A power station in my backyard?

July 1, 2005 9:00 PM

Living near power lines? Searching for a home, my girlfriend and I have found a house we want to make an offer on. It's our dream house in a nice town, but there's an issue... the house sits about 100 yards away from this... a relatively small power distribution/transfer station adjacent to the property. Do we have anything to be concerned about or should I go buy some lead boxer shorts?

I've done all the googling I could stand in the last 48 hours reading about cancer studies and dangers of living under high voltage power lines. I know all the stories. The thing is, there are NO overhead power lines associated with this station. I called the power company and they assured me it should be safe and that the lines are underground.

Here's another close-up photo.

The station is tucked away behind a large stand of trees and a barn so it won't really be an eyesore thing. There is a slight hum coming from it, but it's not audible from the yard or the house. And it's fenced in well, so I'm not too worried about kids or pets getting in there. I'm actually feeling OK about it, but my girlfriend is terrified of getting cancer. Is there anything to be really concerned about?

posted by evoo to Home & Garden (21 answers total)

100 yards away? No, there probably isn't really anything to worry about. The lead in those boxer shorts, on the other hand, is pretty likely to be poisonous.

(On the other hand, even if your girlfriend's fears are irrational, they are real... if she can't get over them, then that still sounds like a deal breaker to me.)
posted by xil at 9:17 PM on July 1, 2005

You should meet my 92 year old Grandpa, who worked in a PG&E powerhouse for about 40 years and is healthy as a horse.
posted by scarabic at 9:40 PM on July 1, 2005

Well, the research supports pretty much no correlation between exposure to power-line EM types/frequencies and cancer occurrences:

http://www.skepticfiles.org/faq/emffaqas.htm

As a previous poster said, if your girlfriend is convinced already that living near power lines or stations is dangerous, reading that study may not convince her otherwise.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 10:03 PM on July 1, 2005

That thing is tiny. The "high" in high voltage is 100,000 volts to 1 million volts and up. Judging by the small size and lack of big insulators, that thing is nowhere near that. You can call the power company to make sure, but I'd bet it is only a few thousand volts.

I've never done it, but supposedly if you go at night and stand near real high voltage lines with a fluorescent light, the light will glow. You could try that, and if it works for you, show your girlfriend how the light glows at the real high voltage stuff but does not glow at the little station by your house. Like Frodo's sword.

So whether or not high voltage lines cause the cancer, you don't have any high voltage lines near you.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:04 PM on July 1, 2005

AFAIK there's still no good evidence that VLF EMF causes any kind of health problems, but I haven't followed it for a little while. Odds are you're getting many times more exposure from the wires in your house than from a substation like that one anyway.

I'd be more concerned with chemical contamination --- if the substation's been there for a while, there's a possibility it used PCBs in its transformers back in the day, and those aren't good for you. (If there was a spill that wasn't adequately cleaned up.)

To be honest, what makes me most nervous is all the compressed-gas canisters that seem to have been carelessly left lying around inside the fence. What's up with that?
posted by hattifattener at 10:04 PM on July 1, 2005

The only thing I would be worried about is that if those transformers leak, it might introduce PCB's into the soil. PCB's are cancer causing agents but considering how far it is from you, I think you will be OK unless water runs through the area with the transformers into your yard.

If you want to relieve your fears, I believe you can take a soil sample and have it tested for PCB's. Unfortunately, I don't know where. Your local power company might be able to tell you, or they might do the tests for you if you ask.
posted by lockle at 10:05 PM on July 1, 2005

Not to do with health, but...

I grew up in a house next to a gas utility station. It was usually fine, except for the occasional middle-of-the-night repair. But then sometimes the noise (higher pitched than a hum) from the station would get to be too loud and my parents would call and complain. We were the only residential neighbors, and I suspect that eventually my parents became an annoyance to the utility company. The company used their right to eminent domain and removed us from our house. They did pay for the property -- though the value was decided in court, not on the open market.

I don't know what I'd advise, except perhaps to bear in mind that if the station begins to make a noise, or requires bright light or whatnot, their need to exist as a utility may eclipse your need for silence or darkness.
posted by xo at 10:22 PM on July 1, 2005

I thought PCBs had been banned from transformer use, and old ones were converted.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:54 PM on July 1, 2005

Well, the research supports pretty much no correlation between exposure to power-line EM types/frequencies and cancer occurrences:


That link you posted Dipsomaniac was pretty informative and thorough but the jury seems to be still out according this summary in Part 2:

Subject: 22) What is the strongest evidence for a connection between
power-frequency fields and cancer?

