notrub

Thanks for all your ideas.  Here in Isaan we have about 25 rai in about 10 different sized banked fields all adjacent to one another.  We are lucky to have a biggish main pond and a smaller one 100+ meters away.  I don't know their volume yet.  I have just installed a solar powered pump in a well 35m deep and this can pump up to 6 m3 per hour.  We bought the better solar panels that work when it is overcast.  The well drillers hit water at 6 m.  I did not appreciate just how much pumping it took to flood a field and had spent thousands on gasoline pumping  b4 switching to solar (duh).

The family are used to flooding the fields when they can and now just place the new outflow pipe in the field where even me, non farmer Burton, can see much of it soaking away in a small area, not dispersing.  I thought making a manifold out of 1 1/2'' pipe and connecting 4 or 5, 40 or 50 m long  20mm , pipe drilled at 50cm o/c, would disperse the water more effectively.  The rice is now broadcast seeded following machine plowing so the irrigation pipes have to be easily moved both for the plowing and machine harvesting.  Also one set could be moved around to different fields.  I also want to try this idea out b4 buying a load of pipe only to find it doesn't work.  Any comments please?  Also is the blue pvc pipe the best bet re cost and durability?

I read that the paddy system uses 5,000 M3 per tonne of rice and drip fed irrigation comes in at 1,500 M3 per tonne.

Another question is what else can be grown on the land instead of rice or as a crop rotation to use the land when it is lying fallow?

My family are accustomed to have rice when it rains and not having it when it doesn't.  I get a bit of 'Thanks for the well and now please stand back and let us farm in our traditional way'.  Sounds good except traditional farming is not necessarily the best way to produce a good harvest year after year. 

Finally, the equipment supplier is an honest Brit and the equipment is good.  He is located in Isaan and also Phuket (I think) and will travel to install.  I will provide contact details for any who want them

Are there any grants or subsidies available for buying / installing irrigation equipment in Isaan?  Information services for irrigation?  We have a well but no pipe.

The farm is family owned and is currently flooded from the pond if it has water, or just rain fed.  (Called a paddy system?).  The size is about 5 HA  divided into about 12 fields .  Yield depends on rain, last year there was plenty.  We are in some kind of a rain shadow in our immediate area, don't know why.  I have just provided a borehole well and solar powered pump system.  the water is just being piped onto the land where much of it just soaks away.  The well is a good one and there is plenty of water.  I am about to drill 20 mm pvc pipes with 2/3 mm dia holes along the length on 50cm centres in an effort to distribute the water more effectively.   I read that 1 tonne of rice requires 5,000 m3 of water with the paddy system and only 1,500 m3  per tonne if drip fed.  Currently the fields are just ploughed up and broadcast seeded and fertilised.  There are not rows of crops, just a field of rice growing everywhere.  What advice or help can you provide please?      Thank you   

I have some Euros that I will be putting into my BKK euro account.  I will be able to transfer the money as THB to my local bank as I need it,  This latest 'hit' that we just took on the exchange has me worried.  I think the confusion in the EU and UK have affected the value of the euro and the idiot running the US has affected their rates too.  Is this true?  When the dust settles in the EU / UK issue will the euro become strong again?  Or is it some other factor that is causing the euro and GBP to be weak?  I see Australia and Canada (among others) are still doing OK.  Can this be because these countries are relatively stable?  So, my question is, will the euro recover and I should wait or is it going to tank and I should change my money asap?

Thanks for any comments

Found the one in Korat using Google Map search.  Thanks

Samsung, great products very poor customer service.  This should be their motto.  I have a 3 month old microwave purchased from lazada.  It does not work properly.  Heats one time and then does not function.  Then it works again one or two times then not.  Domestic  light use.  I have been trying most of the day trying to get a response from Lazada and/or Samsung to help locate a repair depot.  I am 100 km north of Buriram and have thrown away the box so I would prefer taking it to a depot.  Any ideas or suggestion about where I can find such a repair service?  I have, in the past, located one just outside Korat but cannot find any reference to it now.  My friend has the same model with exactly the same problem but bought from home pro so he will just return his there.  Any ideas please?  Thanks.  

Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions.  To trd, thanks about RO filter ideas.  Home Pro is a 200 km 'round trip for me here in the northern tip of Bururam province,, although I frequently buy (lots of) stuff there.  From my armchair I see that there are many RO devices for sale these days.  What make is the one you use trd and approx price range that I should be expecting to pay?  Rough guess is enough, thanks.   Also, how often do you change the filters please?  Is your home, and well, located in a rural area like mine?

In lots of countries well water is drunk (drinked, drunken?) straight from the source and in France pipes can be found where someone has drilled into a spring and people collect this water to use.  Is there any reason that I cannot just the water from my well without treating it at all? 

