PattayaClub

Regarding "unforeseen costs" be aware that the Thai government is as trade protectionist as it gets so anything you want to buy that is imported will cost you 2-3X more here.

Don't agree with that. Most items that I've bought here, imports, were on near price parity with US prices. Certainly not the 2-3x times more.

I constantly run into the 2-3x more. I guess it depends on what you buy. I have probbly imported some $20,000 worth of stuff in the 8 years I have been here. I do not import unless: (1) I can't get it here at all; (2) the quality of the item here is unacceptable, or (3) the item is so expensive here that it is cheaper to import even with the shipping expense.

For example, I recently put in an automatic inground sprinkler system. I imported the 12 zone timer. The ones available here are insanely expensive, or junk. The pop-up sprinkler heads and spray nozzles in the Signature brand are available here through the SuperProducts catalogue, but cost three times as much as purchasing from the US. I save $700 on the pop-ups and spray nozzles alone -- and that was after shipping costs! By the way, I also discovered that the "Signature" brand pop-ups and spray nozzles sold by SuperProducts under the Signature name are knockoffs. Very good copies, but knock-offs nonetheless at 3x the US price.

It is cheaper to import cameras. Laz-Z-Boy furniture costs more that 2x what it costs in the US -- even though it is made here!! A Garmin GPS will cost you at least double what it costs in the US -- even though they are made in Taiwan. Many motorcycle accessories cost more than 2x here what you would pay in the US -- I have saved hundreds (maybe thousands) of dollars by importing high end accessories over sourcing them here. I could go on and on. But you get the point. Don't think for a minute that it is less expensive here unless you want to live just like a Thai villager, and most farangs cannot accept that.

If you are moving here, you have a one time opportunity to bring a container full of personal effects tax free -- something to consider if you plan to live here for a long while.

Give the guy the benefit of the doubt. He may be planning to buy three sandwiches.

Used to be no speed limit in Nevada also.....

And Oregon.

Yes. before Speed Limits there were less Tailgate crashes,Lane Hogs are bloody stupid here, and where Coaches cruise at 110 , yet if i nip past sensibly poping 150 to make space into clear road ahead ,a week later a fine arrives from a Camera. nothing to do with safety , just revenue. Prudent limits seem the way to go imo.

Yeah, damned shame about the cameras. Just a few years go there weren't any. But you can always do what I did and install a plate flipper.

I leave the plate flipped down, popping it back up only on approach to road block checks.

There are several on the market. This one is expensive, but it is the premier model; very nice: http://www.speedflip.com/

They are also illegal to use on public roads if used to hide the registration plate (and there is obviously no other reason to have one) so if the plate is seen flipping on the approach to a police check point, or you forget what position the plate is in you are in trouble anyway, speeding or not.

As most plates are flat-mounted to the body here in Thailand the presence of the mechanism behind the plate will not only be ugly, but obvious.

I have an LED telling me the position of the plate; I won't forget. Who doesn't run through the inventory when approaching a road check (seat belt? etc.).

It's only for cameras. I would never hide from the police. If there are no people to look at the plate, does visibility matter? If a tree falls in a forest with nobody around, does it make a noise?

As for the mechanism being obvious or ugly, not a high end flipper. Mine is invisible and operates not with noisy solenoids, but with smooth and quiet servo motors.

Yes. before Speed Limits there were less Tailgate crashes,Lane Hogs are bloody stupid here, and where Coaches cruise at 110 , yet if i nip past sensibly poping 150 to make space into clear road ahead ,a week later a fine arrives from a Camera. nothing to do with safety , just revenue. Prudent limits seem the way to go imo.

Yeah, damned shame about the cameras. Just a few years go there weren't any. But you can always do what I did and install a plate flipper.

I leave the plate flipped down, popping it back up only on approach to road block checks.

There are several on the market. This one is expensive, but it is the premier model; very nice: http://www.speedflip.com/

Are you trying to make a point regarding something Thai related?

Sure it's Thai related. You just have to read between the lines, if you can do that. The OP has only avoided obvious redundancy.

