Electricity sub station

ValHaller

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Also excellent broadband speed if that's the cable box out front.

No hope. That is the 415 Volt distribution pillar.

DaftyDuck

ValHaller wrote: »

No hope. That is the 415 Volt distribution pillar.

Oops... best not connect a modem to it, I guess!;)

ValHaller

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Oops... best not connect a modem to it, I guess!;)

No, the 415V won't like it.

Riggster

Doesn't seem like a problem to me. If it means the property is a bit cheaper because of it, then that's a nice compromise. Do you have a helpful conveyancing solicitor lined up? If so, drop them an e-mail to ask if they can think of any negatives.

patman99

If the green box were a 415v pillar, then it would have a large 'Danger. High Voltage' sign on it (according to a mate who works for N/G).

OP, the best thing to do is to park up and go stand by it. You should soon tell if there is an annoying hum. At the same time you can check out the signs on the gate.

I live in a block of flats & next door to us is a large substation that is fully uncovered & we don't hear any noise.

ValHaller

patman99 wrote: »

If the green box were a 415v pillar, then it would have a large 'Danger. High Voltage' sign on it (according to a mate who works for N/C)

415V is low voltage when it comes to warning signs

Kynthia

My brother bought a house next to one and has no problems with it at all. It may reduce the pool of interested purchasers, but not enough to cause a problem selling.

Moonraker71

Hi Joujou,

I thought I'd just chime in, as I just withdrew my offer on a house with a sub-station at the rear on Monday last week.

The house was a tiny converted fire station, really nicely done and had been on the market for over a year at a reasonable price. I'd had my eye on it all this time and wondered why it hadn't sold. When I got an offer on my place I decided to go and view, though I admit I was put off by the sub-station with its big yellow "Danger of Death" warning signs all over it. However, the estate agent told me it had been decommissioned and was just sitting there dormant because it was "cheaper for the council to leave it in situ than dismantle it."

I felt reassured enough by this to put an offer in. Then I did my own homework and discovered via a call to UK Power Networks that this was an outright lie. It was still fully operational. I withdrew my offer because a) I believed this was the main reason the property had been on the market so long and I worried about re-sale and b) I was concerned that some kind of media story (whether scaremongering or genuine) might pop up in the future about new research indicating there *are* health risks after all (I could just picture a Daily Mail "New research proves sub-stations DO cause cancer" double page spread). And I felt if this happened, the property could seriously drop in value.

I'm not a totally risk averse person - I've now put an offer in on a house just on the border of a flood plain - but I just felt this wasn't for me. Yours is not actually attached to the house though, and I think that makes a big difference. Mine was fenced to the back wall.

Incidentally, my dad bumped into one of the neighbours who used to work there when it was a fire station and he said it hummed absolutely relentlessly and drove everyone crazy. Just another thing to bear in mind.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

lessonlearned

I used to work for new builder developers.

On one site we had a sub station right next to Plot 1. We had to sell that house at a loss.......

I would never buy a house next door to either a substation or anywhere remotely near pylons - just my opinion of course.

retepetsir

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I have to admit that I wouldn't buy the house either because I know one member of my family (a doctor) would be extremely uncomfortable about perceived potential health risks - even from an installation this small.

The house itself looks good, you know why it's cheap, it's going to be harder to sell and many families won't even consider it.

You're buying cheap and you're going to have to sell cheap. If that's no problem for you, go for it.

Seriously? Nothing wrong with those kinds of substations! Now if it was a 400kV site you may be a little more worried :rotfl:.

It's unusual to have them fully enclosed in a building too so that's a bonus, and would provide any 'shielding' to EMF (not that it's required).

I'd go for it (Electrical Engineer by trade)