power line, but it wouldn't be worth it to me. If the link between power lines and leukemia changes from weak to strong, or is demonstrated by DNA damage or something, then you'd be stuck.

It would be absolutely not for me if I had kids.

[Keith Outten]

If you did buy the property, you could put an inductive coil near the power lines to generate lots of electricity! Or maybe not......
oops, Myk beat me to it.

Sooner of later the power company will find out about your coil and they will dispatch an electrical engineer to estimate how much electricity you have consumed. When you get to the local courthouse the judge will make you pay for the power, with interest.

I used to work for a Power Company, we caught people stealing electricity constantly and the company showed no mercy when their lawyers took people to court. Farmers are notorious for burying coils under main T&D lines, they can provide power for a large barn absolutely free right up until the day they get caught :)
.

[Brian Elfert]

I have no idea what the voltage is but my guess is in the 115,00 volt range maybe? The poles are smaller steel monopoles. It sounds like most of you wouldn't buy such a lot simply because a lot of people believe that high tension power lines are bad. Scientifically there doesn't seem to be much proof that the lines are bad for humans.

This lot is very attractive because the cost is cheap and reasonably close in. The next cheapest lot is further away and twice the price at $60k and requires a septic system so it really costs closer to $90k. $90k for a lot won't meet my budget so I'll have to keep looking I guess.

[paul cottingham]

Although I was really only kidding (kind of...) I have trouble wrapping my mind around two things, namely 1) how much power you could actually generate that far from the power line (doesn't power drop off as a square of the distance from the source?) and 2) how would they catch you? Induced power wouldn't make a dent in a high tension power line.
Or am I missing something?

[Dan Hintz]

Sooner of later the power company will find out about your coil and they will dispatch an electrical engineer to estimate how much electricity you have consumed. When you get to the local courthouse the judge will make you pay for the power, with interest.

I used to work for a Power Company, we caught people stealing electricity constantly and the company showed no mercy when their lawyers took people to court. Farmers are notorious for burying coils under main T&D lines, they can provide power for a large barn absolutely free right up until the day they get caught :)
.

This does not make sense to me, particularly as a sparky. The amount of mutual inductance between a straight line and a coil of any reasonable size 50' beneath it seems extremely titchy, not to mention the cost of the copper in a coil large enough to capture the energy required to run a single 60W bulb. The cost of that much copper would make such a farmer a millionaire, and then what was the point in the first place...

I can see someone doing a direct tap (though not at a T&D line's voltage level), but not via coil at a distance. Look at what it takes right now to light a 60W bulb... both ends are several foot diameter coils an hundreds of turns each, separated by no more than 5-10'. I suppose if the straight portion of the line was REALLY high voltage, the losses might be worth it, but said voltage is beyond comprehension in my current thought process. This may require some back of the napkin calcs to verify or dismiss.

[Jerome Stanek]

Wouldn't it be that you are just collecting junk that their lines are throwing on your property

[Mike Henderson]

Trying to collect power from three high voltage power lines, each 120 degrees out of phase, about 100 feet from any kind of coil you had, would be problematic. I can't imagine that you could get enough power to do anything with it. And if you could get some power out of it, it almost certainly would not be of the correct voltage so you'd need a transformer to convert it. Then, as you began to draw power from your coil, the voltage would almost certainly vary depending on the current demanded.

There are some products that allow non-contact charging of electronics but these use a coil in the charging device and in the electronics, AND the two items are only separated by perhaps 1/8" (to maybe 1/4"), and the charging is very inefficient. The only thing that makes it work is that the electronics don't require much power. Having one side be just a straight wire would reduce the coupling quite a bit.

Mike

[paul cottingham]

Mythbusters tried it, and could get no usable voltage, even close to the wires. Take what you will from that.

[Frederick Skelly]

As an electrician, I've heard many discussions about this on the jobsite over the years. As part of our apprenticeship training, we have to learn the workings of electricity and that includes understanding the magnetic fields that surround current traveling through a conductor. High tension lines create large magnetic fields.

The general consensus of the electricians I've worked with is never buy a house that is in close proximity to high tension lines. Roughly 90% felt that way. My ex-in laws lived practically right under them. Every time we went to visit them and humidity was high, I could hear the air crackle. I'll let the science and medical experts debate over the potential health risks, but for me, that crackling sound convinced me I would never buy a house under high tension lines.

+1 on magnetic fields and the crackle. Your resale value will likey be affected.

[ray hampton]

How many people work near-by the power plants and in the field doing maintenance on the tower equipments , DO THEY get sick more than the average
population ?

[Ethan Melad]

as cool looking as it is, the fact that you can power fluorescent tubes from overhead high tension lines kind of freaks me out. i don't think i'd consider living like that...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXhZvyGtMrk

[Ken Fitzgerald]

You can power fluorescent tubes with the RF from a MRI scanner too...I have seen it first hand......so what?

The results of scientific studies change daily, each refuting the previous theory. I don't place much confidence in them.