There has been a lot of discussion on this forum about the lack of law enforcement on Thai highways, and people have tried to connect that to the high accident rate. The connection is fallacious, as the lion's share of the traffic accidents in Thailand involve motorcycles driven by youthful riders. The per capita rate of youthful motorcycle riders in Thailand far exceeds that of any country in the West, so the comparison of only the raw accident rates between Thailand and western countries in like comparing apples to oranges.

The OP's point is that lack of enforcement of artificial speed limits actually lowers the accident rate instead of increasing it. That may sound counter intuitive but there are a lot of traffic engineering studies out there that back this up. The accident rate is lower where traffic is allowed to flow at its "natural" speed.

It is obvious to me that the OP enjoys driving here as much as I.

And yes, I remember the glory days before the Nixon Administration imposed an ill conceived 55 mph speed limit on the entire country under threat of cutting off highway funds to any state that did not go along. That was a giant step in the Federal Government's grab of States Rights.

pdwarf1, who do you use in the US to xfer to Bangkok Bank if I might ask?

It's pretty clear that he gets direct deposit to BKK Bank's NY branch from Social Security.

These tours are not safe, an ATV trip in CM could have easily have ended up in death if you saw the route the crazy idiots took us down !!

I'd feel ripped off if I didn't get an exciting and somewhat dangerous route. That's what ATV's are made for.

"Everything in life is sweetened by risk." If you are risk averse, you should stay inside your house.

And, yeah, I've done the ziplines. A great rush. I highly recommend it for those who enjoy a little excitement. SCUBA diving and skydiving isn't for everybody either, and, yes, you could die.

Well, you'd probably have better luck with ground up rhino horn than internet Viagra, anyway.

The problem with Copenhagen is that it is full of carcinogens and you may lose your lips. But it is well established that nicotine heightens one's concentration. There have been numerous studies done on this.

BE ADVISED, Ko Phi Phi is a national park. If you have a white (or pink) skin, when you arrive on the beach of Phi Phi somebody will meet you to collect the 400 baht national park entrance fee. Nobody will tell you about this in Phuket, at the ferry, or anywhere else. It will be a surprise upon arrival. Except now you know, so no surprise.

Personally, as long as this policy remains in effect, I will NEVER go back.

slightly off topic but "power surge". for the third time the protective gadgets of my two phone (internet) lines were fried by a surge. are there no thingies available which just trip like a circuit breaker which can be simply "flipped on" again?

tomorrow i am getting my fibre optic connection. line has been layed already and only a "box" as well as a modem/router has to be installed. can a fibre optic line respectively the end gadgets be damaged by an electric surge?

We just got connected up to 3BB fiber optic a few weeks ago. Interestingly, the fiber optic stopped at the pole at the street and what looks like copper phone wire carries the signal from the pole to the house (definitely copper and very small at that). So there is still a vulnerability, although a "short one."

I bought 3 single phase din movs with high specs and price from muan Thai outlet in roiet.

I had to order them and it took a couple of weeks.

Muan Thai outlet is the Thai name but it could be bangkok outlet or Thailand outlet and I would presume they have stores in other cities.

I ordered the Schindler (sorry if spelt wrong) and you need to go to the store and get the catalogue and physically show them the unit in the catalogue. Easy after that.

Its like trying to get the single prong slide over for the 2 pronged plugs to make them a 3 pronged plug.

No one has a clue without the catalogue.

Sorry I can't send the info from my moves but in patts at moment and not at house in isaan.

If you still have no luck you can contact muan Thai outlet in roiet and ask them about the moves this farang bought, they will probably remember and will have the order info as I'm the only person who orders this type of stuff.

Failing that send me a note and I'll give you my name to check the order with them.

Those Schneider din mounted MOVs are only 15kA. I have one. Model QO SPD225.

i decided simple is best so i bought another submersible. but this one is a really nice looking Italian thing, all plastic body and impeller so no rust. its rated for 18m head and has a 15m power cord so its easily enough for my application. its was 10500 baht at Keehin which is about 4000 more than the cast iron Chinese things but i hope i'll get many years out of this one.

by the way, the hitachi self contained pressure pumps that are made for deep wells (12 - 25m) are the DT-P300GX(SJ) series. they have one in home and garden for 8900 baht but i didn't want to risk it since i already tried to install a jet type (2 pipe) pump and couldn't get it to work.

http://www.hitachi-th.com/hitachi_new/products/productdetail.php?ModelID=9091&store=wpspec_e&ProductID=11&storename=ProductNameEn〈=

When yo say your submersible pumps go out on you, is it the pump or the motor. They are two completely different things and can be separated from one another.

