Wind turbines

Has anyone had the experience of pacemaker disturbance when near a wind turbine? Our local hotel has one and I have to drive past quite often. At night especially I freqyuently experience a faster heart rate and thumping that is almost painful when I drive past. It takes a couple of minutes to settle down. I don't think i am imagining it, as even when we are absorbed in conversation and I don't note that we are near it, I will still feel the discomfort. I can't find anything by searching the internet.

4 Comments

HOW CLOSE

by pete - 2009-07-08 03:07:45

How large is the wind turbine and how close did you get to the main body /generator at the top of the mast? This is a very interesting observation. Cheers Peter

Our wind powered pub

by medtronic - 2009-07-08 05:07:57

It would be at least 100 metres back from the road, and is also very high, which is why I have doubted its effect (and because there seems to be no evidence of strong interference, as per the article mentioned). But it happens often, so something is causing it. I am usually just recovering when I am nearly home, which is another 3-4 minutes away.At its mildest it is a 'surge' and a sensation, and it at's worst a sharp pain and elevated HR. A couple of years ago my pacemaker malfunctioned and I was very sick until I realised that it was not me but the device. It turned out to have reverted to factory settings, but we never knew exactly what caused it. It's a good suggestion to find out the model (although I avoid bistro meals there these days!)

Generators and motors...

by TLR - 2009-07-09 07:07:43

Generators and motors are the same thing in effect just being fed from opposite sides of the windings. A coil of copper and a magnet is all you need for either if we're talking extremely basic principals. So what is my point? You are far more likely to get interference in a lift/elevator than you would from a wind turbine at 100m. in fact a cow chewing a mouthful of grass would probably generate more interference.

I have to ask, does the tower/mast/whatever have phone tranmitters on it? And do you carry a mobile with you? If you do then you should maybe be looking closer at the link between those than the turbine itself.

Just a thought, that is all.

Thanks for the feedback

by medtronic - 2009-07-09 08:07:32

Thanks to all - I appreciate the immediacy of this forum. It seems that there is something else causing my bumps and thumps. There is a phone tower just before the wind turbine and I do have two mobiles with me all the time, but there are phone towers everywhere. There are also cows nearby, so who knows!! On the whole, my pacemaker/defibrillator is doing fine, so I guess that is the main thing.

You know you're wired when...

You need to be re-booted each morning.

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