GarryP

Had a fellow round this morning with his divining rods, his bore drill gear was on his pickup truck parked outside. Said there was no water where we wanted to drill and suggested another place in the garden about 10 meters away. I just think that he wanted to drill somwhere that was easier to get in with his truck. Claimed the place he recommended was a water channel. Haven't made my mind up but don't really believe in the accuracy of divining after reading studies on it.     

17 hours ago, owl sees all said:

Thanks for that insight Mick.

 

100 metres is some depth. I have 7 deep-wells on our farms, and the deepest is 44 metres; 6 at 5 inch bore. One 4 inch.

 

Our recent bores were 9k baht each. The first of these wells is giving very good water, with a total cost about 37k. That includes the bore work. The second one cost 14k plus the 9k bore. So 23k. Only two panels though; so 17.500 baht (26/27k with bore) if three.

 

We am still trouble-shooting the systems. Tinkering really. Me and Mildred went today to do some work on the underground section.

 

People (Thai farmers) have come round to have a look at what we have done. Reckon they are thinking of giving it a go themselves. The difference between a company doing the job, and doing it yourself, can be as much as 13k IME. If you do it yourself, you are sure that the best units are used. But it takes longer. The professional construction boys are in and out in two/three days.

 

For a home with a smallish garden, I assume that a 4" bore would be sufficient.

14 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Good Luck, Man!

Sincerely!

I would opt for Thai citizenship, if I could have dual citizenship....but....it seems to be such a long....

Row to hoe.

 

Good Luck.

Sincere best wishes for your success, Man!

 

Note:  Seemingly, too few try for this.  Maybe, they think it's just completely out of their reach.  Good Luck!

 

I would do it, in a heartbeat....if I thought I could.

 

 

Dual citizenship very much depends on the country you are from. I believe Denmark, Japan, South Korea and quite a few others do not allow dual citizenship. However, many countries do, including the UK, Australia, pretty much any Commonwealth country, USA, etc.

I thought it was out of my reach and there was no way in hell that I would qualify. However, a poster on this thread (he knows who he is) suggested that I check with Special Branch first before giving up and I will be eternally grateful for that, because, low and behold, I did actually qualify and now have a Thai ID card and passport. I would suggest you do the same, if you are from a country that allows dual citizenship. In my case, even if my home country did not allow dual citizenship, I would have been willing to give it up. I've been here for 41 years and it is my home.     

46 minutes ago, rexpotter said:

Same issue for me, so many of them. Even a small kick from my bicycle to their nose runs them off, if I can hit it. Seems like they are most aggressive night and early morning, during the heat they are passive. Why do the locals feed them, I guess that's the real issue. Does it make them feel kind or like a good person?

Now I am upcountry, I don't have many encounters when out cycling in the daytime. On the few occassions I do, growling back at them works 90% of the time and for the other 10%, I use my ultrasonic dog chaser which I have with me when out cycling. However, at night time you really can't cycle anywhere without all the dogs getting aggressive.  

This is my dog chaser. 

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

Obviously meet the wrong people

Nah, probably because I left the UK when I was 19. 

10 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

I dont shake hands with a Thai, they never wash their hands after a <deleted>, I'll stick to a wai

I never shook hands in the UK and I don't recall seeing anyone shaking hands, but maybe in my neck of the woods it wasn't a thing.  

It is all a bit confusing. The sister-in-law had a bore drilled at the back of her house and the water was greasy/dirty, so she had another drilled at the front of her house and the water was crystal clear, which she now uses instead of the local tap water (so less than 20 meters apart). Another person we know had two ponds dug out that were less than 20 meters apart on a slope and the water in the one at the top is crystal clear blue/green (stunning actually and I've never the like of it before - wouldn't dare swim in it though until I know why it is that colour) and in the pond below, the water just looks like normal pond water. All of these are in a radius of no more than 750 meters of my house (maybe even slightly less). 

The local resevoir is about 2 kms from my house. I've already raised concerns about water quality with my wife and we both agree that if the well water quality is poor, we'll just use it for watering the garden (unless there are a lot of chemicals too, in which case we'll just ditch it). 

One thing is for sure, I'll not be doing it myself. I don't have the background in stuff like that. I do only pretty basic stuff like grouting, gardening, putting together Ikea furniture, hanging pictures, fixing taps, etc. 

20 hours ago, owl sees all said:

 

Having had to find out about solar systems has given me an insight into, not on what to do, but not what to do. The whole thing is a bit of a balancing act.

 

I take it Garry, that you wish to draw water from a deep well, with a DC current supplied by solar panels. And be independent of any regular water and leccy supply. Right then, certain things are musts.