You know, you cannot get anything but guesses if you do not supply ALL the information. How deep is your well? What is the static level? What is the water production rate of your well (recovery rate)? At what level is your foot valve? What is the size of the well casing? What is the complete pump model number?

Check your pump specs. You did not say whether you have the SJ or the PJ model. They have different specs. The max lift for the PJ is 30 meters and the max for the SJ is 18 meters. If you exceed that, then the pump will run, but no water will flow.

Without all the facts, let me offer a guess. Let's assume a sample well. The well is 40 meters deep. The static level is at 30 meters (ten meters from surface). The well has a recovery rate of 8 liters per minute. Your foot valve is at 35 meters. The casing is 4" (10cm). The casing hold 12.7 liters per meter actually less because of suction pipe displacement). You are filling a 4,000 liter tank. You have a Hitachi DT-P300GX PJ.

That model pump can (theoretically) produce 9 l/m @ 30M, 16l/m @24M & 20 l/m @ 18M. For flow calculations, You are pumping, NOT from the bottom of the well, but rather from the water level in the well -- the static level. So you begin pumping with suction from 10M, and can produce 20 l/m. The distance from the static level to the foot valve is 25 meters, so you have a 197 liter reserve. But since your pump can only lift from 30 meters, your recoverable reserve is actually only 157 liters.

You are trying to fill the empty tank. You start out pumping 20 l/m. Since the recovery rate is 8 l/m, you are effectively lowering the static level by 12 l/m. So in 9 minutes the static level has dropped 14 meters from 30 meters (ten meters from surface) to 16 meters (24 meters from the surface), and you have pumped 180 liters of water. The pumping rate will drop to 16 l/m since the static has dropped. At this point you will lowering the the static level by 8 l/m.

You get the idea and can do the rest of the math. I know nothing about your well or what your pump model is. But it if you have the SJ model and trying to fill your tank, you pump the static level of the well down to 18 meters, the pump will stop lifting. It will run but no water will flow, as it has reached its lift capacity. Ditto for the PJ model if the static drops to 30 meters.

So this could be your problem. But without significantly more data, you are pissing into the wind; you will never know for sure what the answer is.

On the other hand, you say you need to repeatedly "prime the pump" each time before it starts, but you also say that the foot valve is holding and the bore pipe remains full of water. This just doesn't make sense, unless the foot valve is leaking slowly enough that you still have water in the bore pipe, but it has drained from the pump. The farther away from the bore your pump is located, the more likely you could find this scenario. There could be a little sand or small pebble in the foot valve.

Is there a slow leak? When you said you uncapped the bore pipe and "the water did not drop in level," was that while you were watching, or did you let it set that way for 24 hours then go back and have another look to see if it dropped?

Look at Pib's diagram. Normally for a jet pump there are two pipes going down to the foot valve (diagram on left). A pump cannot suck very far (10.3 meters is the max). A jet pump uses a prime to get it going and pumps water DOWN the well then uses a venturi to suck in more water and push it back up to the surface. So it is not "sucking"; it is pushing.

You probably could have avoided all this by using a submersible pump instead of a jet pump. They are more efficient, too.

But, with all due respect, you probably listened to a Thai "expert." No Thai would ever do the calculations shown above, but ANY western expert would do these calculations BEFORE recommending or sourcing a pump. Don't feel bad. I stupidly listened to an expert when he told me that 100 meters of 2.5mm2 cable would be fine for my 2hp submersible pump (drawing 15 amps). I normally do all my own calculations, but since this was a "pump guy," I drpped my guard and just believed him for some reason. It resulted in a 20 volt drop over the line and the pump control kept shutting down the pump. I figured it out, did the calculations and fixed it, but it cost me.

When you are dealing with complex matters like pumping, friction and velocity loss over a run of pipe or voltage drop in an electric wire, if you want a perfect job, you MUST educate yourself by spending 100 hours on the Internet (or whatever it takes), and then do the calculations and work yourself. I have never gone wrong by doing this, I see farangs everywhere getting screwed because they don't.

