MangoKorat

12 hours ago, Crossy said:

Looks like they had some pets too: -

 

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2023/10/28/indians-who-hurt-phuket-officials-have-lions-in-their-villa/

 

Jeez dem Indian Mafiosos is serious man.

Would be 'Mafia' types in the UK have Pit Bulls and Dobermans but Lions is a whole different matter. Looks like they don't have dogs just patroling the grounds and biting intruders - they have Lions eating them!! Although the one in the photo looks a couple of years away from eating much more than a rabbit.

9 hours ago, Crossy said:

A few thoughts: -

 

As you are DIYing you will never get approval to export to the grid. This being the case I'd go for a hybrid inverter which can run in parallel and also do grid-sync.

• Do perform an energy-audit.
• Panels are relatively cheap, so don't skimp. 
• Batteries are not cheap, but can be easily expanded if you need more run time.
• Aim at having your panels on a car-port or ground mount if you have space unless you design your home with a flat and accessible roof area (see @Bandersnatch threads and home photos).

Now you've thrown the cat amongst the pidgeons. Coming from construction, a flat roof is a big no no for me - I'm immovable on that, they are nothing but trouble.  However, I understand the need for access to/cleaning of the panels and this is something I hadn't given much thought to so far - now it seems crucial.

What we will be building is essentially a farmhouse with some outbuildings around it. Although we have a blank canvas of around 8 rai on which to build, every sq m given over to the house is one that is lost to production and the land is very productive.  We are very fortunate that the southern aspect of the site looks out onto beautiful open farmland and that is something I don't want to compromise - the outbuildings must stay behind the house.

I had imagined that the solar panels would easily be incorporated into the south facing roof but that now needs some thought. Whilst it may be possible to design a roof that can be accessed - there will be a cost associated with that. The outbuildings will clearly be shaded by the house so are probably not suitable and may not be large enough. However, as can be seen on the plan below, there will be an area to the left of the house that will incorporate the septic tank and soakaways - that land falls away from the house site naturally so is ideal for this.  I suppose it would be possible to use that area for ground sited panels and thereby not wasting land?

Forgive my ignorance but is there a calculation that gives kwh per sq m of panels?  As I say, I'm undecided on the amount of electricity that I wish to produce but its probably better to look at producing all that is needed, I can always work backwards from that - I'm guessing but would 10kwh be sufficient? How many sq m would be needed to produce that amount?  My neighbour in the UK has ground sited solar panels - in the field behind my house and I've always hated looking at them - now I'm considering doing the same myself 😁.

I have not given sizes on the plan below as they are undecided but take it that the house will be around 15m x 9m. It will be 'up on stilts' with the vast majority of liveable space on the first floor. My current house is like that and I quite like the arrangement - parking under the house etc. I plan for 2 bedrooms (en suite), an open plan living room/kitchen and some storage space on the first floor with a large balcony looking out over the farmland. It is likely that there will be a further bedroom (en suite) and a laundry room on the ground floor so not tiny but not a really large house. Other than aircon on for most of the day, I don't think my lifestyle is any different to most people so I guess I'm 'average' in terms of electricity useage.

As an aside for the moment, the only way that I may differ from 'average' is that I may well have a car lift in one of the outbuildings.  Lifts are predominantly 3 phase so I doubt I can be entirely off-grid.  I don't at this stage, even know if 3 phase is available in the location.  Single phase lifts are more readily available in the UK nowadays than they used to be so I guess they are also available in Thailand.  Anyway - just something to keep in mind for now and its a 'would like' rather than a 'must have'.

8 hours ago, patman30 said:

one thing that would be good to know is your budget?

I don't have a budget as yet.  When I decide on the type/size of system - that will form my budget.  The only thing I know is that I will definitely be going solar but just what that system might be, I am undecided.  I could install a complete system that will produce all my electricity or it is possible that I will only install a system that will produce enough electricity to take care of the additional airconditioning that I will inevitably use.

I would state that despite spending the majority of my working life in the motor trade, I went to university late in life moved into construction.  Whilst I leave the ins and outs of electricity etc. to professionals, I have a basic understanding of all aspects of construction.