 

1/ The well must actually go into a water table. It's obvious I know. But no water means no independent system.

 

2/ You will not use that much water for a home. So no need to go over the top on the equipment. But there are essentials. Can't by-pass them.

 

3/ You need a tank or something to hold the water. Then you will be able tap into it 24/7.

 

So! Assuming that you find water  - usually 6 to 10 metre down - you will need a DC pump, and a solar unit to drive it. I'll suggest that you don't get the most powerful pump. A 500/600 watt unit would be OK. To drive the pump you will need a solar set-up of between 800 and 1000 watts in total. That will be two panels. You will need a controller. Some of them are programmable. And some programmable remotely. Keep it simple. Keep the cables consistent. If the cable attached to the pump is 4mm square then the whole cable to the control box should be the same throughout.

 

Thought should be given to the mounting of the panels and the distances, to both the pump, and the controller.

 

Ask about Garry about the water. Find out if it is consistent once you get into the table. If it is, then 30 metre deep should be OK for the pump. If you hear that pumps are cutting out, due to lack of water, then you might have to go deeper; perhaps to 40 metres. BUT!! In that case a more powerful pump will be needed, and that means more panels, or at least two higher rated ones.

 

As I say; it's all a balancing act. Get the basic about the water in ya mind first. The rest is pretty straightforward.

 

One final thing. If the water is good, then it will go through your system into the house taps. If - on the other hand - the quality is not as good as hoped for, then a filtering i=unit should be considered also.

 

Good luck. Keep in touch with it all.

Thanks for that. I (my wife) got another quote today. 60k including 3 solar panels, pump, drilling etc. The only problem is that the equipment is loaded on a 6 wheel truck and it may be difficult to get into the area we wish to drill. The drill system is pneumatic percussion as opposed to rotary, which is probably okay as there is a lot of rock (in our case even piling the fence piles around our property enountered issues with rock only 6 or 7 meters down).

Limited area for drilling.

FYI, we already have a tank so we could probably link up to that. 

Really, the only reason we want to do this is that the local water supply starts to stink in March and starts to get visibly dirty until the rains kick in. It is a money spinner for the local Tesaban. The regional water supply agency offered to link our district to the Lam Pao dam supply and that would have been great, but then the locals in office and string pullers would not be able to skim any money off for local water supply. So we are still using the local pond ( which is not really big enough for the district town where I live).  

Hopefully, we will find something that works either this month or next.    

55 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

When my wife had a bore hole drilled on her land near Surin, the drilling rig arrived on the back of a normal size pick-up.

I guess the size of the rig will depend on the depth of the bore and the soil/rock.

 

Not my photo, but similar to this ... and very, very rusty.

My wife jus got a quote for drilling and solar cell (35k but only one solar cell) or drilling plus electric hook up (23k). No charge if no water found. Seems a bit expensive. 

We want to to have a water borehole drilled at the front of our house. Problem is that access is quite limited. Maybe a pickup could fit but not a 6 wheel truck, so trying to find alternatives in my area. Doesn't look that promising.   

2 hours ago, Foxx said:

 

Well, that's one way of looking at it.  But they hardly "abstain from worldly pleasures" when they gorge themselves before dawn and after sunset and end up throwing away a lot of wasted food.

Ramadan is also "the month of jihad".  According to one source, last Ramadan there were 145 terror attacks in the name of Allah resulting in 741 deaths.  Total attacks during the same period in the name of other religions combined:  zero.

What about during the period of Lent? Surely that's the Christian equivalent. But probably zero then too.   

4 hours ago, charleskerins said:

Get better medical info on here than in the states  ,I just went from 10 to 5 also.

You'd also need to monitor that the reduction did not result in a rise in BP. If it doesn't, that would be good. I've been on 5mg for about 10 years now and luckily no serious swelling at all.  

I heard yesterday that Bitkub is now accepting the opening of accounts by foreigners. 

20 hours ago, Lacessit said:

In other words, you're a snob. Don't worry, I don't want to be friends with you.

Spelling error there. It should be a 'k' not an 's'.

"Didn't glue any of the 8 PVC pipe sections. Or use sealing tape." What is the reason for that? I would have thought gluing or taping are the norm, but then I know sweet eff all about this stuff. 

55 minutes ago, transam said:

Sorry, but I think you are making excuses because you ride a bike...🤔

Plus, there is no way you are checking your mirrors all the time, most folk use them when they are going to do something.

