Plant room

Hi, I am English so my vocab might be odd but I hope you can help my husband. Tony had a pacemaker in Jan 2015. He teaches Electronics. The school built a new building and his room is beside the school plant room with a large electrical motor and induction motor right against the wall with his whiteboard on it. The commissioning engineer told him there is a magnetic field but no-one can tell us how strong it is. Tony is in a different room for now but getting no help from the powers that be. Any ideas where to go next? He has spoken to his union...Thanks

8 Comments

The powers that be

by oldearthworm - 2015-09-25 05:09:08

are right here at the pacemaker Club .. The should be in other places as well, but until more people are taught communications ... speaking, listening, reading, writing ...Everything I have read about electronic fields seems to be ..simply no problem ...These modern day pacemakers are great !
. But I can see the concern ..

Same here

by Theknotguy - 2015-09-25 05:09:18

GoodDog and Cabg Patch have pretty well summed it up. You can also contact PJinSC using the private messages option on the forum. He works at an electrical plant and gets around very high voltages. So far with no problems.

The newer PM's seem not to be bothered as much as the older models.

I work in a wood shop, run all the electrical equipment, have also gotten around the 220 volt electrical panel with no problems. Have also grabbed a live 110 volt line with no impact on my PM.

In the US we have 880 volts on the pole, transformers step it down to 440, then 220 going into the residence. I've walked past 440 to 220 transformers without any problems. I also have an induction transformer in my back yard that supplies 220 to the residence. I've actually walked over and put my foot on it with no problems. I'm not about to hug it to see if there would be problems, but I'm not concerned about being beside it.

I feel GoodDog's idea is a good one. Have him go into the area, then check with a tech to see if any problems.

Hope everything turns out well.

Karen

by IAN MC - 2015-09-25 06:09:58

Never apologise for your vocabulary .

It's all the others who are strange !

Ian (UK)

Hi Karen........

by Tattoo Man - 2015-09-25 07:09:49


....its a global fact that everybody who has some kind of Contractual / Insurance issue will distance themselves from anyone who is not ...' Normal...Fit...At Risk'......

It may well be difficult to get some common sense here...but...

1...Tony is in the tech world..get info..

2...Unions are there to protect the likes of Tony and you

Get intelligent informed advice,..even if you have to pay for it.

Karen and Tony are NOT victims of a cardiac condition..they are the beneficiaries of fantastic technology....both deserve to work and contribute to the wealth of the UK.

Anybody disagree ??

Tattoo Man..Lincolnshire

PS ..I am with IAN MC !!

Check the pacer

by Good Dog - 2015-09-25 11:09:55

Unless he is standing right on top of the motor, it is unlikely the magnetic field is strong enough to present a problem. I doubt that there would be a problem even if he was standing on the motor.
However, the Pacemaker will record any electrical interference. So I would suggest that he speak with his Tech (the person that does the pacer checks) or the Doc. They can advise him what to check for at present and then they can check the pacer diagnostics to see if there was any previous interference from the motors.
I have worked very closely around both large induction (up to 500 h.p.) and large synchronous (up to 3,000 h.p.) motors. I mean that I was so close that I was actually working on the motor while running (although I wouldn't suggest it for anyone else). I never had a problem, but I was always aware and checked my pulse regularly when doing so.
It is good to be cautious, but pacers nowadays aren't as sensitive as one might think.
Sincerely,

Dave

I'd rather hug a transformer...

by donr - 2015-09-26 02:09:12

...box in my front yard than a black bear in my back yard!

Dunno where The Knot Guy lives, but here in rural Nawth Jawja, the transformer on my property about 50 ft from our house is fed a by an underground line at either 12,000 V or 19,000 V. can't recall which. I wandered outside one day while the power Co. crew was playing around w/ it & asked them what it was. We are at the end of a 750 foot (roughly) underground run from a pole out at the county road. The power down that line parallel to the road is atop wooden poles. The lines are steel & run about 300 yds between poles, so the voltage has to be high to keep the line losses down - which happens when you have lower voltaqes. Our multi-thousand volt underground supply cable is "Direct Burial," w heavy rubber/polymer insulation that can withstand the environment of dirt, water & sharp rocks. OTOH, the 220 Volt cable from the transformer to our house is encased in a hard PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) conduit.

I checked & learned that most of the transformers that you see atop the wooden "Telephone Poles" in the US are 7200 volts minimum, stepping down to 220 V for the lines going into a house or small business.

For our European friends, most power distribution poles in the US are wood, about 1 foot (30 Cm) at the base & about 30 - 40 ft (10 meters) tall. The concrete or steel pole is not yet common here. Our tall distribution structures for the 100,000 Volt transmission lines have always been steel and are rapidly becoming cast, prestressed, reinforced concrete.

My private underground line is buried less than 6 feet below the surface except where it surfaces immediately beneath the transformer box.. I wander around out there all the time w/ no ill effect. Te route of the line is unmarked, except for where it starts & where it stops. As to hugging the transformer - I inadvertently did that one day when working near it. I dropped a tool the fell on top of the box & promptly rolled down on the other side. I leaned over the box & would up lying atop it. No ill effect at all.

The 2015 era transformer is very efficiently designed to keep from losing stray magnetic field - to do so means loss of revenue to the power co. MOF, that has been the case for many years. The same is true for large electric motors - magnetic fields are very closely controlled to keep them inside the devices - leakage & losses start w/ the same letter!

Also - the steel can that step[down transformer is encased in is a pretty decent magnetic shield. T demonstrate this effect - grab a magnet off the front of your fridge. Find another piece of steel & stick the magnet to it. then try to pick up a straight pin - kinda tough to do. Same is true for the small magnetic disks on the back of name tags - the bar that holds them onto the clothing front "absorbs" most of the magnetic field. The transformer can does the same thing.

Donr

Hear, Hear, Tattman!!!!!

by donr - 2015-09-26 03:09:46

The capability of transporting huge quantities of electrical power great distances has done more to improve thew quality of life of the average person more than any other aspect of the industrial revolution.

As recently as 1955, I had a college roommate from very rural Minnesota (Northern Central plains abutting the Canadian border) who did not have electricity at his farmstead till 1948!

It was not until then that the rural US had the universal capability to have electric lights, indoor toilets & bathrooms - something that most of us took for granted. Previously, some farmers had gasoline powered generators or a windmill powered generator that stored energy in large banks of lead-acid storage batteries, but that was expensive & not wide-spread.

Donr

Plant room

by KarenHarman - 2015-09-27 06:09:06

Tony and I are extremely grateful for all your comments and advice. He has decided to act on GoodDog's advice - he reckons many of students would enjoy a project on 'getting Sir to fall down with big magnets' but is saving it for later. So a huge think you from me and as we say in Suffolk, 'Cheers !'

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