I'm sure we've all heard the stories about Westerners moving to Thailand and building a house for 1 million baht.  Well that may well be possible but that depends entirely on the level of fitments you require and the quality of them.  For example, I installed a Western kitchen and UPVC windows and doors in my current house. The cost of those two items alone was over 500k and the kitchen was far from the top of the range.  I've seen some of these 1 million baht houses and I would not want to live in one.  Therefore, I need to firstly decide on my requirements and in terms of solar, decide on what type of system I want. That will form my initial costing and I will then look at ways of 'trimming' that cost, if necessary as I always did when project managing in construction. I am aware that I could easily spend 5 or 6 million baht constructing the house I want but I won't.  My initial thoughts are a target for the build of 2.5 million but I'm flexible both ways on that - 'flexibility' though, has an uncanny way of usually meaning more :-).

I am also trying to make sure that whatever system I choose, will not be a burden to those I leave behind.  To that end, I think an easily switchable PEA connection is vital as from my experience, Thai people very qiuckly 'revert to type' once a Westerner is out of the picture.  In other words, should the solar stop working for whatever reason, I very much doubt it will be fixed or that cash would be available to fix it.  Electricity will though, always be needed. That it is unlikely to be fixed is not really a criticism - how would you be able to replace a set of batteries for example, on a salary of 15,000 per month? Cost is undoubtedly the main reason why very few Thai's install any meaningful solar systems.

19 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

The article says, "The car was previously fined due to its condition, which poses a risk for accidents.”

Yes, it was 'rigid' too. 😁

7 hours ago, frankstraube said:

I agree that the eVisa website requires less informations than a few months ago (post covid effect ?).

But you still have to upload whatever the embassy requires on its website. For example the french embassy require more documents like hotel reservation, bank statement, attestation of retirement..etc. As there is now nowhere to upload these informations on the eVisa application site, you have to merge several unrelated documents into one, hoping they will get it.

Hardly surprising that a state of confusion almost always exists when different 'offices' are allowed to require different information - crazy, you are entering the same country!

On the subject of having to merge documents - I remember the same thing applied for applications to visit/quarantine during covid - only one document could be uploaded.  My travel insurance was 15 pages long - thankfully someone showed me a free website where all 15 pages could be merged into one jpeg.

6 hours ago, HauptmannUK said:

Obviously someone has changed that data, either in error or by design.....

Hopefully its an error.  Not that they'll change it - the RTE London's website has contained several mistakes for years and they refuse to put them right or even acknowledge they are wrong.  During covid it was an absolute nightmare.

2 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

As you were concerned about environment and all associated things, I opened up about it and wrote. But ok when to stop, maybe too enthusiastic writing.

Of course for your solar system you need to know, how much power you will use. How much Watt, how many panels, how many batteries.

You can use ATS (non-grid), to switch back to grid automatic. There is no light in evening, night.

So or battery system and/or with still ATS. You dont put battery system on grid, you waste your own power.

The warm water heater is only working when measured value of temp is below setpoint. Then it will use power.

However you can use solar heater. Like this: 

Also 2-300 ltr's .You dont need extra shower heaters on electricity

If your AC is running a lot, you have a lot of waste heat at the outside unit. It is waste, you could put a heat ex-changer "right in front" of it heating up water going to an isolated tank. Could be a radiator of a car/motor with your own attached isolated pipes. Or pre heating for solar heater?!

Of course the air flow out of AC should not really be effected. So maybe with extra fan on exchanger to keep good air flow.

Of course you need to clean once in a while.

After all  what is temp blowing out?! 50-60 degrees?! But maybe then you are busy making all work. Hobby? 

Weird there is no such system, or are there?

Working temperature of solar panels is 25 degrees, with every degree above, efficiency drops with 0.4 %.

In Thailand the panels will get as hot as 60 degrees, meaning a loss of 14 %. Keeping them cool is important, enough cooling space. On a slope so also rainwater can wash off with collected dirt.

Or you can do as Bandersnatch, but cost some.

 

Unless I'm really missing something, what is the point of all the energy saving measures you mention if I'm running on solar? How, for example, is the hot air produced by the aircon units a waste?