Keep in mind the difference. A farang wants the job to be done right. He wants everything to work as planned. In your case, a Thai would be perfectly happy if the tank could only be filled half full. He'd just run the pump twice as often. So you see, for a Thai, the installer did a good job. The installer probably cannot understand why YOU have a problem. It's the culture.

Try here http://www.apc.com/products/family/?id=175

Thanks, but I am still up the same tree. I looked at all of those and all were three phase. APC is now owned by Schneider (like everything else it seems). I previously sent a request to Schneider but it has gone unanswered. I just sent additional requests to APC Thailand and APC UK:

Dear APC,

I am trying to source an 80-100 kA surge suppressor for a 220VAC single phase electrical system. That is, three wires, Line, Neutral and Earth. Can you assist me?

I can import to Thailand from ANYWHERE in the world, so I am not looking specifically “available in Thailand” products.

Thanks in advance.

I'll stand by. So far, I've been ignored.

If anybody wants a Schneider QO 2100 MBX (100 amp main breaker for Schneider Consumer Panel, PM me. I have one that I used for temp power when building the house. It never tripped. Don't think it was even turned off and on more than one or twice (I had a blade switch for that).

I couldn't use it in my final application because I went with a big Square D Classic Load Center, which I converted to single phase using part number QO3-CON1PH. That unit took different main breaker.

After much searching I found a company called Siam Snus .

https://www.siamsnus.com/

Still illegal to import, but legal to manufacture here, I guess, for now.

It is NOT illegal to import this or any other tobacco product into Thailand so long as the amount doesn't exceed 250 grams per shipment. Why does this myth persist?

See here: https://thailand.visahq.com/customs/

You cannot import for resale; only for personal use, and it is cheaper to import from Sweden than to buy from SiamSnus. And do not forget that Swedish snus is powerful, yet non-carcinogenic; a big deal for me.

I have been importing Swedish snus for years. It is all above board with proper import declarations and there have never been any problems or tax.

Please stop spreading the fallacious myth that it is illegal to import for personal use.

It does not matter what you are running on a circuit; it's irrelevant to the circuit breaker size. You match circuit breakers to wire size. CB protect the wire from burning up in the event of a direct short. !6A for 1.5mm2, 20A for 2.5mm2. You can use a breaker that is smaller that the rating for the wire (like you can put a 16A breaker on a 2.5mm2 wire) but never go the other way. If you match your CB to the wire and they are tripping from overload, then you either need to cut the load or rewire the circuit with a bigger wire.

Since you are going to change the panel, why don't you put in a larger one to get you a few more slots?

Crossy is the man for the rest of your questions.

The nice thing about Swedish snus, as opposed to American products like Copenhagen, is that it is regulated by the government and all carcinogens have been removed. Contrary to popular belief (especially by the tobacco Nazis), nicotine is not carcinogenic. So, no, Swedish snus won't kill you or give you mouth cancer. For the non-believers, I suggest you Google it before hooting.

I use General Extra Strong Loose, purchased from http://www.buysnus.com/. I wait for a promotion and get a pretty good deal. the General Extra Strong Loose comes 42g to the can. My last promotion was buy a log, get five cans free. My final price, delivered to my door in Thailand came to $3.86US/can or about 127baht/can. It came by post and there was no tax in Thailand. Can't beat that with a stick.

The nice thing about this company is that no matter how much you order, for no extra charge, shipments to Thailand are automatically broken down into 250 grams or less packages to comply with Thai law. (Thai law legally allows the import of tobacco products up to 250 grams.) You will receive a large order in several packages.

As I mentioned, I have a Schneider whole house 15kA surge protector plugged into the panel. I intend to follow your diagram for do-it-yourself point-of-use 8kA surge protectors at each appliance (have already ordered the little blue beasties). But I just finished a house and have a lot of new very expensive appliances and I am NOT comfortable with this level of protection. Between all vulnerable air conditioners and appliances, we may be talking 500,000 baht and it could all go with a BANG.

