wpcoe

I noticed this Stiebel shower heater on display at the entrance to HomePro. Price seems okay. Aren't Stiebel heaters solid & reliable?

Perfect! Thanks for the reports. You all get passing grades on your homework assignment.

(katabeachbum: My apologies. I hope your ceiling dried with no water damage!)

I think I forgot to mention that I had looked for a screen filter in the connections for the hose that runs from the wall to the heater, and didn't find one (perhaps a contributing factor...) and that I installed a new shower head to eliminate those two as possible culprits. The water pressure to the sink and toilet in the same room seem to be quite strong. The bum sprayer is quite, uhm, invigorating.

Based on the reports above, I feel more confident that I'll see an improvement in the output water pressure/volume if I install a new heater.

Currently, I'm taking "Thai showers" in the other hong nahm that doesn't have a heater, since the water pressure is so much greater. My water tank is above ground, so the water is close to room temp and not *too* much of a shock to my body.

Again, thanks for the reports. A practical test like that means much more to me than if you all had taken pressure gauges and reported back the exact water pressure out of the nozzle.

Oh, and any opinions on the value of the "air bubble" feature on some of the shower heaters? Is it a gimmick only, or does it actually improve the shower experience (to use some marketing speak)?

There is at least one other report here on ThaiVisa.com (currently post #57, by hyku1147) which includes:

All went well at the airport. I got my re-entry stamp, but a strange thing happened. I went to the second international passport departure section. There was no re-entry booth, so I asked an official looking dude, and he told me to go to the VAT refund office. I go there, the guy makes a call, then tells me the permit will be 1800B. I politely declined, and walked back to departures. This time I noticed a re-entry permit sign at the first int' pass' departure. They charge 1200B because they use a different form, and it requires a different picture-which they graciously take for us.

With IE8 and before I could choose where to download - now I have to change the 'default' every time.

Others have queried this and according to Microsoft Answers some people are confused if you give them a choice, so they removed the choice!

That sounds like good old Microsoft (and even moreso perhaps, Apple.)

My browser of choice is Opera, so I don't use IE all that often. If you are downloading via a browser, maybe consider trying Opera, Firefox or Chrome, where you can change the default download location? You may -- and probably will -- find other benefits of using an alternative browser, like speed.

The instantaneous wall mounted heater I currently have in Thailand use the internal 1/4'' heating element tubing which basically acts as a water restriction. All heaters that I seen on display in places like Homepro seem to use the same internal 1/4" tubing.

So, by nature of its design, a standard shower water heater will restrict the output water flow.

My question now to those folks using these shower water heaters, what is normal output water pressure in practical terms? If you take the hand held shower head and invert it so it's pointing toward the ceiling, how high does the water spray? My current one only sprays up about four inches. Is that normal, or if I replace it, will I see a noticeable increase in output pressure? I'd hate to go through the bother and expense of replacing the heater to find that a four-inch spray is all that should be expected.

Can't wait for those sub-10 sec boot-ups !!

You're probably aware of this and just being humorous, but just to make sure: You won't see your Windows desktop screen sub-10 secs from starting the computer. Loading of Windows may well be that fast, but the BIOS boot-up stuff your computer does will remain unchanged.

By having your OS and (most of?) your apps on the SSD, though, you definitely will notice how much snappier everything feels.

[edited to add:]

You could well see 10-sec "boots" if you use hibernation. Resuming from hibernation is much faster from an SSD than from a HDD.

If it's too confusing/complicated to change the default download location to the E: partition, just leave the settings as they are. After downloads are complete, open Windows Explorer and drag-and-drop the file from your C: partition to your E: partition.

You need to press and hold the <ctrl> key while doing that, or the file will be *copied* to your E: partition, leaving the original on your C: partition. Including the <ctrl> key will *move* the file, taking it off the C: partition.

Phil, I'm still clinging on to my 3M/1M Premier plan grandfathered at B1,000/mo.

The only thing keeping me from "downgrading" to a cheaper, faster non-Premier plan is the experience with my original TT&T MaxNet@Home package several years ago. With that plan, I would consistently get the full speed up and down. For the first couple years, that is. Then, the throughput became slower and/or less reliable. My suspicion is that for the first few years my contention ratio was low, but later additional and/or more-demanding users came to share my connection. I'd hate to let that happen again, as the current Premier plans are priced way too high.