That's been the main driver for me from the start - that I could enjoy basically free aircon by installing solar without an impact on the environment. If I can also utilise that system to provide the majority of the other electricity I use, that would be great, however there are other considerations that need to be taken into account.

Some environmental concerns are extremely difficult to measure and there are many differing viewpoints on them.  For example, I once spent almost a whole day weighing up the real environmental benefits of an electric car.  After reading many opposing (scientific) views I was very confused but concluded that they are not the panacea that some claim they are.  It appears that the total environmental benefit of electric cars can take far longer than that which is promoted. A great many things must be taken into account before proclaiming that they are our saviour.  For example, whilst one benefit is that air polution in cities will be greatly reduced, huge amounts of chemicals are currently being injected into the hillsides of the rain forrests of The Congo in order to mine the raw materials used in EV battery production.

Of course, our governments and the car companies don't show that, nor are the millions of animal/insects that are being displaced by that mining illustrated on their glossy brochures. To a degree, many of the environmental measures that are currently being taken to combat climate change, appear to be simply shifting the damage from one continent to another. I'm not at all sure that mankind has learned anything from the mistakes of the last 270 years or so - other than to move the problem out of sight.

Given the years I have left, I have decided that my current position on vehicles is the best for both myself and the planet.  I run my vehicles for many years and repair them rather than replace them.  I keep my journeys to the minimum and I run vehicles with small to medium sized engines. The exception (in a small way) is my motorbike which is a 650cc - that's down from my last one which was 900cc - I want to at least have a little fun.

Then there's the claims regarding recycling.  Batteries may be able to be recycled but what % of them, and will the cost of recycling mean that they are not recycled at all? Cars contain a hell of a lot of plastics these days and regulations state that those plastics must be able to be recycled.  Will they be?  A lot of local authorities in the UK paid companies in Turkey to take away their plastic waste and recycle it.  It was later found to be being dumped in Turkish landfills.

I could go on and on but that takes us way to far down the enviromental route that I was trying to avoid. I have concluded that moving to solar generated electricity, using a system that incorporates the minimum of equipment and equipment that is long lasting - is a no brainer compared to power stations belching out smoke etc.  Solar farms are not the answer either - the world is going to face a food shortage before long and we need all the agricultural land possible to provide that food.  In my opinion, the correct place for solar energy systems is on the roofs of existing buildings or possibly in deserts that do little else.

That's about all I have to say on environmental matters, I'm confident that I will significantly reduce my own environmental impact by going over to solar and in doing so, make my life more comfortable - all I have to decide on is the battery issue.  I'm completely on the fence on that one - there are a lot of things to take account of and I'm still in the planning stage.

3 minutes ago, BritTim said:

 

When dealing with airlines, the best source to convince the ignorant is the IATA guidelines which member airlines are strongly recommended to follow. It should be noted that IATA tries to keep track of member airlines that depart from their recommendations, and their Travel Center (https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/) takes account of the known deviations. Even stubborn check-in staff will normally accept what IATA says about their airline's policies.

So you don't have a link to an official Thai source?

6 minutes ago, BritTim said:

 

Sigh!  I wish I had a pound for every time someone has asked Thai consular officials for information on anything other than services provided by themselves and has been given an incorrect answer. People assume that the Thai embassy (and its website) should be the oracle on all things Thai. In reality, they will invariably give you a confident answer and frequently that answer will be incorrect.

 

When applying for a visa (something the embassy does know something about) your passport requires six month's validity. At the time you enter Thailand, the passport only needs to be valid for the duration of your intended stay. That is not a recommendation to travel with less than six months remaining on your passport, a practice that can lead to all kinds of complications as a majority of the world's countries do apply a six month validity rule.

This argument could go on forever. Given the amount of airlines/officials that DO require a 6 month validity, would you not agree that the best advice in these situations is to say yes, you need 6 months available on your passport?

Alternatively, could you provide a link to an official Thai government website that states that there is no minimum requirement/the validity only needs to cover your stay.  People intending to travel with less than 6 months validity could print that out and hand it over to the airline/official demanding 6 months validity.

I lost a full 5 months worth of validity on my UK passport as the UK no longer starts a new passport from the date the old passport expires as they did in the past.  Now, If you apply for a 10 year passport it expires precisely 10 years after the date of approval and disregards the expiry date of any existing passport.