I understand that I cannot protect against a near direct lightening strike with surge suppressors alone. But with enough protection, I can protect against a farther away strike or a tree falling over a line. As it is, if a nearby tree falls over the line, I could fry all my surge protection and the boards of every appliance.

I would like to add Type 1 surge protection with a rating of at least 80-100 kA. I understand Type 1 goes on the PEA side of the meter, but most of them can also be installed as type 2 (with the same protection on the service side of the meter. I have a meter on a pole. The 50mm2 line goes from the meter to a large weatherproof cutout box. It then goes some 50-70 meters underground and under the house, surfacing at the CB panel (where the Schneider surge suppressor is plugged on). I have single phase only (three phase not available where I live, according to PEA -- too late anyway). I would like to install this protection at the cutout box by the meter. This would be my frontline protection. A good idea so far??

The problem is, I have made myself crazy scouring the Internet trying to find a single phase device with protection of at least 80-100kA for 220-240VAC. And, of course, a L-N, L-E, N-E configuration is preferred (not all of them have this).

Do you have a source? I am willing to order it from anywhere in the world, so long as it is a high quality reliable brand. I don't want to gamble with some piece of junk from Aliexpress unless somebody can vouch for the vendor. I saw "LeeYee" above; never heard of it. Any ideas?

Not enough information to even guess. Pumping is a very complex science. It is also quite logical -- if you understand it, and have all the facts.

Guess you did not answer fast enough - perhaps he will return later.

Yes, I only have myself to blame, of course.

Replying in 3 MINUTES, that's just unacceptable!

If no reply in under 1 MINUTE, then any advice is free.

JingThing, don't blame yourself. A guy like you with a prodigious 60,311 posts and who stays online 24/7 might expect instant responses, such as those you so generously dole out. But some of us actually have lives in the real world, the non-cyber world. We check the computer once a day or so for email or whatever and the effort takes about ten minutes. We have other real life priorities and absolutely cannot fathom never going offline. So relax. Give the guy 24 hours or so. He'll be back.

But I'm wondering, if I already have a 15kA MOV device in the panel, and the varistors with the lowest threshold fire first, does that mean the will the downstream varistors are going to blow out before the higher threshold unit in the panel even does anything?

I guess I do not really understand how these things work.

It's all about timing.

MOVs are very fast, typically reacting to a fast rise-time surge in 50-60ns (1ns is 0.000000001 seconds).

The surge travels down the cable at a finite speed, in the order of 100-200ns per metre (it's hugely variable and could be significantly greater). By contrast light travels at about 3ns/m.

If your cable is, say, 10m between the front-end MOV and the smaller unit at your appliance, then the main MOV will have triggered a whole 950ns before the surge even reaches the smaller MOV which can then mop-up the bit that got through.

Thanks a million, Crossy. I can see I'll be putting these little devils all over the place. But one more varistor question while I have you on the line.

You showed how to wire them into, say and air conditioner, over on the other thread. But let's say I have a washing machine that is filled with electronics and cost more than the typical air conditioner. It is 18-20 meters of wire away from the MOV device in the panel and I want to protect it further with the onsite varistors. The washing machine is plugged into a two-receptacle wall outlet and has it's own circuit. It might be difficult to open up the washing machine and try to wire these things internally.

Could I rig up a three-prong plug with three varistors, connected as shown in the other thread and simply plug it into the vacant receptacle beside the washing machine plug? If so, rigging up a bunch of them and deploying them would be a nifty way to further protect every appliance and pump in the house.

It's a contactOR

For a small pump you should get away with a relay with a 220V coil, have a word with your local electrical emporium. Size the contacts assuming a starting current of full-load x 4.

No need for the overload unit for a pump, fuses not needed if the MCB will provide overload and short circuit protection.

EDIT Something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JQX-38F-AC-220V-40A-11-Pin-3PDT-Coil-Power-Relay-Socket-/281046746158?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item416fb1042e I've used this seller in the past without issue.

I just bought a couple of these the other day from my local supplier in Phitsanulok. They had all different voltages and amperage ratings -- quite a comprehensive selection. I bought a couple 220V, 5 amp units to operate solenoid valves. They work great. Brand is Omron, made in China. Can't remember the cost, but not expensive.

Take a picture with you; that's what saved my bacon!