The best evidence for a connection between cancer and power-frequency
fields is probably:
a) The four epidemiological studies that show a correlation between
childhood cancer and proximity to high-current wiring [C1,C6,C10,M2], plus
the meta-analysis of the Scandinavian studies [B6].
b) The epidemiological studies that show a significant correlation between
work in electrical occupations and cancer, particularly leukemia and brain
cancer [B1,B2,D7,D9].
c) The lab studies that show that power-frequency fields do produce
bioeffects. The most interesting of the lab studies are probably the ones
showing increased transcription of oncogenes at fields of 1-5 G (100-500
microT) [H4,H5,L1].
d) The one laboratory study that provides evidence that power-frequency
magnetic fields can promote chemically-induced breast cancer [G22].

Subject: 23) What is the strongest evidence against a connection between
power-frequency fields and cancer?

The best evidence that there is not a connection between cancer and
power-frequency fields is probably:
a) Application of the Hill criteria (Question 20) to the entire body of
epidemiological and laboratory studies.
b) The fact that all studies of genotoxicity, and all but one study of
promotion have been negative (Question 16).
c) AdairUs [F4] biophysical analysis that indicates that "any biological
effects of weak (less than 40 mG, 4 microT) ELF fields on the cellular
level must be found outside of the scope of conventional physics"
d) JacksonUs [E8] and OlsenUs [C15] epidemiological analysis that shows
that childhood and adult leukemia rates have been stable over a period of
time when per capita power consumption has risen dramatically.

This seems to be another useful site on the topic.
posted by euphorb at 10:56 PM on July 1, 2005

Transformers do explode on rare occasion, which could be rather exciting.
I'd worry more about that hum being really annoying in the dead of night than I would about cancer.
posted by madajb at 11:01 PM on July 1, 2005

I would worry more about interference in radio reception.
posted by Cranberry at 1:07 AM on July 2, 2005

There are things like that everywhere, they're just generally not so visible. It's unlikely you'll be able to buy a house that doesn't have something similar somewhere nearby. If your girlfriend works in a large office building, there may well be one in the basement.

Also, there's a huge difference between overhead powerlines and what's going on in that little thing.
posted by cillit bang at 1:49 AM on July 2, 2005

hattifattener's concern about those gas bottles is worth addressing. (They are probably full of nitrogen, which is not an environmental threat.) If a compressed-gas bottle falls over and its valve is snapped off, the bottle becomes a rocket, and can move at high speed. Since it's heavy, anything in its path is going to get hurt. This is not a remote possibility; there are regulations for securing gas bottles because of this kind of event. If they can't secure those bottles upright, they should lay them down, so they can't fall over.

posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:57 AM on July 2, 2005

I grew up under power lines and I'm a-okay.
posted by k8t at 6:49 AM on July 2, 2005

Regardless of studies that may or may not indicate causation, radiation dosage varies as one over the distance squared (1/d-squared). Therefore, at a distance of 2 feet, your potential dose is 1/4 that at 1 foot. At 100 yards it's 1/10,000th that at one yard. You've got nothing to worry about.

And fishfreshfish is correct about the present use of transformers with PCBs, the cancer causing qualities of which are a whole 'nother discussion and also open to question.
posted by Pressed Rat at 7:43 AM on July 2, 2005

I used to live by one of those. They are actually a benefit in that when the power gets knocked out, people near the substations are generally the first to get reconnected. Also, sometimes weather (extreme heat, lightning) can make the transformers explode. If you ever get a chance to witness that, it's pretty awesome (don't worry, no significant debris/shrapnel risk).
posted by Doohickie at 9:37 AM on July 2, 2005

A friend of mine had the same worry. They had someone come and take measurements of the radioation. Turns out there was none. I can't remember if they paid someone to do it or if the utility did it for free.
posted by about_time at 10:10 AM on July 2, 2005

Response by poster: Wow, thanks everyone for your thoughtful responses.

I agree with hattifattener that those gas canisters are worth investigating. Since they're so carelessly strewn around, I have a feeling they may just be empty, but I will definitely look into it.

And it looks like this question may have inspired a FPP by TheOnlyCoolTim... Yikes!

A little digging on the web tells me that this is a "4kV station with two 6.25MVA transformers." Apparently the line that serves the town is a 14kV radial line. (Whatever that means.)

If anyone has any other thoughts, they would be much appreciated.

Thanks again.
posted by evoo at 11:13 AM on July 2, 2005

The presence of these things impacts property values, more so if they're visible from your property. This is independent of whether or not they represent a real hazard. That's worth knowing.

I agree with the above posters that, as far as my scientific and epidemiologic understanding extends, there is no (or infinitesimal) reason to expect a hazard from this sort of power substation.
posted by ikkyu2 at 3:21 PM on July 2, 2005

The presence of them undoubtedly affects the property value, but that's no big deal: the property is going to be cheaper going into it, and you'll get a little less coming out. Big whoopie.

Evoo: If it's your dream home, take it. You'll never regret it.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:12 AM on July 3, 2005

I wouldn't worry about it except for one thing...

If someday you or your girlfriend get cancer, or have a miscarraige, is she going to get pissed at you for making her live near that horrid death trap?
posted by mosch at 12:43 AM on July 3, 2005