53 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Definitely less expensive if you can DIY

I intend doing a lot of the work on the new house myself.

1 hour ago, xtrnuno41 said:

A lot to be said about all, but first.

Environmental: the solar panels cant be recycled, when at end of life. Just red recently.

Wondering what are "they" going to do with them.

Windmills have the a same problem, their blades need to be changed regular. And now there are lots of them and will grow.

Blades, each, of eventually 145 meters long ! Now they are already on over 100 meters.

We will do the same with solar panels?

Red a company in Denmark has "solution", they created chemical mixture ! to eat the blades. However creating CO2.

And what is chemical mixture? Again oil from where we make it from.

However that could also work for panels?

Now wind blades are landfill, as shown on a pic.

And then Im not even talking about how to create those blades, transporting, fixing them to turbine and so on.

All on oil, so what is environmental?

 

Batteries Li, they can recycle.  Li is in limited amounts in the world. Winning Li by, for instance, injecting water in soil.

Red in South America, 20000 ltr/SEC of clean water injected into the soil, to win Li.

And then it has to be processed further. Getting the Li out of the water, however not only Li is in the water.

So it cost lots of energy to win Li, oil. But profitable and so in name of "green", we do.

So how environmental is everything? Li working as battery needs additional processing, so thus again oil.

All have to be made with fossil fuels, even the plastics are from oil.

Speaking environmental, all is a joke.

It seems we already tilted the position of the earth and melting ice of poles cant be reversed in short time anymore.

It is an accelerating reaction !

Some articles I red this week, truth, fake? All is possible these days.

 

Fact is, there are too many people on this planet in the system we created. See movie "10 billion" on youtube.

And then we were lucky to have many wars in the past, killing people.

Yha , I know it sounds odd, but cant make it otherwise. We must be very grateful all those people gave their lives, otherwise we would, could be now in way bigger problems already.

 

An estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the ocean each year 

So environmental? It is a joke.

Whilst I agree with many of your thoughts, I am trying to do my bit which is why I want solar power in the first place.  Its also why I have raised my concerns over battery production.

If you want to start a thread about what man has done to the earth, would you be kind enough to do so?  It can be difficult enough to keep things on topic on these threads.

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

It's worth defining exactly what you want a system to do, there are many options.

 

Thanks for that, I've skim read it and will read in detail later but for now, can I ask..................

If whatever system I go for, is not exporting to the grid, do I need to get the PEA's approval?

One thing I hadn't thought of throughout my planning is that my one of my basic reasons for installing a system is challenged.

My first thoughts were that I wanted aircon available all day - I don't suffer the heat well but I don't want huge electric bills. Before anyone tells me I'll get used to the heat, I won't. I've lived in Thailand before and never made any kind of adjustment - I just sweated all day.

So in my head of course, the solar would take care of that during the day and switch to the grid at night.  What I hadn't taken account of is that if the batteries have been discharged the previous day, there's not going to be enough in them to power the aircon first thing next morning and I'm usually up around 6am.  Its  usually quite cool at that time but in March/April the heat can be unbearable by 9am. Pre Covid, can't remember the exact year but I think it was 2019, I recorded 44 degrees at 10am in the shade on my balcony! Luckily I was heading back to the UK the next day.

Environmental concerns, made worse by my desire for 24/7 aircon my other major reason for wanting to install solar.  There's normally plenty of sun available in Thailand so it makes sense to use it.

When I say 24/7 aircon, that's mainly a figure of speech.  I rarely need aircon at night as having it on during the day, on low in the bedrooms, usually cools the house sufficiently and a ceiling fan keeps the air moving.

A decent plug repair will include a patch that is attached to the plug and can only be repaired internally.  I would not accept an external plug unless it was just a 'get you home' measure.  Had several internal plug repairs done over the years and never had a problem.

I was planning to install solar in my current Thai home but due to a lot of new houses being built around mine, I've decided to build a new house in a quieter location. It will not be a cheap build in 'Thai' terms as I will be installing quite a lot of 'Western' style items as per my existing house. Although it may be a while, I need to start planning now so I can work out a realistic budget. I'm not interested in payback as I intend installing solar for environmental reasons  + comfort as I would like to have 24/7 aircon without huge electric bills. I will, as per my existing home, be installing insulation, ceiling fans and Low E glazing to reduce the reliance on aircon.

