Hi, there is a utility pole in my lot and there is also a cylindrical shaped transformer hanging off of it. I did some research on it and it is used to step down the voltage from 7000 volts to 120 volts. Does the EMF (electromagnetic field) it generates pose any health threat to the household? Thanks-jj
It takes voltage and current (together they create power) to create EMF. EMF energy is an inverse cube function of distance. The effects you feel from 120V at 10 feet would exceed the effects of 7000V at 35 feet, assuming the same current. Of course, the current at the transformer pole probably far exceeds the kind of current you find in household appliances, but on the other hand people get much closer to 120V that 10 feet. I bet you get more EMF from your vacuum cleaner than from your pole transformer.
None at all 7,000 Volts is extremely small and EMF probable could not be detected from the ground But real High tension wires (350,000 V) or the lines carrying the main electricity for distribution to big areas would be a problem.
This Site Might Help You. RE: is pole mounted transformer emf harmful? Hi, there is a utility pole in my lot and there is also a cylindrical shaped transformer hanging off of it. I did some research on it and it is used to step down the voltage from 7000 volts to 120 volts. Does the EMF (electromagnetic field) it generates pose any health threat to the household?
No. The level of EMF is dependent on the current flowing through the wires. The higher the current, the higher the magnetic field. The strength of the EMF also decreases with distance. The pole is at the edge of your lot and the transformer is probably 20' in the air. In reality, high load appliances in your home are much closer to you and your family. The EMF fields measured next to a toaster, microwave oven, electric range, or electric blanket are far higher than you'll likely measure standing below the transformer. In October 2000, Discover magazine published a list of the 20 Greatest Engineering Blunders of the past twenty years. EMF made the list -- Below is the text and a link to the official article. Currents That Don't Kill: The Clinton administration estimates that American taxpayers have paid $25 billion to determine that power lines don't do anything more deadly than deliver power. In 1989, Paul Brodeur published a series of articles in The New Yorker raising the possibility of a link between electromagnetic fields and cancer. Eight years later, after several enormous epidemiological studies in Canada, Britain, and the United States, the danger was completely discounted. All known cancer-inducing agents act by breaking chemical bonds in DNA, says Robert Park. The amount of photon energy it takes is an ultraviolet wavelength. So any wavelength that is longer cannot break chemical bonds. Visible light does not cause cancer. Infrared light is still longer, radio waves longer still. Power-line fields are preposterous. The wavelength is in miles.