Every time you report your success, I'm more and more tempted to switch my plan from Premier. Probably, when my current six-month prepaid package (for the 5% discount) expires, I'll take the plunge? Probably...

... and the two showers in my two upstairs bathroom have strong pressure output....just fine for a relaxing hot shower...and for a cold shower it's extra strong pressure since part of the water is not going through the heater.

Thanks for mentioning that. It brings up a question I've wondered about: Do all hot water shower units result in a lower output water pressure? i.e. By virtue of design (small copper tubing) will water pressure be reduced when going through a shower fixture?

All my previous abodes have had multi-point heaters with shower controls that mixed hot & cold water. My current rented townhouse has individual shower heaters and its my first experience with them. I *think* the upstairs shower heater needs to be replaced as the pressure seems too low*, but I'm wondering if I'd see much of an increase with a new unit? (The downstairs shower had its heater yanked, so it's currently a full-pressure "al fresco" shower unit with great output pressure.)

What is the usefulness of the "air bubble" feature of some shower units? Is it a useless gimmick, or does it actually add to the water pressure as the sales people say?

*The sink and toilet in the same upstairs bathroom seem to have full (high enough) water pressure. The hand-held shower, however, even with a new spray head only shoots up about 4" when flipped over to spray upwards. All previous showers I've had, if I dropped the shower head it would shoot up to my head from the floor.

Thanks. I wasn't sure just how strong the gypsum/metal framing was. I'd love to have a big walk-in closet like that.

I'm a particular fan of the "Elfa" (not the only brand, but the one I'm most familiar with) component systems. I actually found one 6' system of that type about 8 years ago in HomePro and snatched it up. I built a lumber (2x4) frame with gypsum to surround the area and added sliding glass mirrors in front of it. I probably could have saved money had I known a simply metal frame/gypsum wall was so strong. Next time! Thais are very skilled at working with gypsum.

It was generous of them to accept the EMS receipt as proof of a report sent. One could EMS an empty envelope and receive the same EMS receipt.

Yeah, I'm being cynical here, but the working truth is that I'm sure Immigrations has "seen it all," and many regulations and hoops through which we jump are based on others who have abused the system in the past.

iPhones sold in Canada are all carrier locked. Fido, Telus and Rogers will unlock them. If your friend paid full price then the store probably submitted the IMEI to Apple for unlocking.

Thanks for that info.

And it seemed like there is no other provider possible for this area. Is that true?

Have you checked directly with True, CAT and 3BB, to see if the can offer a faster speed? If they do, they might need to install new wiring, and that would need to be approved by your landlord.

I've read that True and 3BB are constantly installing new cables (sometimes even fibre optic) and switching boxes throughout Bangkok. If your area is covered, you might find MUCH faster speeds available.

Yeah, I wondered about that spending "on expansion of its broadband coverage and capacity."

If by expanding broadband capacity, they were including the enlarging of the international gateways, it'd be something to get excited about. However, I (cynically) doubt that's what they mean.

Another possible downside is the storage size. The most common sizes are 128GB or under, and that might not be enough storage if you travel with games, movies or lots of data files. Price of 256GB (and larger) SSDs are rather expensive, IMHO.

One workaround is to buy a reasonably-priced 128GB SSD and a 32GB SD card to keep permanently in the card reader slot of the notebook for extra data storage. (Or, a couple 32GB cards to swap out.) Reading/writing data from a SD card should be okay, speedwise. I wouldn't want to try running apps or games from one, though.

Another workaround for notebooks with a built-in CD/DVD drive, is to replace the drive with a traditional hard disk drive to supplement the faster SSD on which you'd only load the operating system and as many frequently used apps as would fit. You could feasibly use a 64GB SSD, or maybe even a 32GB SSD, with a supplemental HDD for the rest. On my desktop I have a 64GB SSD with Windows 7, all my apps, and some of my data, and still have 24GB free. Granted, I don't play games and all my movies, photos and archived data is on a traditional HDD.

Both Telewiz (AIS) and DTAC shops sell bona-fide, not-chopped-to-size, micro SIMs. Ditto for True shops.

If you want to chop a full-size SIM to micro SIM size, there are plenty of shops in the mobile phone sections of MBK, Pantip, Tuckom, etc that will do it for B100 or so.

