Technical > Home Improvement > Electric Corridors and Health

I seem to recall that about 15-20 years ago, there was stories on the nightly news about the "dangers" of living near/under HV lines.

I do remember that because of what we had heard/read, when we were out home shopping, we avoided homes that were near, or under HV Lines.

I forgot all about that, until I read your post. Funny how at one time the media and "watch dog" groups were warning of the dangers of HV lines [which have for the most part been proven false].
The only danger is if the line falls on you or your house, or shorts to ground. Plus the annoying "buzz".

When I was a kid, one of the schools I attended had these lines running through the parking lot and part of the athletic fields (out past the end zone). Generations of children attended that school, with no negative effects that I'm aware of.

There were a couple of interesting phenomena, though:

1. On rainy or really humid days, the lines would crackle incessantly (they always hummed a bit). Kind of freaky to hear if you weren't used to it, but it was something that you quickly became accustomed to.

2. Under the right conditions, cars parked under or even near the lines would develop a kind of "static electricity" feel to them, due to an induced electrical current. This was erratic, though, where one person might feel it but the next one might not (it may have depended a lot on what kind of shoes they were wearing and so on) and required a gentle, back-of-the-fingers touch against the metal in order to feel it. It was a very weird sensation if you didn't know to expect it. As far as I know, though, there were no real negative consequences to this - for the people or the cars.

EMF strength for point sources (e.g. an appliance) is 1/r^2, and for linear sources (power lines) it's 1/r.

As far as health concerns, you aren't going to get any definitive answer one way or another, especially here. You will have people that insist that it causes every malady from ingrown toenails to cancer, and you'll have people that insist it is 100% safe. And unfortunately, there's medical and scientific evidence that supports but does not prove any and all of the above.

Personally, I wouldn't live under HV power lines, but more for aesthetic reasons, not health concerns. Plus, the higher the voltage/current, the larger the setback from the lines. I don't think I've ever seen very high voltage lines that run through residential neighborhoods.

Just down the road from us there is a pretty large HV line, the towers are about 150 feet tall. Just recently someone bought the parcel at the top left corner of this intersection and built a really nice house next to the other newer home. Unlike the other house which faces east, the new house faces south directly at the HV lines. The driveway comes down and lines up with that giant tower that is just across the street. When they go to sell I bet they take a big hit because of those lines. The worst part is they could have really minimized the look of the lines, by just facing the house east instead of south.

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As far as health concerns, you aren't going to get any definitive answer one way or another, especially here. You will have people that insist that it causes every malady from ingrown toenails to cancer, and you'll have people that insist it is 100% safe. And unfortunately, there's medical and scientific evidence that supports but does not prove any and all of the above.

Personally, I wouldn't live under HV power lines, but more for aesthetic reasons, not health concerns. ...

If you can hear it, smell it, and even at times feel it, it certainly have _some_ effect.
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Yes, there is always risk in the world, but, especially since you mention young children, why take even any minimal chance, it what is essentially and on-going uncontrolled, unmonitored experiment?

It's been a while, but what I remember is that it might completely wipe-out AM stuff, but FM stuff was mostly unaffected.

However it can wreak havoc on AM transmissions at virtually any frequency. I've run into that a number of times with my job and have had to pinpoint the powerline hardware that was the source of the noise so that the utility could come and repair them.

I don't think I've ever seen very high voltage lines that run through residential neighborhoods.