So, I have a few questions to enable me to begin preparing a budget for the build.

1. Quality. 

It seems that the vast majority of solar equipment is Chinese, my immediate thoughts therefore turn to quality.  I'm ex motor trade and when aftermarket replacement car parts first started appearing on the market in the UK, they were amazingly cheap and correspondingly, almost always unbelievably rubbish.  However, over the years they have improved and nowadays some are just as good as European brands (a lot of which are actually made in Asia).

Which are the best quality brands, taking account of cost and reliability?

2. Type of System.

If I understand correctly, there are 2 types of system - battery and non battery.  If I understand correctly, most non battery systems are also connected to the local grid to enable 24/7 supply.  Battery systems can be either?

I would love to be completely self-sufficient but I'm not sure if that's entirely practical - a major breakdown could cause big problems and I also don't want to install system that makes life difficult/creates large expense for others after I'm gone. Then there's the cost of battery replacement - I'm not going to be around forever and that may be beyond the reach of those I leave behind. Batteries last for how long?

I also have reservations regarding the environmental impacts of battery production - with some horror stories coming out of Africa.

With non-battery, the system would be connected to the grid and switch over automatically?  As I understand it being legally connected to the grid entails permission from the electricity authority and use of an approved installer?  To me that = unnecessary cost and could reduce my ability to buy a system cheaply. Is it possible to install a system that runs independently of the grid (dosen't feed into it) but swaps over to it automatically when solar output drops?

As it will be a new build, the house will almost certainly be connected to the grid via a digital meter so a 'grey' system that winds the meter back will probably not be available.  I also have safety concerns about such a system feeding power into the system during a power cut when the engineers may be working on the network.

3. Power Requirements.

Based on my current lifestyle, I have an air source heat pump for constant hot water that uses 1.4kw.  Although that system has been great, I may not repeat it as I hadn't realised that I was heating up a 200L tank of water all the time.  However, replacing it with electric showers and an under-sink water heater would, although intermittently, significantly increase the amount of power required to heat water.

Other than lights which use very little, I have the usual household appliances (usual for a westerner) - fridge/freezer, kettle, washing machine, electric fans, TV, toaster, microwave, laptop etc. and I also have an electric oven.  I can imagine a scenario where I'm grilling bacon in the oven, heating other food in the microwave, boiling water in the kettle - then the girlfriend jumps in the shower.  I know that its unlikely for all those items to be turned on at the same time but it is possible.  Worse still, the washing machine could be on its 'heat' cycle at the same time.

What happens if you overload a system?  If its on grid will it flip over to the grid?  Will an off grid system just drop the power to each item or will it trip out?  I am mindful that some items can be damaged by low power supply.  Is it simply a matter of planning activities accordingly and getting used to that - i.e. washing machine only at night or when you're out/don't shower whilst cooking?

Those are my initial questons although I'm sure there will be more.

I posted the information below in a thread on a similar subject and replies suggested its wrong - even though one of the links is from a Thai embassy.  I've also seen the same 6 month requirement mentioned on a B.O.I. website regarding visas/business. It may be more useful if, rather that simply stating its wrong, those who think its wrong post links to official sources that refute it.

Item 1, Item 14.

https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/page/84498-faq?menu=5d6636cd15e39c3bd00072ef

 Passport Validity Requirements

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/thailand/entry-requirements

Visa Exempt Entry

https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/thai-visas-americans/

Last year I had a trip to Thailand planned and would be arriving with 5 months left on my passport.  I called the Thai embassy in London to ask if that was OK and was told that my passport must have 6 months remaining from the date or arriving in the country.

17 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I will not be able to post Topics in the  near future

Thank god for that!

I shouldn't encourage this but in these circumstances................change the date on your camera or phone, take photos of the damage then do as Onemorefarang says and ask the agent if they'e forgotten to include the damage report, tell them you can let them have some photos taken on the day if that will help.

I take it you mean a 30 day exempt entry? I've heard of some offices accepting people on tourist visas/exempts for a licence application but my local office require a 12 month visa.

