seefah

Thanks for everyone's advice, I successfully got a 60 day ext.

If I can get 400k before this visa extension runs out, can I continue the renewal for another year without leaving the country?

As already said, requirements were marriage certificate, wife's house book and ID card, plus copies, fee of 1900.

Additional things requested were a copy of child's birth cert., copies of several pages in my passport (not just my info page and previous visa stamp), TM.7 form that can be picked up at the information counter. I was also asked why I wasn't renewing my visa for 1 year again, to which I just said that I needed to leave the country.

4 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Before going out for the visa you could apply for a 60 day extension to visit your wife near the end of your current one year extension.

Just to confirm, I can go to my local immigration office in Thailand and request a 60 day extension that would be valid till near end of February, then can go to Savannakhet to get a new 1 year non-o, is that right? It would be great to move my visa renal date from end of December to something else.

Are these the correct requirements for 60 day extension?

• Take wife with me to immigration
• Take marriage certificate, wife's house book and ID card, plus copies
• 1900 baht for extension cost

Thanks everyone for pointing out that option.

Is there a list of documents needed somewhere? I need to take the kid to school just now, but when I come back I'll look up other guy's Savannakhet visa trips for more info on how to get there and their experiences.

For several years now I’ve been on a non-o visa based on marriage & child, but this year has been a particularly hard year (don’t judge) and I don’t have the 400k in the bank or 40k per month. Is there any possible way to renew my non-o visa for another year? My understanding is its not possible, so what options do I have?

Thanks to a txt message from a friend at the stadium, they are showing tonight's charity event live at http://www.pattayaboxingworldlive.com

Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions.

I believe it is the flow switch, but I'm not prepared to wait a week for that to come. So in the end I bought a new Mitsubishi pump. Seems like every store at the moment are trying to push Hitachi pumps, hope I made the right choice with Mitsu.

What I'll do with the old one I'm not sure. Unlikely to keep it, so does anyone know of someone who will buy for parts?

Switch seems clean enough. I also put the end of the screw driver in at the bottom of the spring to short the contact, but nothing.

Thanks wayned for your feedback. Answer / clarification to your points;

1. I think I correctly(?) shorted out the side contacts on the pressure switch, but not the wires. Like indicated in this picture I found. There is no way to short out the wires unless cutting them first.

2. I don't think the motor or bearings are bad. They turn smoothly with pretty much no noise.

3. I can replace the capacitor. The only electronic parts shop I know of is in Thepprasit Road near the petrol station. Not sure if they are open today, I suspect not. Do you know?

If I can get the capicitor component today, then I'll replace that first. If not, I might just get a new pump, reluctantly.

Okay, I see the rectangle capacitor is in the dark grey box that sits on top of the motor. It looks okay, nothing burst or blown.

Pib, I don't see a motor capacitor, can you see that in any of my photos?

Indeed the pressure switch is about 650 Baht or more, but can't find shop with OEM version with same rating and thread size to screw back on.

Also not sure about the pressure circuit board. Even though the green light comes on with power, I suspect it might be the actual problem.

When working, after opening a tap, maybe 2 seconds before hear the pump start. Upstairs maybe 3 or 4 seconds.

I'm in Pattaya, but the shop we originally bought the pump from only sells the complete unit, not parts, just like most other shops selling water pumps. Unfortunately the smaller independently owned shops were wanting silly prices when I asked, like 1,500 Baht just for the pressure switch, that should actually be just 600 Baht or less for a non-Mitsubishi brand. So I went off to Num Chai Service Centre on Sukhumvit Road and booked the engineer to come have a look. It was only 500 Baht. He suggested that both the pressure switch and the flow switch be replaced. All this young engineer did was unscrew a few things, no test meters or anything.

A phone call today from Num Chai came later afternoon <sigh> with a 2,900 Baht price, but would also have to wait 1 week for the parts to come from Bangkok. When my wife called them, they wouldn't give a breakdown of the cost. Now I'm thinking do I buy new for 6,700 Baht, or suffer 1 a week of inconvenience. If there were another shop with replacement parts, I'd get from there, but I don't know of any others.

I decided to take a look myself at the pump, and as wayned suggest, I shorted out the connection that the pressure switch connected into, but nothing.

I took a photos of the steps I did for others to see.

If you're doing this yourself, you'll need a large towel. Empty the water sitting in pipes by opening all the taps and letting the water drain. Then remove the left larger cap on top of the motor, then the right cap. If going further, then the pressure switch, then what I think is the water flow switch. As in order in my photos attached. When putting back together, just do in reverse.

Anyone got any other suggestions to try?

So I went through the same procedure as I previously said, but the pump doesn't pump any water or make a sound. This is so frustrating.

Apparently when I was out today, my wife says it was working for about 1 hour, enough to get some laundry done.

So, the water pump went on for about a minute or so and filled the 2 toilet systems upstairs, then the pump switched off as it should. I then opened each tap individually to let some water through which gets rid of the discoloured water. In between each tap the water pump would switch off and on again as it should. Then at the last tap, maybe after about 1 minute or so, water started to come out then into a dribble, the water pump had stopped again. If I leave a tap open and unplug the water pump electric then plug it in again, nothing. No sound, no movement.

Its not the quietest of pumps, but I don't think its any louder then say a few years ago. I don't think the pump creates hot water from over heating, but with long use the pump can get quite warm to hot.

Hi,

I have the Mitsubishi EP-205Q2 Constant Pressure Water Pump, date stamped 2008. Its been a great worker over the years, but it now has problem.

It stopped pumping (again) so I unplugged the pump from electric and opened all the taps upstairs and downstairs to drain the water. Then removed both top caps on the water pump to remove as much water as I could.
Filled up both cap holes and put the caps back on (bigger cap first on left, then the smaller one on right). The water pump starts for about 1 minute or so, filling the toilet systems etc, then stops working.

