Overhead electricity cables close to the house?

kiwi_fruit

We're in the early stages of buying a house(had an offer accepted a week ago) We love it and it ticks all the boxes but one negative thing about it is that it has overhead wires pretty close to the house and the wooden pole is just at the end of the drive(3-4m from the front door) There's also a relatively small transformer on the edge of the field about 50 yards away from the house.
I'm sorry if it's a daft question but does this mean the area has a higher EMF than an area with underground wires? Are there any longterm health risks etc?
The picture below is not the one of the actual house but one in the same area and the pole is pretty much the same.

hcb42

looks like my village!

i would buy it and put up with the pole, it's lovely.

kiwi_fruit

hcb42 wrote: »

looks like my village!

i would buy it and put up with the pole, it's lovely.

It's actually on the edge of town in Somerset, but certainly does have a village feel/look Thanks for your opinion.

agrinnall

Millions of people in the UK and billions throughout the world live close to overhead electric cables without any concerns. I don't think there is any serious evidence of increased health risk but if you're worried enough to ask the question then it may be that you would never be completely happy living there.

scheming_gypsy

kiwi_fruit wrote: »

Are there any longterm health risks etc?

how healthy do the current owners and neighbours look?

chris_m

kiwi_fruit wrote: »

I'm sorry if it's a daft question but does this mean the area has a higher EMF than an area with underground wires? Are there any longterm health risks etc?

Most unlikely - that will be 240 volt domestic supply up the pole so no significantly greater risk than from the wiring inside the house itself. The only supposed (not definitively proven) risk is from high-voltage power transmission lines, where the voltage is in the order of tens or hundreds of thousand volts. The thicker (lower) cable, btw, looks like it's telephone o/h cable.

All those wires should be great for swallows roosting in the summer and gathering prior to the autumn migration too - chitter chatter, lovely

paddyrg

All the hoohah about EMF's is generally put about by vested interest groups with something unproven to sell with a bit of value-added fear. Rather, there is no evidence to suggest that domestic low-power lines like your own have any measurable effect on health whatsoever.

McKneff

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

how healthy do the current owners and neighbours look?

Go and visit in the dark and see if they are glowing:D

If they are, don't buy it.

westv

Someone mention EMF?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnH9NreW95Y

chris_m

McKneff wrote: »

Go and visit in the dark and see if they are glowing:D

Like these?

http://hacknmod.com/hack/field-of-fluorescent-tubes-powered-by-ambient-current/

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

kiwi_fruit

Thanks for your response ,I very much appreciate that. I guess I just wanted to put my mind at rest as I'm a bit of a paranoid nature at times lol:D
But you do try to consider all sorts of things when making such an important decision, and I have read something in the past about people advising to avoid buying a house close to a pylon(which I appreciate have much higher voltage) due to health risks and short term problems like headaches etc.
I can't quite undertand why they aren't underground though, where we live now(Cardiff) only overhead cables are telephone I believe.
Anyway thanks for you input once again.
p.s. the current owner is a very elderly lady and as far as we know she doesn't glow in the dark, no:D