6 hours ago, reptile91602 said:

I had one Spanish chef 30 years ago on Samui poison the hell out of me with his gazpacho.

I've heard them called many names but it serves you right for putting his 'gazpacho' in your mouth 😁

32 minutes ago, BenStark said:

 

U-turns are fine, as long as they don't do both directions at the same U-turn, and don't put up traffic signs that block the view of the driver that is making the U-turn.

 

Red lights are death traps, because every red light I will see 5 cars, 2 ten wheeler trucks and a 50 seater tourist bus go through them.

 

Just last night I had a car in front of me, and the driver had his phone in a holder on his dashboard, and was playing games on it.

 

Do I need to say that he went straight through the next red traffic light without his brake lights even flashing for a millisecond?

I really can't agree with you on U-Turns being fine and I think most people here would agree. There are thousands of accidents at U-Turns every year, some for the reasons you state but in my experience, the biggest one is people making the U-Turn when its not safe to do so.  That can either be them just being impatient or the fact that traffic's so heavy that they've been waiting ages and take a chance.

I've seen people run red lights in the UK but never so blatantly or so long after they've changed to red as they do in Thailand - why?  Because of the fear of being fined, losing your licence etc. etc. Thai's know very well that no matter how badly they behave on the roads they are highly unlikely to get caught and when they do, they just pay a couple of hundred baht and get on their way, even if they don't even have a licence.

The particular junction I'm referring to - where the lights have now been replaced with a single U-Turn in each direction, 500m apart is now a real pain in the A. Its in a Thai tourist area so at weekends/holiday times you can be waiting forever to turn - the traffic just keeps on coming.  And that's if you are allowed to get to it in the first place - exiting the original junction, turning left and trying to get into the right hand lane to enter the Turn can be impossible.  There have been several occasions where I've had to travel 2km down the road to the next U-turn.

Sorry, most of the problems on Thai roads are directly related to non-enforcement of the rules.  Drivers would not behave the way they do if they knew they would be punished accordingly.  The new points system won't help either - how do you put points on or take a licence off someone who's never had one?  Many Thai's have never held a licence yet drive every day.

My ex wife was stopped twice at road blocks and asked to produce her licence - she didn't have one, just said she'd left it at home - 200 bht - on her way. The only thing the police are interested in is the 'fines' they can collect.

On 10/19/2023 at 11:54 AM, oliverphoenix2 said:

Police check and medical form not needed for non O.  Also health insurance not needed - I applied in August for ME non O London and simply uploaded pic of piece of paper stating "not applicable". E-visa approved after 4 days. Not sure about re entry permit.

Multi entry - for what purpose, based on marriage or retirement?

22 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Numerous Thai TikTokers have shared video footage of the foreign motorcyclist on their profiles, with some asserting that spotting him on Sukhumvit Road is a telltale sign. His distinctive riding style has certainly made an impression on other motorists.

Fair enough, the guy is an idiot but I wonder if those 'TikTokers' also make videos of the thousands of Thai car drivers and motorbike riders that go through red lights, 30 seconds after they've changed, every day in Thailand?

I suspect not.

On that subject, I found it hard to believe that the police had a set of lights taken out and replaced with 2 U-turns close to where I live - purely because of the amount of deaths and serious accidents caused by people 'running' those lights.  Why the hell can't they just make the Thai's behave?  Too much like hard work.

U turns are really safe aren't they..............not!

22 hours ago, travelerjim said:

An average of 80 persons each day at BKK Suvarnabhumi Airport and Don Mueang airport are DENIED entry into Thailand.

Thanks for that - out of interest, how do you know and does the information include details as to why?

19 hours ago, PJ71 said:

In my experience ( and others i know ), you'd get a telling off but still allowed entry, then it would be time for correct visa concerns to be addressed.

I can't comment on people getting a telling off when entering on exempts generally - although both myself and a mate experienced that when entering exempt after previously having a MENO. We were told we that visiting a Thai wife is not considered as tourism, get a visa next time.

Pre-covid though, although not a lot, we did get posts on here from people that had been denied - one I remember, was posting and asking for help whilst he was still locked up.