They are unsightly and could present a resale problem so I wouldn't buy a home near them for that reason alone.

As far as health issues, I don't think there is a definitive answer and I am sure they would present some RF interference problems with consumer electronic devices.

[Myk Rian]

We used to light up 4ft fluorescent tubes with our mobile CB radios.
Although we were running a couple hundred watts of power.

[David Weaver]

I don't think there is a definitive answer ...

Weak association with leukemia, which is why I wouldn't move close to one if kids are in the picture. There's just never going to be a great way to collect data to prove causation. You live next to it for 8 years and 300 yards away, the next subject lives 500 yards away for 3 years, and the next 350 for 35 years. You'd have to take a cohort of people and split them up over 35 years and put 10,000 of them under a power line and check for differences. It just isn't going to happen.

It reminds me (because the mrs. has a bunch of physician friends) where it's something that a dr. would say that there's no proven link, but they wouldn't live close to it, either.

[Brian Elfert]

It sounds like nobody would recommend living near a high tension power line. I did set up a meeting with a builder this week, but I highly doubt with land prices and my budget that I will be able to make a new house work. I am trying to sell my current house. My current house I had built in 2001, but it is way bigger than I need and too expensive. I just found out my property taxes are going up to $4,800 for this year and will probably be over $5,300 next year. My property taxes have gone up by $1,200 in two years.

It is likely I am going to have to settle for buying an existing house. I have my eye on a house built in 2002 selling for only $135,000, but it is a 40 mile trip each way to work versus 13 miles today. I am also looking at a dome house built in 1979 with 10 acres and several outbuildings for a shop that is $159,000 and 28 miles from work. I was hoping to look at a house close in with a 2.7 acre lot, but it sold Friday and I was supposed to look at it today. (The house I was going to look at today had been on the market for 4 months.)

[Dave Sheldrake]

There are far bigger threats from natural background radiation, Potassium 40 in Bananas for example @ 0.01mrem of dose, geothermal energy (heat) is a product of the decay of Potassium 40, Uranium 235,238 and Thorium 232 (plus some other minor nuclide's) and thus far we don't all seem to be glowing in the dark just yet :)

It's a sad fact that anything that radiates will always be a seller of news and stories designed to appeal to those who have little if any understanding of the relative dangers. I've known guys that bemoan the dangers of living within 500 miles of TMI and yet are 40 a day smokers.....

cheers

Dave

[Raymond Fries]

I would not move there. I am sensitive to energy and when I drive under a power line, it feels like I put a battery on my tongue only not as strong. I do not trust it.

Just my opinion.

Enjoy Life...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dave....I couldn't agree more......

[Keith Outten]

Deriving power from high energy T&D lines does work and it is very common. Power companies have a way to detect theft of electricity from coils hidden underground, I participated in a management seminar which included a presentation that outlined all of the common practices people use to obtain free energy. The presentation also included innovative ways people use to tap into their neighbors power and believe me people can be very innovative. Nobody in the industry will admit that this happens for obvious reasons.

[Rick Christopherson]

Deriving power from high energy T&D lines does work and it is very common. Someone is feeding you a line. The reason it doesn't work is because the distance between overhead phase conductors is relatively small compared to the distance to the ground. The net effect is that the distance from each phase wire is about the same, and the electromagnetic fields cancel at a distance from the line, such as being at ground level.

Yes, it would work with an elevated coil, especially one that was significantly closer to one phase conductor than another. But it will not work with a buried coil. For a buried coil to be significantly closer to one phase conductor than another, it would have to be far to the side, which also means it has to be even farther away from the conductor itself.

This is the same reason why you can't use a clamp-on ammeter around a multi-conductor power cord, but it reads just fine when only a single conductor passes through the loop.

[Bobby O'Neal]

For what its worth, I am a Lineman and work with electromagnetic fields everyday. Healthy as a horse.

Though, they aren't they most attractive land feature you could own.

[Curt Harms]

Owning a property near a high voltage line around here certainly wouldn't enhance the resale value. If I had to live or work very near a high voltage line, I wonder how building something similar to a Faraday cage - metal roof/siding, make sure the pieces are electrically bonded, good earth ground would help and if it'd be economical. Even if the structure worked it wouldn't help while in the back yard but seems like it'd reduce your exposure.

[Alan Bienlein]

I grew up seeing these power lines from my parents front door. Never really thought about except for foggy days when you could hear the sizzle from them. We even went and tried to get a flourescent light to light up but never did. I will also say these homes have no problem selling as a lot of the original homes were demolished to build bigger ones. My parents house sold before we could even get the for sale sign up this past November.
285481

[Alan Bienlein]

We used to light up 4ft fluorescent tubes with our mobile CB radios.
Although we were running a couple hundred watts of power.

That sure brings back memories except we only ever did that with the 8' t-12's. We would stand by the vehicle and key the mike and it was like someone turn the light switch on.

