Muhendis

'cos they want to show off their high levels of intellect.

My PDF viewers all have an "add text" button. Maybe in a sub menu across the top or perhaps if you right click on the document and look at the drop down menu.

Horses for courses indeed. It depends how much space is available. I have a "well house" which contains a surface water well, lots of filters and a couple of big storage tanks as well as the hot water storage and automatic house water pump. The heat exchanger for the hot water is on the roof of the well house. I am fortunate in that I have plenty of space to do what I have done. All my hot water bits are easily located relative to each other. There is a down side. The hot water needs to travel 30 Metres in an underground gulley so a minute of patience is in order and a few litres of cold water is wasted. I would imagine that living in a townhouse, one may not necessarily have things in such a convenient arrangement so routeing cables would generally be easier than plumbing pipes.

I also think that is what the OP means. If the storage tank is higher than the heat collector panel then there can be no reverse convection at night. With my system, the 200 litre storage tank is lower so there is no natural convection circulation. I use a small 7W pump to do that. To get around the reverse nighttime circulation I have an NRV (non-reverse valve or check valve). The system also has a small expansion tank. Total cost in the order of 10k baht and has been in service for over ten years now and always gives hot to scolding hot water. I would not be atall happy with the idea of making electricity to heat water when we can do it more directly from that big fusion power station in the sky.

Governments are really quite stupid. When they see a declining population they see less tax going into their coffers. What they fail to see is a reduced need for spending due to fewer people to spend it on. The problem of taking care of an aging population is currently being addressed by not paying pensions until a few years later. After all, people are generally living longer and healthier lives so should be able to contribute to the community for a few more years.

Spot on. And the rest of the world? Same Same I guess.

Trump has many, many like minded followers bedazzled by his thoughtless rhetoric. For me he is indicative of the intelligence of huge numbers of Americans. Apologies to any whose feelings are hurt.

In my opinion, prices for inverters are not so much going down but rather more returning to what they once were some eight to ten years ago. Solar panels are getting remarkably cheap now but not so noticeable in the local stores. They probably still have old stock which they need to sell at old prices. The cost of batteries is looking good. I guess they may one day be on a par with lead carbon chemistry. Overall good news for the solar brigade which includes me.

Yep. I went down that route also. I seem to remember the retailer was in Chiang Mai and he seemed quite apologetic when discussing the price, but that was before they were manufactured in Thailand. The advantage of the Redox battery is, it will last for 20 years before fluids and/or filters need changing. Also the battery can be frequently discharged to 0% with no ill effects. I now use lead carbon gel batteries. That is a capital outlay which is within reach of my short arms and deep pockets.

Flow batteries rarely, if ever, get a mention on consumer level news. That is probably due to the high capital outlay required to make the initial purchase. What is a flow battery? Very simply, a flow battery is two tanks full of fluids one positively charged and the other negatively charged. These fluids are pumped through a special filter which removes some of the charge to power external electrical circuits. The fluids are recharged when they get depleted. There is an Australian company with a flow battery manufacturing facility in Thailand that has secured a contract to build a 15 MWh microgrid battery for a company in America. Well done them. https://mailchi.mp/redflow.com/redflow-progressing-multiple-commercial-opportunities-1366002?e=0595a5331a

My original comments seem to have fallen by the wayside. Curiosity got the better of me, which is not difficult since most things seem to get the better of me these days. I had a look on the internet for VFS Global and this is what came up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VFS_Global Regardless of the bad vibes mentioned about VFS, I am very happy they did my passport renewal for me.

That is an extremely misleading statement from Forbes. It gives the impression that solar panels stop producing at 25 to 30 years. That is simply not the case. At some point in the life of a panel, it's output will have declined to 80% of what it was when new. So when a solar panel has been in use for 25 to 30 years it is not dead but is still producing 80% of its maximum rated power. That 80% figure is a measurement benchmark and is not an indication of end of life.

The text quoted in the OP is not from the website of the Immigration Bureau. Actually it is from the website if the immigration bureau. To find it you need to go to the URL below and click on the E-Extension bit. https://buriram.immigration.go.th/index.php/th-th/ Please note the follo0wing 2.3 Necessity to Stay and Work in A Government Section, State Enterprise or Other Government Agency It applies only to those foreigners working for the Thai government in Thailand and enables fast track treatment for such.

The two tier approach has occured to me also but with something else in mind. I was thinking along the lines of a visa similar to the one my wife had when we were resident in the UK. She had an indefinite leave to remain visa. She worked and paid taxes etc. I would like to see something similar available to long term non-Thais who are full time resident and contributing to the Thai economy. Probably never going to happen but it would be nice.

I wonder how long it will be before VFS will be the "go to" place for us run of the mill folks. Nice if they can speed things up with regard to the 30 day wait for extension approval but there would probably be a sizable fee for that.