Where do all these fancy 'spring water' bottled water outfits source their products?  

Thanks very much for time spent thinking about my questions, now and in the past.

Thanks for your comments.  Events have moved on and I had a well drilled 35 M deep with the top 8 M sleeved with 150 mm PVC pipe.  I went for an AC 1 1/2 HP pump and a 5 KW generator.  Works a treat.  Now, however, after 3 /4 days I am on my way down to buy some solar panels and a DC pump.  I have spent about 3000 baht in the last 36 or 48 hours on fuel plus going to the fields 2x + per day as the pump runs for 11 hours on a 25 L tank of gas.    AND only one of 12 fields is damp all over.  Damp being a key word.  I can use the pump at home and the pipe will be used for the new system so I am out 'only' 20,000 baht for a 5 KW generator and gasoline costs.  It will come in handy one day, I suppose.

BTW.  The drilling contractor used 1 1/2'' pipe and glued threaded connectors to each and teflon taped them all.  As the pump went down he screwed the pipes together.  Far better solution than trying to glue pipes whilst lowering the pump.  (done that, hard to do correctly) Not much extra cost for a much better job.  Also, now changing the pump will be much easier.

We have just made a 35 M deep well in rural Isaan.  The water produced is clear and sweet (as in good).  We buy in bulk water for drinking and shower with town water.  Is there an economical and effective way to filter our well water to a safe drinking standard?  I already have a separate tap in the kitchen that I put in when I built the house.   A system that has reasonably priced replacement filters too.  Is there a service to have the water tested?  Thanks.

This is about drilling a borehole / well on the 30 rai of land that the family owns outside our village.  There is no electricity now.  I looked at a solar solution and the panels would be like having 3 sheets of plywood erected and protected from the elements and theft.  Plus the cost.

The water is not required except when there is no rain.  That will be perhaps a couple of times a year.  I have decided to go for a 220 volt AC pump down the hole and a generator which could be taken to the fields 5km away and start it and pump all day and then take it home at night.  They also have a pond already but it is not near the road and the well will not be near to it.

I have been told that a 2 or 3 KW generator is not big enough as there is a surge when the pump comes on.  The generator has to be powerful enough for the job but preferably small enough to be loaded onto the 3 wheeler, not a truck.  Or, if it is a big generator a pump house would have to be built to protect the generator from theft.  I am looking at a down the hole pump and it does not matter about not switching off on its own except when the water runs out, perhaps.  Old Dad can sit in the field for as long as it takes.

I was also thinking of a series of pipes to irrigate different fields that are separated in the normal way with earth banks/walkways.

There is a huge variety of pumps and generators so I am looking for some guidance on pumps - size and brands names. Same for generators, power and brands please.  I am on a budget so if I could get away with 8,000 for a pump and 10 to 15,000 for a generator that would be great.  The water pump can be slow in volume and low pressure at the surface.   The drilling is 9,500 for 35 meters done by the local guy who does all the wells in the area and is a good person. 

Thanks in advance for any help.

More on the price topic.  I have found 62,000 to 68,000 and one member (mr quiet?) paid just over 60k for a 150i,  I looked and found a site, http://www.mocycone.com/new-honda-click-150i-price/, that shows a 150i at 60,200 THB list price.  I did not ask at the 62K shop what they included for that price.   JFYI.

Thanks for comments.  I understood that although it is not yet a requirement, health insurance is on the table as a regulation that will take effect before long.  The figures bandied about are 400,000 inpatient and 40,000 outpatient THB.  If it is sure to come why are there not some companies gearing up to provide it?  If it was a reasonable price I would be interested even if it was not a requirement.  Thanks

The new health insurance rules are news to me and I want to take steps to comply as quickly as possible.  I am a UK national 71 years old and I have French national health insurance.  I am resident there and still pay taxes.  I live here full time, however.  At my age private health care is prohibitively expensive and except for minor ailments I am never sick.  I am happy with our local hospital in Ban Mai Chaiyapot and always pay for whatever treatments I have.  Mostly it is chopping off bit of skin to see if they are malignant.  I have contacted the Bangkok insurance brokers but they have not yet replied.  I do not want private health care insurance and have better things to do with what money I have.  I fulfill every current requirement for my annual retirement visa and expect to marry my long term GF before visa renewal time next Jan (2020).   I could post a bond in addition to having 1M THB in a Thai bank account if that would work.  If I get seriously ill I can go back to France for treatment there.  Or, just decide to drop dead as I would not want to live a life bedridden and fed through a tube or some such thing.  Any ideas regards availability of reasonably priced health insurance to comply with new regs?  Thanks in advance.