In my HGV driving test (53 years back) I had to look in both mirrors every 15 seconds, who does that......🤭

Why would I make excuses? It is something I do. Not sure if it is 15 seconds on the dot but I glance in my mirror very frequently. It is something I do in my car, on my motorbike and on my bicycle when on a tarmac or concrete roads. My wife has even asked me about it, thinking that I checked the rear mirror too frequently. I do not do it when I am on a red earth road riding through a rubber plantation in the middle of nowhere though. If I were cycling in a group and not the one at the back, perhaps I wouldn't do it then either, but I mostly cycle alone.  

19 minutes ago, transam said:

Are you the exception, can a rearview mirror stop you being rear ended by ANY passing car, I think not, unless you also have another set of eyes in the back of your head..........🤭

If I see a car driving behind erratically or very close to the verge, I pull over and get out of the way. BTW, a rear view mirror replaces the need for me to have eyes transplanted in the back of my head. 

FWIW, I am mostly cycling on country B roads, and red earth roads, where the amount of traffic is quite low. 

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

That depends where you are I think.... 

 

I recall riding from central Bangkok to Wat Khlong Toey Nok Pier and taking a small boat across to Bang Kachao.... 

 

The ride was perilous...  It was the motorcyclists which were the worst... A moto-taxi actually overtook me, then slammed on the brakes in front of me to drop of their passenger, I slammed on the anchors and the bike slipped away from under me...  remaining on my feet luckily..  The moto-taxi's were extremely helpful and the guy apologetic - they don't ride deliberately badly, its just the way they ride, without consideration or care for anyone else. 

 

It was when I was riding along one of the roads towards the port I realised how perilous my situation was... Huge lorries passing me and they are not passing with a decent gap, they were 1-2 feet away....  one wobble, one bit of bad road, on snag of the front wheel on grading and I'm on the ground....   head perilously close to 10's of tonnes of crushing weight on a wheel - squashed head... 

 

Nope...  no thanks... Next time I went across to Bang Krachao it was with the family - we drove to the ferry... took the bikes across on a mini-adventure, but even then, on the quiet roads over there some of the vehicles (mainly delivery box pickups), pass at speeds I consider too fast for the road, at distances too close when the guy give far wider space....

 

IMO - Thailands roads users, certainly in the busier metropolitcan areas are just not mature enough to allow for safe riding.

 

I think I if were 'up country' somewhere a lot quieter, it might be an extremely pleasant way to get around on a daily ride, stop off at a few mom & pop cafe's on the way, have a bite for breakfast etc... make friends...   Could be lovely....  until the d-head in the Box Pickup loaded up on Kratom screams into while reading his phone.... 

 

 

 

 

 

The ice delivery pickup trucks, followed by the parcel delivery service providers such as Flash, Kerry, etc. are the worst in my neck of the woods in Issan. Drive at crazy speeds and overtake as close as they can to the slower vehicle. I just swear like eff at them. It's all I can do.  

2 hours ago, transam said:

Dangerous drivers 'behind' you are rarely spotted, especially on a bicycle......😋

Wrong. I have a rear view mirror on my bike and check it constantly. Whether car, motorcycle or bicycle, I always drive or ride defensively, i.e. checking the actions of other road users, and anticipating the possible idiotic actions of other road users such as pulling out of side roads without checking whether there is oncoming traffic (which seems to be a speciality here), etc.  

14 minutes ago, theshu25 said:

She also won 2 weeks ago in Saudi Arabia so as usual the reporting here is pathetic.

Are these articles all AI created now?

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

it wouldn't matter how bright the rear lights were ..... I'd never ride a bike here, and at night '  ....  10 x worse ..

it's just to dangerous ....   and in the rain '     crickey   !

I try to avoid riding at night. When I go out on my long rides, I always try to get home by 6 p.m. at the latest.  

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

riding a black pushbike at night in rainy conditions on a main rd in Pattaya ..... 

 

what could possibly go wrong     !   ....   

 

 

 

Surely, if someone is driving up from the rear, as appears to be the case here, the color of the bike wouldn't play much of a role (you'd only see the rear wheel, seat stay and seat post). What would normally help would be having rear lights, although it did not appear to help in this case, if the latest image is the actual bike.

14 minutes ago, youreavinalaff said:

I find it surprising and really quite sad that parents of mixed race kids allow one of the parental languages to be lacking.

 

Our daughter grew up quadlingual. 

 

I spoke to her only in English, my wife spoke only Thai. Grandparents spoke in Khmer and many friends of hers spoke Isaan Laos.

 

She attended Tha government school, non EP.

 

She is now working in a very good job in UK and studying further education. 

 

She is fluent in all 4 languages she was brought up with.

 

 

What language did you speak to your wife in? My wife only spoke Thai so I spoke to her in Thai. As a result, we only spoke Thai in the home. A screw up on my part but I didn't want to have to translate everything I said to my son for my wife to understand. Kicking myself now but what's done is done.