I have a visa extension to do in the not too distant future so I decided to look at arranging an appointment at the Buriram immigration office. That bit of the web site seems to be non-functional but what I did find was as follows. It seems that VFS is becoming the preferred agency for document handling on behalf of the immigration bureau. Although this doesn't apply to me this is news to me. Any body seen this before? Visa categories and Document Information 2.3 Necessity to Stay and Work in A Government Section, State Enterprise or Other Government Agency Criteria for Consideration Foreigners are required to have a stamp for temporary stay. Receipt of Affidavit or request from the agency or organization. See Documents needed → At the Immigration office As soon as you arrive at immigration with the approved E-Extension visa, follow the steps mentioned below: Go to the E-Extension area at immigration and join the queue to the E-Extension counter Present the necessary required documents and passport to the officer Get the E-Extension visa stamp Add note: Please be informed that the application process will be completed successfully after applicant get sticker visa at immigration. Visa fees The fee payment is the last step of your application process after submitting your details and the other mandatory documents. The fees paid for E-Extension visa would be (NON – refundable online processing fee, inclusive of all charges) as follows: Visa fee: 1,900 THB Service fee as following: • Regular Service fee: 500 THB to get your E-Extension decision within the next 7 business days. • Express Service fee: 1,500 THB to get your E-Extension decision within the next 3 business days. • Super urgent service fee: 5,000 THB *You can also apply for a super urgent service, to get your E-Extension decision within the next day (only business day).

My house, which is 2 stories, has no cracks. Pillar slabs depth of 2m. Landfill depth of 1m with 2 year settlement time. Then I added the carport. Cracks appeared, as anticipated, between main house and carport due to different settlement rates. I made sure the two weren't bonded together to allow for this movement. Resulting cracks are entirely superficial and not a problem. Stopping the water seeping between the house and carport was a bit of a challenge but all's well now.

There is no need to panic about this issue. You have built a house with heaven knows what electrical machines (concrete mixers et. al.) running from the temporary supply. The rated "up country" voltage is 220V but this may drop to <180V under load conditions (dependant on your cable size). This voltage drop is likely only going to happen when you have a shower or make a cup of coffee. This could be a problem if the compressor in your air conditioner wants to start at the same time and likewise the 'fridge. We ran on a 1km "extension lead" from our nearest post and temporary meter with cable 25mm². We had no problems of equipment failure for that year before I did my solar installation. Our voltage generally dipped to ≈180V first thing in the morning when the village was waking up. Regarding the 40m rule. My meter is about 50 metres from my property and the PEA engineer, who was present at the time, didn't bat an eyelid. I don't think they are too bothered as long as the meter reader doesn't need to walk too far from the meter to the house post box to post the bill.

'Course they will. They were done professionally. I must say I do find it rather strange that we are discussing a forum members piles. Hope they get better soon.

That's possibly true but in our village many houses have these monstrosities. This fella is good for 100A short circuit current.

The OP is about insufficient funds for immigration purposes. My additional off topic comment reference investments was a note about why my money is not kept permanently in a Thai bank account. Funds are managed for me in the UK switching between suitable platforms. 12% was in years previous to covid but we are slowly getting back there again. Further discussion about investments is not part of this topic so this is where I stop....

I had something similar happen to me. I am on marriage visa extensions and my money needs to be in the bank 60 days prior to the new extension. Mine was three days late into my account. I went to my local immigration office who checked the calendar days. The day I would need to apply was a friday but on that day the immigration office would be closed. This meant I would need to submit my application on the monday which is three days later. The immigration officer explained that this would not be a problem except that I would be on three days overstay. I should therefore expect an overstay fine of 500 Baht/day and all would be fine. For those among you who would chastise me for not keeping funds permanently in my bank all I can say is that my funds kept elsewhere, are earing 12% and I like that.

Here in sunny 'ol Buriram it is simply a case of take both old and new passports to the Immigration office and the relevant stamps are added to the new passport. It is a free service but some officers will try and get 500 Baht for the privilege. No photo copies of anything are needed. The whole process takes about 5 minutes.

This on international news. A slightly different slant on the same story. "A popular Russian-Belarussian rock band which opposes Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has flown to Israel after facing threats of deportation in Thailand. Bi-2 confirmed on their official Facebook page on Thursday they have left the country over fears they could be deported to Russia, where they have fallen out of favour with the regime after criticism of Mr Putin and his war in Ukraine. “All musicians of the Bi-2 group have safely left Thailand and are heading to Tel Aviv,” read the post on Facebook. No further details were provided." https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/bi2-russian-band-thailand-deportation-israel-b2488561.html

That does have a ring of truth to it. It's quite possible Vladimir told his pals in the Russian embassy to have a diplomatic word with the head of Thai immigration.