Thank you Mr Quiet,  This 150i top end in my local shop is over 68,000 and other posters have said Honda will not supply to dealers who discount.  Where did you find this dealer?  How did you negotiate this all in price?  I just get a blank look from my local shop.  I too will be paying cash but this was not an advantage when I bought my new Toyota as lots of the 'come on' offers were in fact provided by the finance and/or insurance company and so were not given in the end.  Thanks.

800K 5 Months 400K Indefinitely In Bank For Ext To Stay Based In Retirement???  What?

Excuse me, I must have been asleep at the wheel.  What does this mean and where can I find out how it might affect me please?  I am 71, have a retirement visa due for renewal in 01 2020 and have over 1M THB (in a euro account) in the bank and a small pension too.  I am not married but plan to do so soon.  I live in my house built on land with an usufruct contract.

Thanks for any comments.  

Is there a way to check if an RCBO is broken or must one simply replace it to find out?  If the earth wire is not 'earthed' will this cause the RCBO to trip?  Why do some RCBO units have a simple line in, live and neutral, and others have the earth line connected to the device also?  Is there a simple way to test the earth wire to confirm that it is actually earthed?  (What a lot of questions.)  Thank you very much for any comments.

Oops.  My wife knows of this tree and in fact we have one, not so big as your photo.  She said ours has problems with insects and it gets eaten and suffers rapid growth because of it.  Do you have an idea of how to protect them?  Thanks 

Fantastic!  Just what I am looking for.  My enthusiastic Bro in Law got carried away and his idea of trimming back a mature tree that had got too high was to trim it at the bottom.  As in, it is gone.  Is this spelling 'whogratchong' correct?  I just googled it without luck.  Thanks  B

Good morning.  I am looking for a fast growing tree species to put on west side of our property.  Do not need fruit trees (although could be nice), but do not want a tree that is 'unfriendly' with poison berries or dripping sticky sap etc..   Thanks in advance for any comments.

I am looking to restart my basic Yoga and would like to find a group in the Buriram area.  Any ideas or contacts please.  Thank you.

On 2/13/2019 at 3:59 PM, KneeDeep said:

 

Since I don't work with the networks, I cannot know the answer to your question.

 

Just go to the orange machines outside 7/11 or Family Mart and top up 12 baht as many times as it takes to move the SIM validity to a year.

Then at least your SIM will still be alive when you return.

Is it that I can extend the life of a pay as you go for a year by just topping up multiple times at 12 baht each?  I have always just got a 1 or 200 baht top up which expires before i use them.  So, if I put 12 baht 12 times in one go I can get a year's service for 144 baht?  

Those prices are about the same as from my little local Honda dealership in Ban Mai Chaiyapot, Buriram.  So, is it that the list price is fixed nationally?  Thanks.

Thank you for your comments.  I have an RCBO and surge protector on my panel already.  My no name transformers are 20 VA and there is one per light (2).  My pool is cement blocks, tiled and not earthed.  My friend said I should earth the water in the pool by putting a copper wire into the water connected to a ground rod.  I don't have a pool ladder or any metal in the water and fixed to the tiles around the pool.  The wires coming from the transformer are connected to the pool lights in a junction box which is full of water (it is lower than the pool water level). 

I have looked and cannot find an Aqua Quip transformer nor any that are SELV certified on Ebay, Ebay Aus, Amazon or Lazada.  The transformers I have are in an exterior box in a sheltered location and the pool lights would not be switched on during an electrical storm anyway.

Further comments welcome, thanks.

I have 2 LED Emaux pool lights that are, I think, 12v.  The transformer is marked 20VA.  My friend has commented on my junction box joining the low power transformer to my pool lights.  It was not correctly installed but it all works fine.  The transformer itself is in a weatherproof box under the eves.  He said that even though I have low volts (harmless) from the transformer to my lights in the pool, a catastrophic failure of the transformer could send 240 volts down the wire.  This would certainly kill the lights but might conceivably harm someone nearby at the time.  What I plan to do is to put an in line fuse(s) on the light feed side of the transformer so any failure would just blow the fuse.  Here is the question.  What amperage fuse should I use?  Will a normal glass fuse work OK?  Would it be better to use the blade type commonly found in cars?  I would put the fuses on all wires going from the transformer to the light.   Thanks for any comments.

I would like to buy a new Honda 125 or 150 I Click.  Will pay cash, or bank transfer for the full amount.   Are prices for Honda controlled nationally or is it some dealers will negotiate and offer a reduced price from the list price?  I am in Isaan so would have to be a great deal to drive to BKK to collect it in my truck.  Any ideas of where to look?  Thanks in advance for your help.