[Pat Barry]

The good thing about this is its AC power and multi-phase at that so the net effect of the electromagnetic field at any significant distance (maybe 3X the distance of the lines to ground) would be effectively canceled out completely. Otherwise, I would think we would see issues with trees and plant life being affected either one way or the other. I haven't ever seen anything about strange growth patterns of this type and I suspect that those plants would be much more sensitive than people in a physical sense.

[Tom Megow]

If your wear your Aluminum Foil hat you'll be fine

[Jim Matthews]

I used to work for a Power Company, we caught people stealing electricity constantly and the company showed no mercy when their lawyers took people to court. Farmers are notorious for burying coils under main T&D lines, they can provide power for a large barn absolutely free right up until the day they get caught :).

Shenanigans.
This sounds ridiculous.

If the Power Company owns the air around the lines, and all that's in it - I'm a Doctor of Brainatrics.

How a remote coil that works of the EMF generated would be a load falls with the square of the distance.
I would very much like to see a citation of what sounds like a "Rural legend".

https://user.physics.unc.edu/~deardorf/phys25/rwp/exam1rwpsolution.html

[Ole Anderson]

Just hope they don't fall your way in a severe ice storm. I wouldn't be concerned with the EMF, but aesthetics and the buzz during humid weather would be an issue for me. As far as property value, just make sure the asking price has already fully discounted the effect of the proximity of the lines. I have seen new subs put in which straddled 120 kv transmission lines and one sub had also had twin 30" and 36" high pressure gas lines 60 feet from one house setback line (over my objections an the township engineer). I talked to a gas company rep and he said that they were safe, but when pressured, said he wouldn't want his daughter living closer than a couple hundred yards.

[Brian Elfert]

Just hope they don't fall your way in a severe ice storm. I wouldn't be concerned with the EMF, but aesthetics and the buzz during humid weather would be an issue for me. As far as property value, just make sure the asking price has already fully discounted the effect of the proximity of the lines. I have seen new subs put in which straddled 120 kv transmission lines and one sub had also had twin 30" and 36" high pressure gas lines 60 feet from one house setback line (over my objections an the township engineer). I talked to a gas company rep and he said that they were safe, but when pressured, said he wouldn't want his daughter living closer than a couple hundred yards.

I looked at one house that was next to a major county road. It was oddly situated on a very large triangle shaped lot. I called city hall to ask about the laws for parking an RV because they are confusing. The zoning person offered to send me a PDF of the survey for the property. It turns out not only was there an easement for the power lines along the county road, but there was also a wide easement for natural gas lines. The house was situated oddly because that was the only place with no easements. I had hoped I could build an outbuilding on the open space, but that wasn't going to happen so I gave up on that house.

The lot I looked at with the high tension line is heavily discounted as the next cheapest lot for sale is almost $100,000 more. $30,000 for an acre lot with city sewer in a large metro area is a bargain. The power line is only on the back half of the lot since the line turns 90 degrees at that pole.

[Jimmy Phillips]

Deriving power from high energy T&D lines does work and it is very common. Power companies have a way to detect theft of electricity from coils hidden underground, I participated in a management seminar which included a presentation that outlined all of the common practices people use to obtain free energy. The presentation also included innovative ways people use to tap into their neighbors power and believe me people can be very innovative. Nobody in the industry will admit that this happens for obvious reasons.

Keith,

The ROI is too low here in my opinion.

https://user.physics.unc.edu/~deardorf/phys25/rwp/exam1rwpsolution.html

I think I would just continue to pay the power company extortion money..... :)

[Mike Henderson]

Keith,

The ROI is too low here in my opinion.

https://user.physics.unc.edu/~deardorf/phys25/rwp/exam1rwpsolution.html

I think I would just continue to pay the power company extortion money..... :)
Thanks for posting that link. Good explanation.

Mike

[Jim Rimmer]

The next cheapest lot is further away and twice the price at $60k.

There's your answer.

[Dan Hintz]

Shenanigans.
This sounds ridiculous.

If the Power Company owns the air around the lines, and all that's in it - I'm a Doctor of Brainatrics.

How a remote coil that works of the EMF generated would be a load falls with the square of the distance.
I would very much like to see a citation of what sounds like a "Rural legend".

https://user.physics.unc.edu/~deardorf/phys25/rwp/exam1rwpsolution.html

The best part of that link is this:

3) How must the farmer have positioned and oriented the coil in order to most effectively achieve his goal?

The coil should be positioned as close as possible to the transmission line since the magnetic field is inversely proportional to the distance from the line, and the coil should be oriented upright in a vertical plane aligned with the transmission line to maximize the magnetic flux from the magnetic field lines that encircle the transmission line.
As I mentioned in my first post, the amount of mutual inductance of a coil buried in the ground would be extremely titchy, which pretty much blows away any story of a farmer burying coils in the ground. Even if it was oriented vertically up one of the towers, it's still a relatively trivial amount of electricity.