Even after removing power and back on again it does nothing. I've had to do the above steps before (a few times over the past year) to get the pump working again, but this time its not continuing after 1 minutes or so.

What can it be?

I didn't realise EMS from ThailPost could now track packages sent internationally.

Okay thanks, I'll try EMS and see how it works out.

Reading through some old threads it looks like sending mail via Thailand's EMS can still be problematic for tracking.

Is EMS still the cheapest / best way to track international post and how reliable is it?

Photo showing the beach full on the second day of fireworks. Unfortunately my second day fireworks photos weren't good at all.

Here's some of my shots from the North end of Pattaya Beach.

These were on the first day of fireworks, the second day we actually left early as we felt this year's show just didn't have the same feeling as previous ones here in Pattaya. It was still good, but nothing like the synchronised fireworks and music show maybe 2 or 3 years ago.

Its a shame the Walking Street TV couldn't have been dimmed for the 2 days, not that big an issue though. Like the heart shaped fireworks, but my shots are a bit lackluster.

I'll suggest these realitively low cost options -

I'd recommend Art in Paradise. I wrote about it some time ago, read about it here along with info from others

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/570592-pattayas-new-3d-art-museum/#entry5495490

Fun Ball Battle in Central Mall on 4th floor is great for kids for an hour or two at a time. Go from about lunch time onwards so there are more kids there which makes for more fun / chaos. Also Central have a reasonable food court on the ground floor. Fun Ball Battle will give a paper wrist band for your kids which they can keep hold of and come back later on the same day (best you confirm with staff too). Maybe you go for the cinima, but the next showing of the movie is in a hour, take them to fun ball battle, then cinima, then have option to go back and play more, which they usually want to do providing not too late (meaning less kids to interact with as gone home). Or perhaps 3pm kids can play, whilst they play you can go to Se-Ed book shop and get a 50 Baht kids book (examples with English & Thai - The Ugly Duckling, Little Red Ridding Hood, etc) for later, or better to take the kids there first so they can choose, after an hour or so go to the food court, have a small rest / kids read book and then can go back to play again. Tires them out for bed time.

3D Cinima in Central Mall, Big C North (very near Art in Paradise), The Avenue Mall. Can check on the internet for what's showing. Note that all cinimas tend to have quite cool air conditioning, so best to take jackets or similar for everyone, I also take a blanket to cover my kids legs.

Beach to play on the sand. Maybe go to Toys-R-Us (also in Central Mall) and get a kite for 159 Baht each, if I remember the price correctly. They can then run up and down the beach flying their kite(s). Beach is realatively safe for kites as there are no power cables. Also a good time to educate kids on that matter, but not to scare them.

Take a trip into Bangkok for the day, Siam Ocean World in the basement of Siam Paragon is good. Also there is a food court one floor up from Ocean World, so have option to avoid the hi-so restaurant prices.

As always, if you are an expat here, take whichever form of Thai ID you have with you.

Also, if you come up with other options, please post about them. Hope the above helps.

Just remembered something else, today Nov. 30th, 2013 is the second day of fireworks show in the evening. 100 Baht each for beach deck chair, or further along the beach its 50 Baht per chair, which is just as fine to watch the fireworks. Alternatively you can take your own large mat and sit on the sand for free, but I'd definitely recommend getting deck chairs instead. If its only you taking them and both kids fall asleep, that could be awkward as Beach Road is closed off for traffic during the event.

Thanks for the info. Yes I should have done a search but was in a hurry today.

As I have now discovered, the SCB card is not a fully functioning debit card as we know them in the western world. So I will persevere with Kasikorn. Still don't know how to get the description from the PayPal -70 Baht transacrion though.

Hi,

I'm trying to link my bank account with PayPal so I can sell a couple of things on eBay, but I'm having problems.

When I enter in my SCB VISA card number, it tells me the bank has not allowed the transaction. I presume this is the verification transaction or something? Anyway I can't get past this and therefore can't list anything on eBay (as when clicking on the eBay Continue button to list something, I get pushed to PayPal to pay fees, despite the fee being $0.00, then PayPal insists on bank card). I've also tried with the Kasikorn Bank card, but the 4 digit verification number is in the description, which isn't displayed in the book, ATM, online banking or from the clerk at computer inside the bank. This can't possibly be just me who has had this problem can it? Phone both bank call centers has been pointless, I just get no where with them. This migt actully be 2 problems here but with seperate banks. So frustrating, annoying and tiring.

Please someone tell me how they connected their PayPal for selling with either of these banks?

I've seen wooden swords at the place behind Big C in North Pattaya.

Regarding nunchakus, other than the ones I've seen on the street stalls, not sure where to get. However, you could buy a 1" PVC pipe and some end caps from Home Pro, get some chains also at Home Pro, glue the end caps on at one end only, drill a hole for the chain and build your own. Visit Tesco Lotus or Big C for some foam to wrap/glue around the plastic, you'll find it in the stationary section. Light weight and inexpensive for practising with. Just an idea.

Apparently, it turns out that its an issue in the area with a broken mains pipe. I've seen the hole that's been dug since this issue has been reported, but I'm at a loss as to how damaged to the underground pipe happened in the first place. Can't imagine City Hall will pay for cleaning tank and water pump, so guess that's coming out of my pocket then, even though the fault is not on our property.

Thanks.

Living in the city I've never seen the water so dirty. Is it because of too much rain or maybe a problem has been created with the city putting in new flooding infrastructure, or something else.

Whatever the reason, really not happy with this. The tank is unfortunately all full of dirty water now and the dirty water is still coming through. Is anyone else experiencing dirty water just now?