One bedroom was too large so we spent 10,000 baht including materials and labor to have the gypsum ceiling crew make a very large closet but with no door, only an opening. Plenty of surface cracks on many of our CPAC walls, no cracks on the gypsum walls.

I may be mis-understanding the construction method, but if the closet walls are simply the aluminum framing covered by gypsum, is that strong enough to attach anything, like hanging rods, shelves or drawers? Or, will you just have free-standing wardrobes, drawer units and such?

[edited to correct formatting]

Yes, pop the outlets off (power off) and check if there is a green wire going somewhere.

Inside the distribution board you should find a bar with all the green wires plus another going to your ground stake.

Don't be shocked (pun intended) if the ground wire isn't green. The three ground wires in my rented townhouse (one each for two shower water heaters, and one on the water pump) are all have white sheathing. Standards would be nice, but this is Thailand, after all.

CDNinKS: Regarding the stamped concrete, you may already know this, but thought I'd point it out just in case.

When I had a stamped concrete poured in the USA (patio in one place, patio and sidewalks in another) they mixed the color into the concrete before pouring so that the color was throughout the slab. When I watched Thai laborers pour stamped concrete front stoops (not sure what to call them) for some townhouses near my condo in Jomtien, they only floated the color power on top of the concrete before stamping it, so the color is only a centimeter or so deep.

The former method requires much more powder, but in case the concrete later chips or cracks, at least the color is still maintained. The latter method ensures that if the concrete chips/cracks you'll see telltale grey concrete showing.

I would recommend to make sure when you get the estimates that they include mixing the color throughout the concrete.

stgrhe: Very nice looking house, indeed. You should be proud.

I'm curious, though, if the some of the roof detail is merely ornamental (I like the look), or if there was a functional reason for it. I attached a cropped pic of what I'm referring to. A kind-of double-eaves/pagoda look:

I'm assuming the Red Cross Clinic has competent "counseling" as to which vaccination is needed for when and where. If not, and of course even if so, I can also recommend the Travel Medicine/Shot Clinic at BNH on Soi Convent in Bangkok. They recently (in the past year or so) opened the clinic on the ground floor, just to the right as you enter through the hospital front doors.

On my last BNH visit (for follow-up to my last back injury) I took along my yellow vaccination "passport," and talked to a doctor in the clinic, and after finding almost all my vaccinations were overdue boosters, had an informative discussion about various vaccinations -- what was recommended, what was available (and not) in Thailand, etc. Even though I was a walk-in with no appointment, the doctor took as much time as needed to answer my questions, and provide information beyond what I had asked.

As a side note, I was disappointed to know that the shot clinic doctor at Bumrungrad, who had given me the initial rounds of vaccinations and the yellow passport, had not followed through with her promise to e-mail me when boosters came due.

TENS is a valid method of therapeutic medicine. It was used in physiotherapy after (two) disk ruptures in my lumbar region by licensed physiotherapists in the hospital.

However, I question the use of a TENS machine as a D.I.Y. toy at home. The intensity and length of the sessions (and the location, I suppose) seemed calculated to target my pain management needs by the physiotherapist. What guidelines are included with the off-the-shelf TENS machine?

Would you buy a set of acupuncture needles and attempt self-administration at home (or trust a friend to place them properly in the right locations)? I have similar concerns with these retail TENS machines.

Forgot to add, in Canada iPhones are sold unlocked, so if you live near the border, or can arrange a quick stop in Canada on your return journey to Thailand, that is an other option.

Are they unlocked when you get them from the carrier aswell as part of a package?

Sorry, not sure about that. I just know that I had a friend from Vancouver buy me an iPhone4 and bring it with him, and it's factory unlocked.

There are less primitive ways to chop a full-size SIM down to micro-SIM size, but assuming that that is not even the path you want to follow: Anyplace you see a Telewiz shop, you can buy an AIS micro-SIM, with either a pre-paid or post-paid plan. Telewiz is the retail outlet for AIS, and can be found in most shopping malls, tech malls (like Pantip and Fortune in Bangkok, or TukCom in Pattaya,) and many Tesco, Carrefour and Big C centers.

Using 3BB ADSL in Hua Hin, the page stalls at "Sending request to w3.mict.go.th." I finally just closed the page after being stuck at that status for over three minutes.

[edited to correct typo]